Looking at buying an aftermarket sway bar (I drive a mountain highway everyday for work ). I've narrowed my selection down to Hotchkis and Progress bars. I can't seem to find the hotchkis bar in a rear only package. Anyway.. from personal experience which bar do you folks prefer and why? yes I've searched and done my research, but ultimately I'd like to hear from actual owners instead of company propaganda. Thanks in advance!

 

Hotchkis was designed for the front to compliment the rear, so unless you find it used, you won't find it alone. Other than that, I can't chime in on either, I'm running DG Spec rear sway

 

Street driving, hwy driving, I say get the progress and run it on full stiff.

The DG bar (which is what I have) is amazing, but really is more designed for the autox course or the track, meaning it is a lot stiffer than you probably need on the street. Also, if you arent used to it and have spent a lot of time really pushing the car (not just hitting some twisty roads on the street) it can be downright dangerous on the stiffer settings.

But, that being said, all the DG bars that were made by progress were already sold. You could get a bar that size from progress still, but it would cost more due to them just running 1.

 

hotchkis

 

DG spec! I know someone was selling theirs on here but not sure if it has sold yet. Definitely made a huge difference in the turns.

 

if you just look for for the rear sway then go for progress. you don't need DG spec for daily.

 

the hotckis set up for dd is fun!!!
its like riding a roller coaster all day long

 

i daily all my autox stuff...people hate me but i dont mind it...DG swap on full? love it....tires hate me but the car loves it lol

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=230550758943 Traded in my DD for a new SuperDuty for pulling the race trailer... Sway is the only thing I pulled off

 

I've read the front sway is a PITA to install though?

 

Front sway isn't as easy as the rear, but I wouldn't let the "pita install" stop you from getting what you want. It wouldn't be too bad. Just have to drop the subframe down to install it. I've had to drop it a few times for a couple different installs (i.e. clutch/flywheel, motor mount). Hardest part is keeping up with all of the nuts/bolts that you pull out and making sure that you've retorqued everything when reinstalling. But I have a DG Spec and stock front on my DD and love it.

 

You're sway is not causing your tires to wear. I hear people say that and am not sure where they get it, since the sway is doing absolutely nothing until you take a corner (it has no effect at all on rear alignment, basically floats freely during straight driving in a sense). And when you take a corner, if anything, it is keeping the car flatter, thus keeping a better contact patch on the ground. If your tires hate you, it is because the alignment is set incorrectly, most likely toe.

I drove around all summer with my DG bar on full stiff.. however, someone who has never autox'd the car a good amount or driven in on a track should NOT do this, seeing as how it will feel just fine until you make the mistake of lifting hard mid corner and finding out you are backwards in a flash. That is exactly why car manufacturers ( even on many sporty vehicles) tune the car to understeer by default. Average joe driver would not know what to do if the rear started coming around. And this includes most kids who think they "take the twisties fast" on the street. Once you have driven on a course or track enough, you learn to feel when the car is about to rotate, not just feel when it does ;)

That is why the DG bar was designed for competition use, and Dan/Dezod would tell you that. It irks me a bit that so many bought it because it was "rare" and yellow... a waste of money. If I were not autoxing the car, I likely would have stuck with the TRD bar I had on the car to start with.

 

At this point I have no intention to autocross.. I just want to eliminate body roll and make my car "feel" better driving to work. The tC is my DD and so far I love it, and it does exactly what I want/expect it to do. I think if I ever got into autox or anything race inspired I'd probably grab an WRX STi..

 

I personally wouldn't bother with the DG bar if you aren't autocrossing, I was in the market for a sway bar when they were released and decided if I didn't need the extra stiffness it wasn't worth the extra $50 over the regular Progress bar.

If you're just looking to do some spirited driving, either the TRD or Progress bars should be perfect for you.

 

I'd recommend Progress too as an excellent "off-the-shelf" item for purchase. It allows for 3 different settings of aggressiveness and comes with endlinks to boot. You won't be disappointed.

http://www.dezod.com/pd_progress_rear_sway_barscion.cfm

 

btw the DG Spec bar came with dezod endlinks, they talk to me all day

 

Some people might say the tires hate the sway because they start rotating the car more and causing the tires to slide across the road.

I'll finally get to use my DG spec on a autocross course on the 28th.

 

If you drive it to that point, yes the rear will want to break loose sooner. But had you used a stock sway, the front would break loose sooner. So that really isnt the sway doing anything to the tires. And on the street, unless you are driving that hard all the time (aka acting like an idiot) it wont have any effect on tire wear.

 

Those endlinks where a slightly different heim design to be more rigid and aggressive than the "off the shelf" Dezod ones.

 

What do they say?