Changed to accomodate preloaded anti-sway bars on December 23, 2006.

The spreadsheet below allows you to directly measure the anti-sway bar(s) stiffness and the front and rear roll stiffness due to the suspension springs. Answers are in foot-pounds per degree.

First, position the car...on a set of wheel scales...at a convenient distance from a wall or other vertical surface. The spot from a laser pointer is to be displayed on this wall. Mount the laser pointer horizontally on the side of the car adjacent to the wall. Measure the distance horizontally from the laser pointer to the wall and enter this value into the spreadsheet. Turn on the pointer and measure the distance vertically from the shop floor to the laser spot. Also, measure the distance vertically from the shop floor to the laser pointer. Record these last two measurements, but do not enter them into the spreadsheet.

Enter the wheel scale readings into the spreadsheet.

Place a floor jack under the sill of the car adjacent to the wall and approximately centered between the front and rear wheels. Exact fore-and-aft placement is unimportant, so select a place which can accept a jacking load. Jack the car up until wheel loadings are changed appreciably. (See example.)

Enter these second set of scale readings into the spreadsheet. Also, measure the change in vertical locations of the pointer and its spot and enter these differences into the spreadsheet.

Remove the floor jack, disconnect the front anti-sway bar and enter the new scale readings (front wheels only) into the spreadsheet. Then, jack the car up again and enter all wheel scale readings into the spreadsheet.

Remove the floor jack, reconnect the front anti-sway bar, disconnect the rear anti-sway bar, and repeat the procedure of the preceding paragraph.

If, for instance, the car has only a front anti-sway bar, simply repeat the scale loadings in the spreadsheet. (See example.)