ACK154 Edit: The pics may or may not be working here. For further reference, you can also check out the TRD Rear Sway Bar instructions at TRD Sparks, in PDF format: http://www.trdsparks.com/install/006...00-110inst.pdf

So, today I finally got around to installing my sway bar. I didn't take too many pics, since there's not much to see under the car, but here are some (clickable thumbnail) comparisons of the old and new, and pics of what you get with the TRD bar:



As you can see (and feel, if you lift it) the TRD is a lot beefier than the stock bar. I understand the automatic tCs have a slightly bigger bar than the manuals (by 1mm.) My car is a manual. I also noticed that the ends of the TRD bar are really havy duty compared to stock, and the bar doesn't make as many twists towards the end like the stock one.

The TRD bar "kit" comes with the bar, new bushings (possibly a stiffer urethane compound, but hard to tell,) new brackets for the larger bushings, two tubes of probably silicone grease and instructions. The instructions are straightforward. If you can remove the old bar, you can install the new one. Here's how I did it and a couple things I noticed:

- I backed the car onto Rhino ramps to do the install. It worked fine. I don't see any reason to jack the car up unless you have a lift at your disposal.

- You will most likely need a 5mm hex key/bit/wrench to keep the end link "bolt" from spinning when you remove the nut. I only needed it on one when removing them, but needed it on both when tightening.

- Once you have all the bolts removed, the old sway bar will seem to be trapped among the suspension and exhaust pieces. When laying under the back of the car (looking up, right arm on the driver's side, left on the passenger's) I found I could move the right side of the bar down and forward and start moving it toward the back of the car, then twist and turn it to get the other end out. It took me a couple minutes of patience to remove it (and I did consider unbolting the flexible joint in the exhaust at the back which might have made it easier.) When I put the new bar in, I used the same route in reverse. Basically, I'm trying to say it's possible to remove the sway bar and install the new one without brute force or unbolting anything else, just take your time and figure it out.

- Remember to grease the bushings.

- Make sure you use the same set of holes on the left and right sides of the bar.

- The bracket nuts/bolts get torqued to 26 ft-lbs, the end link nuts to 32 ft-lbs. I was able to use my torque wrench for the brackets, but I couldn't fit it in to tighten the end link nuts. I used an open end wrench and tightened them pretty good. I doubt there's much chance of over-tightening them to the point of breaking them, plus it's a little difficult to get them too tight when you're holding the bolt part with the hex wrench. Just make sure everything is good and tight. I didn't put Loctite or anything on any of the threads, but I suppose you could.

That's it! I haven't driven it yet with the new bar (I was too busy trying out my Mr. Clean AutoDry which works great) but when I do I'll post some comments and probably a review.

As always, I got the bar from McGeorgeParts. I also have the auto-dimming/Homelink rear-view mirror sitting here, but that will have to wait for another day.

Jason

 

Nice write up. I'll let it sit here for awhile and then move it over to FAQ section.

 

When I installed mine I found that if you disconnect the exhaust from the rubber hanger it goes in much easier, gives about a foot of extra wiggle room. It is the rubber hanger that is dead centerjust after the joint in the exhaust.

 

Good idea. Thanks.

 

which one of the holes on the bar, is the "street" setting? and which is the "race"? mine was already installed on the car when I bought it....so never got the install papers. I've read that there is a more noticable difference using the race settings. Thanks!

 

street is the outer one race is the inner one

 

The orange looking one, I take is the TRD part.

 

just to get that right ;) the lower hole closer to the body of the bar is race?
the hole closest to the tip is street? that would seem to make sense.

Has anyone run both settings to see if there would be any negatives to having it on race settings? thanks for the info!

 

Correct. And yes, the red bar is the TRD one.

I drove around for a while on the race setting. Seems to be the one for me. Most of the understeer is gone and it's easy to get the car to rotate in the turns. It's much closer to neutral than before. I can't imagine that it would be too much oversteer for some people.

 

I just went out to check on mine, and it was set to street, if it every dries up around here (rain) I think I have enough room to get under the car and move it down one hole without havin to raise the car. Thanks for the pics and info man.

 

pics of it under the car?

 

No, and why?

 

Whats the diameter of the original sway bar and the diameter of the trd replacement? Does anyone know?

 

I believe the stock bar is 21mm (22mm on automatics) and the TRD bar is 24mm.

 

wow 24mm is a pretty big bar but then again so is 21/21mm for stock as well. I'm curious to see what difference there is with that small of a difference.

I recall hearing that aggressive sway bars are best used with stiffer suspension and when paired to softer stock susp. often yeilds poor results. any thoughts?

 

The European style of suspension tuning has been soft-ish springs and shocks with heavier anti-sway bars. The logic being, if you can't keep the wheels on the ground (which is difficult with very stiff shocks and springs) then you lose traction.

I have the TRD springs and rear sway bar with stock struts, and it seems to be a very nice combination. The ride is very comfortable, with only sharp bumps coming through to the cabin. Body motion is well controlled with very little up/down or front/back motion under normal circumstances.

The addition of the rear sway bar makes a bigger difference to me than the springs. The car no longer has a tendency to push in the turns, and it's now much easier to rotate the car through turns using gas and throttle inputs. Before, if you added gas in a fast turn, it would want to push more and spin the inside tire. Now, the front feels more firmly planted and the rear comes around very nicely.

I have the sway bar on the "race" setting and see no reason to change it to the softer setting.

 

thats a very interesting strategy, and i definitely can follow the logic behind it. And i'm not surprised to hear you say that the sway bar made a more noticeable difference to the vehicles handling than did the trd springs. Let me ask you though... one thing i was wondering was the stiffness of the trd springs... i used to run very stiff springs on my old integra and only aftermarket shocks like the koni yellows were able to handle that stiff of a spring rate. Do you at all anticipate that you may need to go with an aftermarket or trd set of struts down the line?

 

I'm not too concerned about longevity of the struts. They might need to be replaced a little bit sooner than if I stayed with stock springs, but they should still last a long time (as OEM struts tend to.) I figure by the time the struts go there will be plenty of aftermarket options and I might replace springs and struts or do coilovers or something.

The spring rate on the TRD springs is not that high. As I and others have said, it doesn't really hurt ride quality (like a racing spring would.) I believe they were designed to work with the OEM strut, and they seem to do so very well.

 

What do the sway bar endlinks and mounts look like? On my old supra the endlinks were made of plastic and the tabs were really flimsy so if really stiff sways were used you would bend or break parts. That is the only draw back I can see.

 

The endlinks are metal rods with metal ball joints on each end. They have rubber boots and grease inside. It should be pretty easy to replace them with threaded rods and heim joints which should last longer and provide a slight tightening of the suspension.