No reason. I thought the same thing.

 

A little measuring tape. go to a machine shop buy 1 inch around cold rolled steel pole use a torch heat it up where you need o make your bends use a vice and about 30 minutes of your time. then weld it up it basically fits in the same place the trd bar does just solid not hollow. then paint it black to keep it from rusting after you primer it. and you have 45 dollars tied up in a superb add on sway bar that you never have to worry about bending or snapping. the weight really isn't an issue. welding on is alot stronger than bolting on and in alot of aspects alot easier. a good machine shop will do the whole job for 75 bucks. I do not like hollow sway bars I guess it comes from owning a WRX too I have snapped so many hollow bars it's not funny so I finally went with whiteline and would have gone with progress but their endlinks are very expensive. my only issue with the hotchkis front sway bar is it is the same diameter around as the stock one and the stock bar is solid so it is stronger. I believe all that needs to be changed on the front are the polyurathane endlinks. weight is just not that big of an issue since your already driving with that much weight in the front. I think the TRD bar is a hotchkis bar for the rear just renamed. I will give props to hotchkis upper strut tower brace it is very well made and worth every penny. I've got a progress bar on my girlfriends Xa it was on mine I am more pleased with the one I had fabricated and it was alot cheaper. I just don't like hollow bars especially when y life depends on it. Most people know hollow bars are cheaper to manufacture and they do not have as much strength as a solid bar. That has been proven by science they have to make a hollow bar alot larger than a solid bar to equal the strength and a hollow bar is more prone to snapping a solid bar might bend. I would rather have something bend than snap and cause total part failure. just 2 cents of course I drive my cars alot harder than most and I recomend progress because I don't see any other sway bar companies for scion that has the proven records on the track and SCCA titles to back it up.

 

So much misinformation I don't even know where to start.

I will bash the crap out of your TRD rear sway bar information though. It's 22mm just like the progress bar and is an AWSOME product. Plus the red is a savvy complement to the red tanabe df210 springs.

I don't know if there are any other parts available that are as easy to install as the TRD rear sway bar. Heating up a solid steel bar, bending it, and then welding it on to your car seems not only like a hard task, but a waste of time, effort and resources better spent doing something else.....like not welding crap onto your car.

 

There are no worries of the subframe or any suspension part giving out due to the sway bar?

 

Well it's a TRD part from the dealer, covered under warranty so whatever damage it causes will be fixed for free.

 

There is only a 12 month warranty on any parts that aren't on the car at the port (TRDs are installed at the port and/or delearship).

 

I have had no problems at all with the sway bar I made of course I inlisted the help of Matt douglas the 2001-2006 SCCA slalom and uphill challenge winner he drives a first gen honda with webbers. he runs a machine shop here and helped me build my sway and It's great it is a very beefy addon bar the stock bar is still intact it goes where the trd bar goes it's just solid beefy and welded on and alot less expensive. I saw how easy it was to make them thats why I posted I'll do a DIY with pics soon I took pics step by step as matt worked his magic.

 

That's pretty awesome you were able to fabricate your own DIY parts that has durability, but the unfortunate fact of the matter is most of us don't have access to the tools and materials required of that modication. Not to mention, I'm sure most of us don't drive hard enough to go snapping sways on a little xA. It's just more feasible to buy a sway and slap it on there in 10 minutes. Still, looking forward to that DIY!

 

I'll post the DIY soon. when I get a chance

 

Apparently the price has come down considerably on the TRD bar, to make it competitive with the Progress unit, and using the TRD model would eliminate any potential warranty issues.

There shouldn't really be issues, anyway. The bars are nearly identical, and actually assist the rear torsion bar in spreading the load from one side of the car to the other. If anything, it should help reduce impact damage from potholes.

Owners need to be aware that dealership service depts charge the customer more than they'll get paid from the parent company for warranty work, leading to a fair amount of shysterism... If they try to tell you that the wheel bearing went out because of an aftermarket swaybar, call bull____, take it up with the field service rep...

If you have a choice of dealers, like here in Denver, never ever go back to one that tries to give you the shaft.

 

While what you are saying has some degree of truth, you have to remember that just because you have a TRD part installed on your car does not mean that it is covered under your warranty. Or even that it is excluded from "voiding" any portion of your warranty. (I know they can't void a warranty, but that is the term that is always tossed around.)

My understanding is that to even get a TRD part warranted it has to be installed BY A DEALERSHIP. Even then I think the limit of the warranty is one year. After that year, forget it. Your overpriced, rip-off to install, TRD part is treated just like any other aftermarket part out there.

Now I am not saying don't by TRD parts. I just want to make sure people are aware of what they are actually getting when they buy a TRD part. There are far to many people out there who believe that just because a part is marketed by TRD that it will be treated just like any other factory part at a dealership. Simply put, that isn't the case.

So keep that in mind, and really weigh out the benefits you gain by paying the added cost for a TRD part as opposed to another quality aftermarket part.

 

once again I learn something new

 

i can't wait to order a trd rear sway bar. this has got to be a awesome upgrade based on everyone's responses so far.

 

Hey. THANKS TO EVERYBODY IN HERE WHO SAID THAT THE PROGRESS SWAY BAR WAS THE ISH!

I'm so excited to get that installed! I just put a deposit on some DF210's and the rear PROGRESS SWAY! I'm sure that it'll be a huge difference compared to rolling stock. BTW. HIT UP STEVE @ TRENDIX! I got both installed (not yet 10 days) for obscenely low price! THANKS AGAIN!

- jT

 

REALLY SHIIIAAT!! GOTTA GET ME ONE!! 2" dropped xA w/ strut bar and rear progress bar would handle like crazy!!!

 

I can start with the fact that the Hotchkis front swaybar I installed was much larger than
the factory bar. That's why it comes with new mounts. The difference is close to 1/4" in
diameter. My old factory swaybar was not solid, it was however extremely heavy.
Easily twice that of the Hotchkis. Isn't weight bad?

Is there anybody else that even makes an aftermarket front swaybar besides Hotchkis?

I personally have installed both the Hotchkis and the Progress rear swaybars on four
cars in my club including my own and I can't feel any difference in handling between
the two brands. I will say that Progress has the better design as far as installation is
concerned. Having the nuts welded to that little plate was a stroke of genius and the
install can be done in less than 15 minutes. If I was only doing the rear sways then I
would defiantly go with Progress. I would only recommend changing the fronts if your
hardcore and have access to a lift as it's a pain.

 

I installed the whole Hotchkis package a year and a half ago; front bar, rear bar and 4 springs. Really made a nice difference in the handling, even with stock rims/tires. Corners I took before at 25 I take now at 35 or even 40 if there's room for a little sliding.

The stock front bar is way heavier, since it is solid. But it's thinner, as mentioned above. The engineer at Hotchkis gave specs on how hollow vs. solid works, and it sounded reasonable. But since it's a bigger diameter, it has its own bushings. It is a PAIN to get a socket on the bolts that tighten down the new bushings; and I may have stripped the heads of a bolt or two while trying.

After this much time, I started to notice a knocking sound when my front end went over some uneven road while turning right, like pulling into my driveway. The dealer's mechanic went for a ride with me and heard it. He said it sounded like struts that were loosening. But the service manager called me later and said that since I had aftermarket parts that there was 'no way to tell' what was making the noise, and suggested putting a stock bar back on. Can you believe it?

By the way, my xB has 29000 miles on it. I'll edit this post if I ever get my head under there to find out where the noise is coming from. I'm guessing the front bar's bushings.

 

I just installed my Progress bar this afternoon... WOW! It feels way more stable in turns. It's absolutely worth every penny.

 

I installed my NF210s and Progress Rear Sway Bar on the same day, and it is quite a bit of difference.

Now, I just need to get off of these craptastic stock tires.

 

I've got to agree. The rear sway bar was an amazing AND affordable improvement. After adding some sticky tires, and I was ready to hunt for Mini's!
Now if I could just find a larger front sway (that's easy to install!)