Well I have a set of TRD shocks and a rear sway comming for AutoX - It doesn't need much handling improvement I've noticed with the times I laid down at the track.

Do they thing the front is up to spec without one?

 

I think the main reason and what trd stated themselves was that they had a problem with designing a front sway bar for the tc to work properly. This could be the issue that hotchkis has with the front bar rubbing.

 

So I am taking it since TRD did release it that I will still get a performance increase in handling without losing balance in stability not having the front?

 

with that set-up you still need work,sorry
im sure you are putting down good times, but you can always improve with a better set up

but as far not having front sway, honestly you dont really need to replace the OEM up front, not gonna make THAT MUCH of a difference, IMO

 

I know I still need more work - however... I cannot afford to get anything else atm and I'll just have to work on my skill to pull me through. It will however be better than what I had so that I'm going in the right direction.

Also I am a firm believer that AutoX is down to the drivers abilities - some stock MR2s etc were just smoking the track with a great driver as well as some other cars. My tC handled INCREDIBLY well for stock at the time on the first event.

Link:

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=111966

 

I have the hotchis front sway bar and it has been a pain ever since I put the thing on. You need a butt load of grease to keep the thing from squeekin, then it has nothing to keep it from sliding back and forth through the bushings. The stock bar has a washer welded on, similar to the trd rear, that keeps it from sliding.

Determined to make the thing work, I bought a grease gun, greased the hell out the bushings, there is a grease port on the bushing clamp. And to remedy the sliding, I took some 1" split collars (since the bar is 15/16") and tapped a 3/8" hole for a setscrew. Put those inboard of the bushings and cranked the hell out of the setscrew, and it's been solid ever since.

As for the difference, I can definitely tell. Over steer is eliminated, especially in high speed cornering, and the wheels drive straight and stiff no matter what the road condition. A definite must for autocross.

 

yeah i wouldnt agree that a front bar wouldnt do anything. It lets you stiff the car up a lot more, because you can offset the front with the back bar giving you overall more stiffness. Ofcourse this is just speculation on my part however most hotchkis owners tend to agree.

 

Hotchkis makes a good bar, it's almost twice as thick as stock, with adjustable stiffness. However, they should have caught the thing slidling when they developed it.

I would recomend the Hotchkis front and rear sways, good quality, and for the price, you can't beat it. I heard they don't work well with coilovers, they change the sway link position, forcing the bar to hit the end links.

 

I believe the TRD rear sway is a Hotchkis sway. I could be wrong on this, but I do know that TRD buys a lot of aftermarket parts and re-labels them as TRD parts.

I'm perfectly OK with that, as long as I get the additional warranty protection of buying TRD parts.

Whatever the case, the Hotchkis strut tower bar is awesome quality, and you can't go wrong buying parts from them either way.

I had the Hotchkis strut tower bar and TRD rear sway installed at the same time, then had the TRD shocks and lowering springs put on a few months later.

HUGE difference with all the parts on, and noticably tighter with just the front and rear bars as well.

 

nope.. the only thing remotely close to the TRD sway bar is Progress's.. the main difference between the two is the Progress is 3-way adjustable and it comes with endlinks.

but yeah... TRD does buy alot of other company's products for themselves... the Hotchki's strut bar and TRD's are basically the same. and then the AEM intake.. same..

for coilvers, (teins specifically and maybe others) they change the mounting for the endlink. it thus in turn has the sway bar lower than normal.. and for the hotchki's.. it'll probably rub on the control arm. (you can't hit endlinks.... they're connected to the bar..)

 

Im pretty sure Progress group makes the TRD bar since the Hotchkis bar is so much larger in comparison. Either way, the TRD bar is not a huge increase in stiffness over stock so with the stock front bar there is still a nice balance. With the Hotchis rear bar being so much stiffer than the stock rear bar, a front bar is included to bring the front end to a level where it has better balance. The rear Hotchkis bar by itself makes a huge difference over the TRD bar even, but is more well rounded when it has the larger front bar to compliment it.

 

so basically no difference between progress and the TRD, and the hotchkis is the stiffest? im still deciding.......

 

21F 18R <--manual
21F 20R <--auto
both solid

hotchkis = hollow
24F 2 positions
27R 3 position

progress auto = solid
22R 3 position

trd = solid
22R 2 position

ST = solid
23F 20R (not sure how many positions)



do not say the TRD sway bar SUCKS because they designed the bar to be ONLY that stiff. TRD/PROGRESS believed taht anything stiffer or bigger will be TOO STIFF for the car.

i have driven cars with the HOTCHKIS and PROGRESS. the hotchkis seems to be very stiff for street use but is perfect if you upgraded tires etc etc.

it all depends on your level of tuning

 

i felt that the trd bar significantly changed the handling of my car and out of the couple mods that i have on my car i think it was the best for the money.

 

IMHO TRD knows what they are doing and put the time in and do the research to build a balanced product and have a rhyme behind their reason.

I wanted to know because since they did not release a front sway when all the others are in sets... They had a good reason.

 

Hotchkis has 3 positions in the rear not the front, and I don't think anyone every said that trd sucks.

 

I didnt see that said either, but what I will say is that if you plan to get into a lot of autoX or open track driving, the TRD rear bar will quickly show its weakness and you will want to upgrade. If you are only driing aggresively on the street, it will be more than adequate.

 

whoops type-o but changed. thx

 

The tC driven well already on just stock shocks with TRD springs handles amazing in autox...

I am throwing on the TRD shocks and swaybar friday and checking them out.

I was impressed with how the car handled being pushed to its stockish limits.

 

I've upgraded from the TRD rear sway to the progress and I can definately feel a difference. Progress on the highest setting feels alot stiffer and responsive than the TRD on the highest setting, I also notice a small decrease in body roll.