Since the hollow sway bar has two surface areas, inner and outer, it is more resistant to stresses applied along the length of the bar. A solid bar has only one, an outer. The hollow sway bar would also be lighter compared to a similar diameter solid bar.

 

ahh that makes alot of sense thanks

 

Uhhh, not sure where you guys are getting your information. Hollow bars are not stronger, just lighter, and the surfaces have nothing to do with it.

When it comes to resisting twist, a hollow bar has less strength, but the amount of strength lost is often made up for by increasing the outer diameter. The ability to resist twist is proportionate to the diameter. So, a hollow bar of the same diameter will have lesser resistance, but, the effect is lessened because it still has the outer diameter, which supports most of the load.

In a solid bar, the very center of the bar does almost nothing to resist twisting. Try twisting a very small piece of spring steel, that will be akin to the resistance the very center of the bar is providing. Now, take that same amount of material and double the diameter but make it hollow, and it's much harder to bend, and that's where hollow bars are superior. You can take the same amount of material used in a 18mm bar, make it hollow, and make the outer diameter much larger, say 24 mm. Now, that 24mm bar will not be as strong as a solid 24mm bar, but it will be much stronger than the 18mm bar you would have gotten out of it before.

Nathan

 

+1 i took that class 2 years ago and forgot specifics already but he is correct

 

Right church, wrong pew on my part. Thanks for the correction.

 

No worries. I just took Mechanics and Strength of Materials

 

interesting

 

Someone once told me that the Strano 32 mm hollow FSB for the '04 - '07 STi is roughly equivalent to the Whiteline 27/29 mm solid FSB set to 29 mm. The relationship is not always that cut and dry, but it illustrates the point.

 

is the whiteline solid?

 

Edited my post, yes it's solid.

It's a 27 mm solid FSB, with an additional adjustment hole that's supposed to make it act like a 29 mm solid FSB.

 

my cousin broke his hollow sway bar at the track but a solid sway bar would make more sense wouldnt it?

 

How did he break it?

Sense, as in strength? Yes.

 

If you've got something rubbing on the bar, it's more likely to cause a failure with a hollow bar than on a solid bar because there's less material. Due to manufacturing variances, that big ass Strano bar can rub on some parts of the chassis (some bolt somewhere). As with any aftermarket part, double check clearance across the entire bar.

 

he was off road racing and he broke it but if he had a solid one it wouldnt have happened

 

yea my friend just broke his front sway while autocrossing