What do you guys think of H&R sway bars for our c32s? Do you think they are worth the money? Should i just order the rear sway bar to decrease understeer, or should i order both? I'm considering purchasing these sway bars but im not sure if its worth it yet. Also, if i were to order these sway bars, would i order the 10mm or 12mm end link size for the front bar? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

 

why would you get only the rear?? they are designed to work together aren't they?

Jerry

 

12mm link size

 

Exactly what does the sway bars do in a suspension, and how does the H&R sway bars affect handling over that of the stock ones?

I'm trying to figure out whether sways would make sense for my car, which is already running on coilovers. With the coilovers installed and the car lowered, the car's roll and dive behavior is already much better than stock. What would adding sways do further?

Also, noone answered how much it sway bars cost.

Are H&R the only manufacturer of sways for the C32? If not what are the alternatives?

 

To answer your last question first, I bought the Evo Sports sway bars. They work well w/ the HR C/O kit. Minor issue with the rubbing noise from the bushing contact; I just have to keep on lubricating them. ~

Now, about sway bars:

Also known as anti-sway bars or anti-roll bars, they minimize vehicle's body from "rolling" in a sharp turn. Picture yourself during a sharp turn. You feel your body (and see objects on dashboard) being tossed toward the outside of the turn. The same thing is happening to all the parts of the car. So the part of the car on the outside of the turn gets pushed down toward the road and the part of the car on the inside of the turn rises up. In other words, the body of the car "rolls" 10, 20 or even 30 degrees toward the outside of the turn. If you take a turn fast enough, the tires on the inside of the turn actually rise off the road and the car may flip.

It's always desirable to minimize roll, as it tends to put more weight on the outside tires and less weigh on the inside tires, which reduces traction. Roll also interferes with steering. What you would like is for the body of the car to remain leveled to the road during when turning, making an even weight distribution on all four tires.

Sway bar essentially transfers weight from one side of the car to another. If you don't have a stabilizer bar, you tend to have a lot of trouble with body roll in a turn. If you have too much stabilizer bar, you tend to lose independence between the suspension members on both sides of the car. When one wheel hits a bump, the stabilizer bar transmits the bump to the other side of the car as well, which is not what you want. The ideal is to find a setting that reduces body roll but does not hurt the independence of the tires.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. One further questions -- you said:
This doens't sound too good. The stock bars obviously aren't making any rubbing sounds, nor as far as I know, do they require lubication. If get another suspension upgrade I don't want to having to perform extra maintenance. Why is the evosport bar rubbing, why is lubrication required? I had assumed the only differences between the stock and upgraded bars would be that of stiffness or diameter?

 

On my 03' C32, the stock suspension had noise similar to what I heard post swapping the Evo sway bars. MB tech told me it was due to sway bar bushing collecting dirt (closest as I could recall). An updated bushing were issued by MB; and the dealer could only obtain the rear set to install on my car. Before the front bushing set arrived, I chaged the sways to Evo ones.

I guess the squeaking noise occurs b/c Evo sway's diameter is greater than stock, but the bushings are not optimally fitted. (I think we still use stock bushings?) Ben from Evo Sport suggested lubing the bushings, which I did; it alleviated things a bit. However, the noise starts to come back after about a month. So I re-lubbed them. As far as I could tell, most all squeaking noises came from the front suspension; could it be the weight?

Member N.M.M also mentioned noise coming from the sways, caused by something more serious than bushing. I think it was the front sway bar hitting other suspension memers (metal to metal contact??). I hope mine isn't like that!

 

price like anything varies from source to source, expect to pay around $215 for the 26mm frt and $140 for 19mm rear if you buy from the right source, maybe a little better

 

price like anything varies from source to source, expect to pay around $215 for the 26mm frt and $140 for 19mm rear if you buy from the right source, maybe a little better, they will be supplied with a good quality nylon cored bushings

 

.......for the H&R ones?

 

it may sound strange...but upgrading only one isn't that bad... m-coupe autox people have found stiffening the front up (larger front, stock rear) helps to keep the front flatter allowing for more grip in the front tires so the car turns in with better bite... but i digress..

 

how come mine don't make noises?? i have evosport sways + H&R coilovers as well

 

Yeah Jerry, why is that?

Could it be that yours were done by the folks who are most familiar with their product, Evo Sport? Whereas I got mine installed by MB dealer?

 

i have never paid retail for anything on any machine i have ever owned, you can find a better deal by shopping around instead of going to the closest shop, i am in calif. so i shop out of state and save sales tax,when making a good enough order seller will pay shipping in a lot of cases,

 

but i got mine installed at a local suspension shop though.. they did my coilover also.