I'm planning on making some suspension changes to my car and sway bars are included. What I'm wondering is... How do the aftermarket sway bars (Eibach, Hellwig, AddCo, etc.) make a difference when they don't connect to the chassis of the car, just the rear axle assembly?
the rear axle assmbley is a twist beam and the rear sway bar helps to stiffen it up. improves handling quite a bit. i used to think the same as u until i read up on it.
I used to think the same thing "its a solid rear axle, how much twist can it have really". Until one day I had my car up on jack stands and I put a hydraulic jack on the axle just behind the right rear tire and started raising it. I got it up a good 3 or 4 inches before the left side even started to move. There is a lot of twist in our axles without a sway bar.
I'd like to do the same test to an axle with the factory rear sway bar and see how much stiffer it is.
Okay. Thanks for the input. I just wanted to make sure that it would be worth the money and effort to install a rear bar.
Mr_Efficiency (Tyrin) wrote:I used to think the same thing "its a solid rear axle, how much twist can it have really". Until one day I had my car up on jack stands and I put a hydraulic jack on the axle just behind the right rear tire and started raising it. I got it up a good 3 or 4 inches before the left side even started to move.
Same here.. I was doing my rear spring/struts and my buddy helping me grabbed one side of the beam and i grabbed the other. We went in opposite directions, we twisted the beam by hand and just by hand it twists pretty far.. The rear sway bar stabilizes the rear twist beam making it harder for the beam to twist. It's a very good upgrade for the rear suspension.
Mr_Efficiency (Tyrin) wrote:I'd like to do the same test to an axle with the factory rear sway bar and see how much stiffer it is.
Gonna be hard when there is not factory rear sway bar for our cars....
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In some models, There was a bar that ran through the center of the beam. So yes, Some came with a stabilizer. Pretty sure they don't even come close to an aftermarket tho.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, August 02, 2009 9:03 AM
I think only the sunfire GT's got the factory stabilizer bar. I've seen it on every GT I've been under, and I've spent a lot of time in the wrecking yards. I saw it on a base cavy once, but i think it was swapped out given the other stuff that was also on the car.
both my 97 and 98 z24's came with said 'bar' in the rear axle.
they do exist.
Every time I scream "Release", I mean it, you know it. I feel the day. Black 7.
So does my LS Sport. The GT, Z24, and LS Sports and certain base models that had an upgraded suspension package(few and far between) all recieved this suspension package(i believe its called FE3), but I think it was augmented slightly for the LS Sports. Misnblu and I had a discussion about it long ago if he pokes his head in he'll have moe info for you.
gmpartsdirect.com lists 2 different rear axles (as an example i put in a 97).**COPIED TEXT** :Axle, cavalier, sunfire, soft ride, w/o brakes 95-05 $534.91 OR Axle, cavalier, sunfire, handling pkg., w/o brakes 96-05 $356.71
i find it interesting the one they list as the "handling package" is cheaper than the "soft ride"? hmm. i would assume the "handling package" would be the one with the bar welded in.
my 97 Z definately has the bar welded in. 100% sure of it.
and you'll absolutely feel a difference from a rear sway bar.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, August 02, 2009 9:51 PM
I've said this in other reposts of this topic and I'm sure I'll say it again,
In terms of bang for your buck, a good quality rear sway bar is far and away the best suspension modification you can make to these cars.
This is assuming that you have decent quality tires, nothing crazy but no $50 for a set of 4 kind of janky crap.
that is a good setup but the kit for our cars doesnt comewith the struts or pro dampers as they call them. eibach decided to back out of making them since our cars are a dead platform. the springs and swaybars are great though. match it up with some good sturts like agx's, dspec's, or koni's and youll notice a big difference.
seth binzer- omfg those prices are outrageous.
hit up carcustoms.net or aplusperformace.com or turbotechracing.com or neverenoughauto.com
Every time I scream "Release", I mean it, you know it. I feel the day. Black 7.
I've already made some minor changes to the appearance: hood, spoiler, taillights, headlights, window tint. I'm planning on putting on 17" wheels, and putting on a MagnaFlow exhaust system.