Aldrin Villanueva, Sales and Marketing Manager for NASA Racing, is doing some testing on a 2016 Mazda Miata ND:

Here is our Front and Rear Sway Bar review for the Miata in situations that we felt has the biggest improvement.

Overall it is a HUGE improvement over stock and makes the car feel a lot more planted and confident around corners. In daily driving situations you can definitely feel that it is firmer especially over speed bumps and steep driveways. We did not experience any abnormal or additional NVH from installing the sway bars. This is the way the car should have come from the factory!

Installing the front bar was a bit of a pain. It was not difficult by any means, but the number of things you have to remove to get the bar out was absurd! We were able to get the OEM bar out without dropping the subframe, but we had to move the power steering rack to get the new one in.

Car – 2016 Mazda Miata – Club Sport w/ Brembo option. 

Modifications – Blackbird Fabworx Roll bar, Whiteline F/R Sway Bars*, Complete Borla exhaust system headers back which entails the mid pipe section and the rear section, No other modifications

Tires – Hankook RS4 215/45/17. All tires set to 32PSI and were at full tread at time of testing.

Track – Buttonwillow, 13CCW configuration

Outside Temp – 85F

Average Lap times – 2:15:xx driving about 7/10ths

*Sway bars were set at full soft.

Body Roll

The reduction of body roll is apparent in all driving conditions, steering inputs are no longer delayed and instant, and the rear follows the front with more confidence. On the track driving about 7/10ths long high-speed corners the car feels planted and communicative of any steering inputs. At full soft body roll becomes more apparent at high speeds but it still feels confident. The car will transition left to right to left much quicker and easier to tell when the rear is rotating out.

Turn In

Much sharper turn in at most speeds, under high speeds the car begins to understeer but you can feel that the sway bars are using all of the available grip in the suspension before it starts to push. With the sharper turn in, the rear bar felt that it follows quicker especially under braking. The car is much more willing to oversteer, but it never comes as a surprise or a delay like stock. It’s almost instant and you know exactly what the car is doing upon turn in. Controlling the slip angle of the car is much easier now that the car is more communicative.

Acceleration/Braking

We didn’t notice anything significant in acceleration or braking with the sway bars. The soft factory spring rates are a major factor, and this will change when we install the springs.

Overall

With the sway bars on soft, the car handles very neutral with a hint of understeer, depending on driving style and corner it can be made to oversteer, but it will not surprise you. We are thinking if the rear bar is set to the medium hard, it will still have a neutral feel but with be a little more tail happy. Rotating the car under acceleration exiting corners is night and day difference with the bars and it feels like a completely different car on the track!

Photo Credit: Herb Lopez  #herblopez71

Stock Suspension Setup

With Whiteline Sway Bar Kit BMK013

 Photo Credit: Herb Lopez  #herblopez71