No snow here....but it works great on wet roads...

Cajun / Al

 

Considering you said snow ( and I'll add ice ) If your sliding your going too fast. In this type of weather you'd normally be going slow and roll wouldn't enter the equation.And if your driving above the level where the roll bar becomes effective,you'd better be driving a vehicle thats prepped for this kind of driving. Any corner can be bad for any type vehicle in snow. Another forgotten fact... your front end can cause the rear to slide just as easy as the rear itself and vise-versa.Its all about balance.And your not out of balance with this bar.

 

An antiroll bar actually reduces the amount of traction available to the wheelset it acts on, it transfers weight to the opposite end of the vehicle


Nope, a rear bar will transfer weight to the front of the vehicle, giving the front wheels more traction, thats why you get better turn in with the rear bar, because the FRONT wheels have more traction. You point it out exactly, a bar will actually reduce the grip on the outside tire, it doesnt however distribute it to the inside tire, it cant, that tire is still being forced up by body roll, but since the bar increases the axles resistance to flex and the bodies tendency to roll that force has to go somewhere....it goes through the bar and axle to the other tire, and also tries to lift it up, reducing its traction, since the vehicle still weighs the same but is lifting up on both rear wheels more evenly the weight is transferred through the chassis to the FRONT wheels.

The opposite is true of a front bar, it transfers weight rearward.

 

I live in se. Ohio, and we have had our share of snow and ice this winter. The roads here are CURVEY to say the least, and I have had no adverse effects from the rear sway bar.

 

Your all thinking of cross weights and anti roll bars have nothing to do with that.Vehicle weight on each corner along with spring rate determine cross weights.And non of that actually aplies on stock street cars because of the equal side to side ride heights and spring rates.Roll bars address side to side weights only. Now...., if your rear bar does not match your front bar,that is,rear bar too large( something I brought up when the rear bar craze hit), some interesting things happen. Say the rear bar is too large, in a corner the rear will drop say 1 in but the front drops 4 in, this is an unbalanced condition and THAT will cause a weight transfer to the front as the rt front will drop but the rt rear does not thus allowing the front to "pick up transfered weight" causing oversteer and vehicle twist(another bad thing because it will "snap" back to original position,another topic))..This will cause the rear to actually lift and lose weight thus lost traction.(because of lost weight due to transfer)Thats why I questioned this bar in the first place as at the time very few people had them and no real world testing was done and it had a larger dia then the front( but thats because of the way its mounted,it doesn't attach to the chassis,its about leverage).But after trying it out,its a good piece for the SS, can't comment on the LT/LS because my LS only has a 19mm bar on the rear(and handles real nice).
There is a bit more to this explaination and it gets complicated because there are sooo many factors to consider,so for simplicity, use the bar and enjoy it as nobdy yet has said anything that these bars have caused any unbalancing of their vehicles. If you don't trust that answer, then all I can say is research and read.Every condition has its own remedy(understeer,oversteer,), for street cars you have to find the middle line because it has to steer equally left and right.
GM doesn't add them from the factory because of cost and always dial the cars in for understeer.And the cars they did add them to, were consevative and a larger bar always netted better results( not counting vettes or race purpose vehicles).
Google Wikipedia for sway bar...................

 

It doesn't SOUND like it will affect my winter traction, but how will it deal with bumps in the road? Will they be more or less exaggerated now?

 

you'll get that rear end wiggle thats typical with a rear bar...but that just enhances the confidence with the feel of a stiffer rear, that its not bouncing all ovr the place. on uneven wheel travel it acts like a stiffer spring on that corner.

 

still haven't pulled the trigger yet, haha.... worried that i won't like the difference!

 

Once you do..you'll never go back.....

 

IgottaWoody, you stated that you have a 19mm sway bar on the rear of your LS. I have not found anyone that makes a 19mm for the 2.4L engine. Is it that they don't make one or that they want to sell me something larger (read, more expensive)?
DOH Nevermind. Just read a post somewhere else that says certain version of the HHR came with a 19mm rear anti-sway bar