Is there anyone local who knows a lot about suspension and handling? I need a serious opinion about what I'll gain by putting the front sway bar on along with the rear bar and springs from the Stage 1 TVS system. PM me if you know, or know of someone. Thanks!

 

What is your goal with the suspension. How big are the front and rear sway bars. Are you doing any sub frame connectors or braces, coilovers, springs, structs, strut tower bars, bbist b pillar brace?

How are you trying to make the car handle, oversteer, understeer, high skid pad, track racing, ...

 

That's a good question, I guess. Mainly I'm just looking for excellent cornering with little or no body roll, etc. I think the rear sway is pretty small, like 15mm, but the front is huge (but hollow). I don't have any frame braces now but I guess that's something I could consider. I'm running the standard sport coils that came with the TVS kit, coilovers would be cool eventually too. I pretty much know body roll is gone now and understeer is minimal. Guess I should put some more thought in, or do some more reading before I ask a question. I just figured the kit was tuned to work together, but according to the AutoX guys that installed everything, I might be better off with the just the rear sway and then a front STB.

 

OK, so I contacted Hotchkis and got a reply from a rep there. Here's his message:

****************

The front bar on the Scions are very ineffective in their purpose for
aggressive driving. Our bars are designed to work with each other. The
addition to a bigger front bar allows the front to stay flat and not dip or
dive into corners, thus making it faster through the turns. Not installing
the front bar will cause the dramatic oversteer on the xB and can cause it
to rotate too fast causing the ABS and VSC (vehicle stability censor ) will
activate causing the car to become with out power.

We have tested with and without the front bar during and collected data to
verify the results.

********************

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but basically he's saying to install everything together. When driving after the installation of RSB and springs, we did get the VSC to kick in, but only because we yarded the wheel so hard that one of the rear wheels came up off the ground. Do you think the rear and front together is going to be optimal for everyday driving and negotiating good turns while still being able to power into them if I wanted? I'm new to a lot of this suspension stuff, but at the same time maybe Hotchkis just wants to promote and sell that as a system........

 

Cool!...I skimmed over this and will post more later. I'm going to also move this to the suspension section of the site.

 

Why wouldn't you install them as a set? They did the development and testing, very few people have really done back to back tests so don't listen to the internet gurus that just spew what they think or read somewhere. You talked to the people that really know, trust them and install both bars, you will be happy with them.

ken

 

That's what I'm leaning towards, but just like thefoth was getting at, what suspension components you install depends on what your goal is with the car. Ultimately, I'd like to find someone local with the entire TVS system installed that I can ride with or test out for myself. I understand Hotchkis would promote the system, but if you would have ridden with us the night we installed the springs and RSB, you would have been more than suprised with the results.

 

What Hotchkiss is saying is very true indeed.

Hotchkiss is a very well known suspension and racing company which has been around for many years.

Just watch out for the companies or individuals who do not have an extensive history.

-Steve