I’m having an issue adjusting the anti-roll bars. I don’t know what I should be doing. I’ve adjusted the springs and dampening so the car has no over or under steer. I started with the anti-roll bars set to the midrange. If I understand what I’ve read about them, I should soften them as much as possible. Is this correct? I’ve softened them to about 1/3 and the car still behaves well and lap times haven’t changed. Should I continue to soften them?
Have a look at the first flow chart here Suspension setup flow chart | The Lotus Cars Community
Look at Mid corner where it asks if the front rolls excessively and what the solution is if the answer is yes. Go softer until you start to see body roll plus understeer.
JimB3, your intent with ARB should be to control the physical roll of the car + balance front/rear roll to achieve desired mid-corner handling characteristics.
The car already has front/rear spring rate + dampers which should be primarily for the general ride, braking, and acceleration control = fore, aft, up/down control.
ARB is used to balance the car when in corner only.
If the car is already balanced, you can use ARB ratio that has similar ratio as springs. From there you can go softer on the side where the car needs more grip.
If the car already has stiff springs+dampers the car is over supported so it does not roll much therefore you will not feel the impact of ARB.
If the car is sufficiently soft then one can play with ARB for additional cornering support & control.
If you soften the ARB and it has no noticeable effect, it is an indication that the ARB setting is much much softer than the spring.
I shoot for about 70% springs + 30% ARB in mid corner.
If the car has stiff springs, then the car may be seeing 85% springs + 15% ARB in mid corner (and most likely not using up all of the suspension travel). In this case, you can adjust ARB but the effect will hardly be noticeable.
You can try 40/40 then 1/1 to assess the extremes then make your determination.
99% of the time if I’m making a basic lobby car I run a 15 front Arb and a 20 rear Arb on rear. That’s on rear wheel drive cars. With that said that setting won’t work if the rest of the car isn’t setup for that style