bB384

Tell the guys who race in JGTC, the have an adjustable sway bar set up, so they can adjus it on the fly from the cockpit. I guess they dont know how to set up a suspension properly...

elusivedragon

partshippers.com = nice stuff, decent prices...i was drooling all over the strup headers lol omg wait till my next hunk of $$$ to spend...i think headers are next

jared_IRL

Awesome thread guys! Lots of great info!

After reading everything, I think i'm just about ready to make my purchase, just wanted to get your opinions on everything.

I don't EVER plan on racing my xB. It's an appliance, for lack of a better term. A fun, cool looking appliance that gets waxed every weekend, but you get the point...

I also don't plan on lowering the car, because I do have to drive it through nasty NJ weather.

But I do plan on getting a nice set of 16's or 17's, and then using the steelies with a good set of Blizzaks for the winter.

As for the sway bars, I'm looking to reduce body roll, and improve turn in. Making the steering more neutral would be a nice bonus as well. Right now, I feel like i'm gonna flip the car in hard turns, and the initial turn in feels all sorts of weak and sloppy.

Based on these criteria, I'm really thinking of going with the full Progress kit, both front and rear.

Thoughts??

Thanks!

Biznox

If you want to improve turn-in, you don't want a stiffer front bar. Skip that and go with the rear. Read through the thread and you'll see that is what the most knowledgeable here are saying consistently. A stiffer front sway bar is pointless in this application IMO.

seattleplasma

so i made the mistake of odering a hotchkis sway bar kit. so i will only install the rear. i only use my car as a daily driver and put an H&R race cup suspension on it struts shocks springs lowered 2" front 1.8 rear 17x7 wheels. so my question would a strut tower imrove anything? i would like to be able to hit sharp corners faster and handle on little s turns etc. so should anything be put on the front?? 160 for front and rear new wasnt bad so i dont feel to bad. will ebay the front.

Hide

Any review/comments/info on the JDM sway bars??

importscout

This has been a very informative discussion..

Do aftermarket sway bars create ground clearance issues on lowered vehicles?

Lip

No. your muffler canister is even lower then the rear sway i believe. i have never heard of anyone ever hitting their rear sway bar on anything.

importscout

If removing the front sway bar (or leaving the stock one in place) while beefing up the rear sway bar is advantageous to reducing understeer in FWD vehicles does it then follow that adding a front strut tower bar would contribute to understeer?

vintage42

Here's tips from my installation of a TRD bar:

1. I raised my rear end 3" using ramps made of two 2x10's on each side:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...o/IMG_1243.jpg
I have OEM 15" wheels and could not have done it without the ramps.

2. It is probably not possible for one person to support one end of the heavy sway bar while installing the bolts on the other end. I used long plastic zip ties at each end of the sway bar, looped around the torsion bar, to lift the sway bar up and hold it in position.

3. The TRD bar has a very nice tabs of metal with two nuts welded to them, which you insert into the hollow suspension arms. This greatly helps installing the bolts into the nuts.

4. The TRD instruction say to torque the bolts to 40 lbs. This is a large amount of torque and I don't think it can be approximated with a socket wrench. My clicking torque wrench was too big to fit on the bolts, so I used a beam type, which had to be read visually at an odd angle under the car.

5. The nuts kept taking more torque - they went to 40 lbs a couple of times. I think this was either due to the metal tab of the TRD kit bending (cupping) to conform to the inside of the suspension arm tube, or the bolts stretching. It means that if you only tighten one time, the bolts will not be tight enough.

oldboxman

Just put on my progress rear sway bar on friday.Very easy install.

AleXb

A little confused here, so whats the overall consensus on the sways?..... What brand turned out to be the best bang/$$?

I come from RWD backgrouund, and i at least preffered to have the stiffest and thickest front and rear sways.

-AleXb.

bboyizzy

yeh for sway bars

sikbrik

I posted this in the Progress How-To thread but I thought it might get more opinions here:

Jhhnn

Near as I can tell, the advantage to chassis mounted bars is that they can be adjustable, although I don't think that any of the rear bars currently available for the scion xb actually are adjustable.

They also have disadvantages- they're more difficult to install, and the bushings can wear and squeak.

The rear torsion beam on our scions is already a swaybar of sorts, so it's easy to exploit that, stiffen it up, with the progress type bar...

implayaz9

so is progress better or the whiteline?

tanakasan

TXboxdriver, there is no stock xB rear sway bar. Does that mean I do not need one?

Just installed a Progress RSB. Nice! It does make a difference! Simple, took just 15 minutes. No need to remove the wheels as stated in directions...at least with 17's.

Progress rear bar is 22.22 mm measured with dial calipers and is solid, not tubular

applesrfriends

sway bars are the ____, i had it on my previous car and boy did it work to perfection, handling was increased by 50% at least

applesrfriends

oh i forgot to mention, i got eibach sway bars for my last car. you just cant go wrong with eibach one of the best

SquallLHeart

... you know there's a button right?

please use it.