i want to upgrade sway bars, what do you guys recommend Options

[199celica]

Well guys it is official to say I am addicted to running the canyons here in southern california and I want better handling for those windy roads so I decided to upgrade my sway bars next the only 2 companies I have seen that make aftermarket sway bars is suspension technique and whiteline, im debating on which to choose any feedback is welcome along with other brands I want to know what the best performing bar would be along with personal experiences thanks guys.

[CAcelica29]

whiteline only makes a rear bar and both brands are good. i have friends who have both brands on other cars and love them!

[trdproven]

either should be good, but its best if you get the sway bushings and good endlinks with it at the same time, and it make it worthwhile. I think those bars also have preload on em, so you may have to try whats the best setting for you.

[199celica]

For sure thanks for the advice guys I was gonna go energy suspension on the bushing and twos r us on the endlinks what do u think?

[mkernz22]

You might want to get the mounts for the endlinks, on the control arm, beefed up because I've seen people have problems with them breaking from it being too stiff

[199celica]

Never heard of that but its a good thing I know how to weld haha

[BonzaiCelica]

Never heard of that but its a good thing I know how to weld haha

its really just on the front you want to be careful.




I've got these on so hopefully mine wont break again with the thicker end links. that picture above was on an st celica with 130,000 miles on the chassis!

[199celica]

Holy crap those are beefy what brand is that?

[BonzaiCelica]

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=83860

but my gosh I just greased my front sway bar 3,600 miles ago and now it squeaking again. my front end is real stiff.

once I get new tires I'm go to reinforce that part before they snap like my old st celica.

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Sep 20, 2012 - 3:19 PM

[Duke]

hey there 199!

Hey I've got the suspension techniques, front and rear sway bars. And i agree with getting new end links. after i installed mine, the links broke like literally two days afterwards. I ended up getting some custom made ones through a custom import place around my area. all i had to do was measure the length and tell them bolt placement.

They were heavy duty like the ones that were pictured, and are still going strong.

The Suspension techniques front sway bar was quite a pain to install, between trying to maneuver it into place, esp with a custom manifold, and 4-2-1 pipe. I ended up having to remove the downpipe, and disconnect my rear motor mount and lift the engine a bit forward to get them in. But after that, just re-bolted them.

The rear sway bar was just as hard if not harder. I ended up dropping the gas tank for maneuverability, and had to cut my exhaust at the bend around the rear control arms to get it into place. and it was still pretty much a pain in the butt. But after about 2 hours of wiggling and pushing, i got them it place. The do not bend hardly at all, so dont bother. lol.... But for the rear, i just cut the old sway bar in 2 places to get it out.

The rear sway bar, through suspension techniques has two hole on each end. Make sure you read the directions about them. Because each hole will help with under-steer and over-steer. I have mine set in the hole closest to the front.

I hope this helps. Try the down pipe removal, and engine mount removal. Go through the wheel well, not up under and try to work it in. Because if you try it that way, the problem I encountered is that it just wont line up, close, but the steering rack and K-frame got in the way. but someone else may have had different luck.

The rear is the same. And after i removed the tank, it helped a lot, but it was still difficult.

OH btw, the sway bar mounts/bushings they come with, are very heavy duty, so i wouldn't worry about getting the energy ones. And before installing the end links to the coilover/strut, bolt the sway bar mounts and bushings. So pretty much, work from the center of the car, to the outside, doing the sway bar links last. hope this helps, and if you need more help, let us know.

[199celica]

Sweet thanks for the heads up duke I appreciate it im going to see if I can make my own endlinks

[Duke]

Sweet thanks for the heads up duke I appreciate it im going to see if I can make my own endlinks

199,

Yea, ive seen some interesting posts about d.i.y. sway bar links. If i were you, i would do some checking online about it. I know alot of posts with people using threaded rods, Dont do that method! unless its tempered. I've heard a lot about them bending with to much lateral torsion from corning. So just a heads up. If you do the threaded rod method, take it to a spring shop or a metalurgist that way they can temper it properly, so it can resist bending and possible breaking.

Just remember that when going around corners at high speeds with thicker and stronger sway bars is going to increase the lateral torsion on the links. This is due to the stiffer sway and centered gravity. Just remember that the weakest point on your suspension, will cause it all to fail.

So, i dont know if you wanna here all this, but the stiffer sway bars is going to cause a dramatic decrease in body sway. So when you go into a corner, say a right hand corner, your body is going to natrually pull to the outside, left hand. This because your center of gravity is shifting do the amount of "G"(gravity) pull. So what your sway bars are going to do is to keep the body semi parallel with the road and decrease body sway because of "G" pull. Now The stronger the bars, the greater stiffer the sway. So instead of the cars center of gravity shifting out, due to the g pull, partially due to stock sway bars, the stiffer ones are going to keep the car tight and parallel to the road and corner. They can essentially shift the center to the inside, so the center will be left in the center focal point, or slightly inside. So in end, tight cornering.

But if you want the ultimate handling, stiff coilovers, and great tires. What i just said, is basically covering body sway physics, but to really be able to take corners as fast as driverly possible, you need the full set-up. That way, it will be able to shift the center more fully on the inside, and the weight of the car and turn will go to the inside tires. hence the good tires.

So there ya go 199. hope this was informative!

[BonzaiCelica]

why go custom when you have trdproven thread he posted with all the correct fittings of sway bar end links. although with the custom thing you mentioned it'd be cool for the superstrut st202 and st205 guys. any more info on that would be nice.

and no you do not need to remove your rear motor mount or unbolt the b-pipe or move the engine forward. If you want to make life a bit easier, you can drop the subframe about 5mm so you have more room to tighten the sway bar mounts Unbolt the subframe bolts just enough but don't completely remove them from the chassis. you only have to drop the gas tank on the rear and yea unbolt the rear muffler (remove the hanger from the rubber mounts on the exhaust, if need be).

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Sep 21, 2012 - 11:40 PM

[Duke]

that was the what i was orginally thinking about doing when i installed mine. but i was getting a little scared looking at the shape of the bolts. :-/ however that problem was rectified. But do it up!

[199celica]

Front sounds tricky but lucky my exhaust is dumped just before the sway bar.

[BonzaiCelica]

sorry not to mention you'll have to remove the power steering bracket bolts as well.

[ricochet1490]

I didn't have time to read the whole thing.... But a very viable option is go get you a stock rav 4 sway bar. As I understand it, it's a direct bolt in. and because it was designed for a suv, it's prolly at, least 50 percent thicker...making it stiffer.

[SwissFerdi]

I didn't have time to read the whole thing.... But a very viable option is go get you a stock rav 4 sway bar. As I understand it, it's a direct bolt in. and because it was designed for a suv, it's prolly at, least 50 percent thicker...making it stiffer.

Interesting, but I wouldn't have the first idea where to locally source a Rav4 bar.

[Galcobar]

Junkyard -- try car-part.com, it's a web access to a widely-used inventory-tracking software.

[199celica]

Well guys I got my sway bar and im just waiting on my end links I am just going to install it with stock swaybar endlinks on the softest setting until they snap or I get my endlinks from gt-4