Interest in Dan Gardner Spec tC rear sway & coilovers by Progress?
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Scikotics
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Posts: 9,731
From: Minneapolis, MN
You can't exactly measure the improvement in handling compared to the regular Progress bar. It really just comes down to a personal opinion based on driving preference. Like x bar shows this and so improvement compared to y bar. The answer will be vague. However Dan Garner used this bar on his award winning tC, so there probably is a legit improvement. Any who, you can't really go wrong when the bar is just a few more dollars then the standard one.
Paul or Dan, is the bar gonna come with a limited edition badge or something? I mean an actual badge that is engraved onto the bar, not a sticker.
Paul or Dan, is the bar gonna come with a limited edition badge or something? I mean an actual badge that is engraved onto the bar, not a sticker.
And the difference in this bar compared to a trd bar will be HUGE, not vague in the least. If you ran a bar like this on it stiffest setting on the street, you would find yourself **** around nose VERY easilly if you were not ready for it. If you dont autox or track the car, this bar is most likely overkill. Maybe on the softest setting, but even then you need to be very aware that your car will rotate much easier than stock. But, if you really push your car and know how to drive it.. especially autoxing or road course use, this will be a great upgrade.
The reason manufacturers set up cars to understeer by nature most times is that understeer is considered safer than oversteer. If you overdrive a corner in a car that pushes, it will at least slide out forward. In a loose car, it will come around on you. The latter is much harder for the average driver to control and induces more panic reaction.
A stiffer rear bar makes the car come around easier. This is exactly what a FWD car needs on a track or autox course. But like I have said before, what is great on the track does not always = what is great on the street. So people need to know what a sway does and how the changes affect the car. Again, people tend to miss this for some reason. .
Sounds like this bar will have a relatively street friendly soft setting compared to just running a hotchkis rear bar for example, yet have a much stiffer max setting than the regular progress or trd bar obviously. Should be a great setup really. I honestly could care less what color it is (you cant see the bar unless you get under the car) or if it has a limited edition tag on it.... I would want it purely for the improvements in times it could provide. I will be keeping up with this and may jump on it depending on when it comes out.
But to answer the question of "how much improvement".... well, the car will rotate significantly easier than with a trd bar. So, for what you use the car for, do you think it needs to be looser? If so, this will definitely do that for you. If you autox, for example, and whatever current setup you have makes the car want to come around on you a lot due to driving style, setup, etc, then you may not want to go to a stiffer rear bar right now. If you just drive back and forth to work and never push the car, it is a waste of money to run any aftermarket bar really.. and running too much rear bar may actually be dangerous for you. So the better question would be "how much easier will the car rotate?"... that answer would be a good amount to a whole lot depending on the setting you use
Last edited by engifineer; Feb 12, 2010 at 10:18 PM.
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Scionetics
KAD
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From: Western NY
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From: SoCal
Guys,
It's official. Pre-order is now open!!! See here for details:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=181275
It's official. Pre-order is now open!!! See here for details:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=181275
Thread Starter
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Scionetics
KAD
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 11,936
From: Western NY
I was just excited about it. I have been holding off on the sway bar. Wasn't sure how good it would be especially with all the combos out there with front and rear. Hearing Dan uses this with stock front on his race car made me really want it. Besides I recently needed to get the adjustable endlinks. I just wish progress could kick these out quicker to get here by spring break 
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Scikotics
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Posts: 9,731
From: Minneapolis, MN
Got my pre-order in earlier today. So are they going to wait until they have 50 orders before they start the production run, or should we expect them to start production right away (6-8 weeks starting today). That would be perfect since that would be hitting in mid april. Our first autox event is May 1, so just in time to get the car prepped after the weather warms up and before the first event!
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Scikotics
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 9,731
From: Minneapolis, MN
Hey dont feel bad drax, including what is on the car right now, I have stock springs, trd springs, stock struts, ss-p coilovers, stock rear sway, trd rear sway, hotchkis sway set and now a gardner sway coming..... and that is just the suspension stuff 
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Joined: Sep 2006
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From: Maryland
haha, yeah, but take a glance at my profile page and see how long my list goes for overal mods. the only thing i'm missing is an LED swap, and some audio upgrades. everything else has pretty much been done.
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 628
From: SoCal
Got my pre-order in earlier today. So are they going to wait until they have 50 orders before they start the production run, or should we expect them to start production right away (6-8 weeks starting today). That would be perfect since that would be hitting in mid april. Our first autox event is May 1, so just in time to get the car prepped after the weather warms up and before the first event!