For me it still feels comfortable. Actually, I installed the lowering springs and sway bars at the same time so I can't tell the difference between OEM springs and sway bars / OEM springs & Hotchkis sway bars / Hotchkis springs and OEM sway bars / Hotchkis springs and sway bars.

But for me, it's a big improvement in handling without sacrificing ride comfort.

 

I heard clanking noises from the rear of my car last night...

Jacked up the car this morning and noticed that the right rear gold bracket was broken...

Is there anyway for me to just buy the bracket itself only?

 

Call hotchkis, warranties are cool.

 

i have the Hotchkis Front and Rear Sways and the Hotchkis springs as well. ALSO i Autocross my car regularly. heres the deal from my experience. first of all i lowered the car first and later put the sways on so i could get a feel for every item i put on the car. i was apprehensive about the Hotckis front and rear becuz of the rub that sum say you get. but once i saw that the hotchkis stiffen the rear with 3 settings ranging from sumthing like 275%-336% but ALSO give u a front sway as well i went with them. understeer is an issue i dealt with ruring autocross. these bars give u a Predictable amount of oversteer. i have mine set to the softest setting in the front and the middle setting in the rear. so there is still sum oversteer available if i wanted to go stiffer but trully there is no need.

i WILL say that i DO get rubbing which is really more closely described as a single knock when turning full lock to the left (which should be avoided if possible anyway as turning full lock puts undue stress one your car w/ or w/o the bars). the only time u will get this knock is during parking lot and low speed tight circle turning (u-turns, parking space entry and exit) this is due to the endlinks in the suspension not totally clearing the swaybar while turning the wheel. there is no damage done however besides a little paint being rubbed off the swaybar. i did not get this knock until a few months of owning the bars but its here now and i see its nothing to worry about.

All things considered. these bars helped make my tC a TRUE contender in the AutoCross and a surprise to the cars priced 3 and 4 times higher. i also love how responsive they make my tC in daily driving.

as far as daily driven road stiffness there is not ALOT of difference between having the bars and not having them. it is noticeable stiffer on very rough poorly cared for roads but not awfully bad. i was afraid of my old weak stomached girlfriend throwing up from bumps but she said it wasnt nearly bad enuf for her to not enjoy the drive and now shes gone anyway and i can totally enjoy the drive lol. if u are considering sways...i think Hotchkis did it RIGHT! and for ur average user and AutoCrosser you wont even need to put these bars to there stiffest setting to truly see a huge difference in handling! my .02, hope it helped.

 

I have the hotchkis sway bar set but decided to just put the rear sway bar on as well and to be honest Ive never yet encountered snap overstreer with my car since the rear sway bar has been put on 'Medium Setting'. I have had numerous amounts of times where I have had horrible snap oversteer with stock sway bars but not these maybe it could be your driving. There were a couple times where the back end I could feel was starting to come loose but no where near as bad as before the installation and with a quick countersteer effort I was back on track into my lane.

 

great responses!!



HEY AcrimoniousBear, what year did you get your sway bars?

 

i got my bars....very late last year. it was in december i think. took them a couple months to start popping. i was told they had a revised set come out cuz hotchkis knows about the issue but alot of dealerships still have to push out the old stock first so maybe i got the old version....if there are indeed 2 versions. either way the popping is no big deal.

 

is the hotchkis rear bar just an add on bar or a full replacement? i think i saw "add on" in a post like this before..

 

I think the xB bar is an add on one. The tC is a full replacement.

 

oh ok cool.. thanks ack

 

I got my sways and springs last November 2006 and never heard a popping sound from them. But the struts make a popping sound only when I angle the car on high driveways.

 

The second version has these bumps that prevent the bar from moving around. They look like rings around the bar..

so, people with ver2: Have any problems/noises?

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wow... how did you break that v1 bar (if you don't mind me asking)?

 

sorry, can't take credit. I believe it was mr. hunterunknown who broke it while autocrossing. He was able to get a ver.2 replacement from Hotchkis themselves..

 

I'm getting a LOT of squeaking from my front bar (that may or may not be just b/c of grease)... but I have the first bar and emailed them and they're going to mail out the second one so I can just redo the install with plenty of grease and the correct bar...

They're cool about it for sure.

 

i have the version 2 bars and they indeed pop. like i said tho its nothing to be afraid of. the bars were def installed correctly and i surveyed them plenty during instal to make sure they were properly alligned since i didnt want any popping but ....ish happens. i still love them.

And these are DEF not supplimental bars

Ack did u lube up the bars during install? i used to get creaks and squeaks on super uneven areas too just cuz it wasnt lubed

 

Ya, I used what I had... but after I started to bolt it down I had to move it over to the passenger side b/c it was uneven (thanks to no little stopper things) and I think that just spread out any of the grease I had applied.

I had it into the dealer yesterday (for inspection) and had them check it out and the kid there tried to tell me it was b/c of my endlinks and I needed to get adjustable ones. I just said whatever and rolled my eyes. Sure I could put camry endlinks on it, but they're not really necessary.

 

the endlinks REALLY are the issue but im with u on not getting new ones. its not that deep. i can sacrifice a milimeter of red paint for the cause lol

 

Unless that mm of paint, and metal, turns into a broken bar down the road due to a weak spot :D Which I am guessing may have led to the failure shown above. But it depends on how much rubbing is occuring.

 

Well the endlinks should probably be replaced, but if it were that important (ie, more people having trouble with them) there would be ones on the market or the bars would come with them... IMO anyways.