It is extremely unlikely that your suspension bar is mild steel. Most are
heat treated alloy. You have twisted it past the yield point of the
material. When you twist it back you will have to exceed the yield again
only the second yield likely will be a greater force. If you manage to get
it back to the original shape without fracturing it just might fracture when
you are putting it in service.
Imagine bending a paper clip back and forth only you are doing it with a
considerably less ductile steel.
Randy

"Brian" wrote in message
.ca...
I have an anti-roll bar from a Formula Ford race car that has suffered a
bit, and has a twist. It's obviously not up to it's original use in a mild
steel spec, but I modified the suspension design somewhat and it will not
see nearly as much potential twist in use. What I wonder is can I simply
twist it back into alignment, either hot or cold, and have it perform pretty
much as it did before it got twisted and then untwisted? I can't see why
not, but I have cumulative fatigue factors in mind that I don't know about.

My thought is to replace the ARB with a 4130 heat treated version , but I
want to drive the car first to see if the bar rate is close to right. Then,
I'll make up one with the correct rate in the correct material.

Thanks, Brian