Has anyone installed the hotchkis sways themselves without using a lift but instead used a jack and jack stands. I just read the directions here http://www.hotchkistuning.com/bin/in...ions/22412.pdf and it doesn't seem that difficult. Why does everyone take thier car in for these type of mods? Are you all that well off?

 

CivicEater just installed the rear sway bar on his xA last night (this morning?). The problem is the front sway bar. It's a pain in the ___ to take out, because of all the things in the way. Also, you have to mess with the struts in a way that they can get mis-aligned...The rear sway bar seems to be an easy install because it's more of a "helper" bar to the regular strut bar...

 

The front is a pain in the a$$, thats an under statement. Scroll down a little farther to the thread I started about Sway Bar Install Question. Should be enough info from all the posts of others here who did it to help you out.

 

many people have posted about isntalling the front and have been unsuccesful. you need a lift to do the front.

 

I did the front myself without a lift. It was a pain in the ___. A TOTAL pain in the ___ . You will need to do things like hold the crossmember down with your feet and adjust the sway with your hands. Your neck and back will be aching the next day. I understand that this procedure takes around two hours on a lift. It takes way longer without one. It can be done, but set aside a full day for it. Also the Hotchkis instructions are kind of unclear as to which bolts to undo etc. I'd get a buddy to help you. After a few hours of going it alone my neighbor gave me a hand and it made things way easier.

 

Another thing the instructions dont tell you is, you need a torque wrench for the front. I think we put about 110-150 lbs of torque on the cradle bolts.

 

I know a guy that tried to do it with is friend and he told me it was a pain in the ___ and couldnt do it. Some how the eng cradle it wont budge and he took off every bolt that was need to remove to drop it cradle and it still didnt drop. I told him that I wanted to give it try and I would sponser him the labor as long as he helped me but I guess he was so sick of it he didnt wana go through that again and no put it on. So from the sounds of it it is a pain and take it to a shop. I probably could have done it some how.

 

Yeah, that was me. Total pain in @$$. You need a lift. Ok, you don't need a lift, but if you want to stay sane, you need a lift.

Even the guys at the shop messed up a little bit. They dropped the subframe too far, and my steering linkage popped off. Now I have some more road noise/gear noise in my cabin. I don't think the anti-sway bar adds so much rigidity that it causes this extra noise.

In any case, I paid $80 to have them install my front anti-sway. Money well spent I say.

I didn't think you'd be able to notice the difference, but the car does corner flatter, and seems to stick with a little more tenacity. This is all relative though, because the car handles like a shoebox with wheels anyway.

 

WARNING! Do not drop the SUBFRAME TOO FAR!

DO NOT FORGET TO UNBOLT THE STEERING RACK or you will pull out the steering rod thingie, or at least the dust boot. Very annoying to align up and get the damned thing driving straight (unless you don't care if your wheel is pointing one direction but you're driving straight...you can pretend you're drifting if you like.)