Does anyone here has install sway bar and strut bar without lowering the box? Any noticeable improvement at cornering?

I can not lower the box with 2 reasons:
1, Have to deal with snow sometime in this area (Maryland)
2, Having kid in the car most of the time. The rid is stiff enough for my baby.

 

actually lowering the car with tein h-tech springs will soften the ride. and it is only a 1 inch drop so still very snow-worthy. and i installed my strut bar before i lowered my box. only prob is that with the strut towers integrated into the firewall you do not get very much of a difference as compared to a traditional cars setup . so basically a very negligeable difference.

 

Sorry, but that makes no sense. Ride height makes no difference unless you're on your bump stops, at which point no sway bar can work. The only thing that might make a lowered car FEEL like the sway bars work better is that the center of gravity is lower and therefore the car has a decreased tendency to sway -- with or without bars. But that doesn't affect how the bars themselves work. Hell, vehicles with lift kits still use sway bars.

Sway bars work by resisting DIFFERENCES between left and right side compression/extension. It has no effect when the car is level -- regardless of ride height.

Now, the trick with the front sway bar on an xB or xA is that it's a _____ to install. You need to drop the subframe in order to feed the bar through. But the rear bar is easy. Just drop it in place between the trailing arms and bolt it up.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
i didnt even see the sway bar part. i was only talking about strut bar. my bad lol. but yeah sways on a non lowered car are good i'd do a rear add on only tho not the progress tho. dont wanna get some rear trailing/sliding and then roll it cuz yer sittin so high.

 

it makes perfect sense....

the firewall of the car, being so close to the strut towers, acts like a strut-bar....
so, adding a strut bar will not make any noticable changes (unless you drive like a demon)

 

you can lower the car while mainting the spring rate (which will keep the ride quality...)
a one inch drop should not mess you up when snow comes...you'll still have a 4-5 inch clearance....
sway bars, the rear is the only one missing...(we have a front sway from the factory). the rear sways are generally easy to put in....

you will notice the handling change with the rear sway no matter what ride height you car is at....

 

I realize now that he was talking about strut bars and I was thinkng about sway bars. No wonder I couldn't make sense of it.

 

Yes I installed swaybars and a strut bar on a couple of rides here in northern california, they felt a noticible difference. They lived in san francisco and needed some balance, so they bought the swaybars and strutbars as an added bonus. Stayed at normal height and had no problems. The swaybar is a real mess if not installed corectly adn I have heard of some check engine lights coming on, becasue of poor installation. I would recomend a shop that installs swaybars on front wheel drive vehicles.

 

so, in a way you both answere parts of the main question...

 

i have the progress rear bar,and stock front bar,it is a great situp for me.i live in the mountains and the rear bar tightened the xb up to my liking,still at stock height,i have aset of tein s still in the box,will install as weather permits,staying with 15 inch wheels with some serious rubber when stock goodboots go away.swaybars will help at any height.i have a cheap ebay strut bar,cant tell if it worked that well or not.

hope this helps....
04 camobox with auto

 

What in the world does a check engine light have to do with a sway bar install????????????????

 

like stylis said....

if the install is poor, the check engine light might come on (due to the nature os the front sway bar install, this is more common than not...)
have an experienced person/shop due the front sway bar install....