questions about adjustable rear swaybar.

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I have the steeda front swaybar and a cobra rear swaybar installed on my mustang gt. I recently bought a steeda adjustable rear swaybar, and i was wondering if i should switch my rear swaybar back to the stock one when i install the adjustable steeda bar. I know the adjustable swaybar acts throught the axle and frame of the car so event thought it is softer the handling will be stiffer. I'm afraid if i keep the cobra rear bar on the rear will be too stiff and i'll oversteer all the time.

Anybody have any input or experiernce with this swaybar?
 

ReplicaR

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I don't really like what Steeda came up with when they made an "adjustable" rear sway bar. There is no real adjustability in that piece at all. It's just a very small very weak sway bar that gets attached additionally to your existing sway bar. The adjustment is done through the end links that have springs in them, so essentially it works like a really progressive spring, in a sense that as the suspension compresses, and the springs in the end links compress as well, and eventually once the springs are fully compressed, the secondary sway bar begins to function fully. So, when you adjust those end links you are not really adjusting the stiffness of the bar. You are just adjusting a point under which it becomes fully effective.

This leaves you with quite unpredictable behavior. No one in road racing or anything loosely associated with performance driving likes progressive suspension, whether it's springs, or this idiotic "adjustable" sway bar. If you want the car to be confidence inspiring, you have to have predictability, which is what linear springs, and proper sway bars are used for. My personal opinion: Don't waste your time. If you want a truly adjustable rear sway bar, you will get the one like Maximum Motorsports. That bar has many positions on the actual sway bar that allows you to adjust the stiffness of the bar by reducing or increasing leverage of the end links. This means that the bar is as stiff at ride height as it would be compressed.
 
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Thanks Replica, thats kinda what i thought. What do you think about the hotchkis rear swaybar? It attaches to the axle and the quad shock mounts, sounds similar to the steeda piece but without the "adjustablilty"
 

MadStang

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the question you should be asking yourself is do I really need an aftermarket swaybar? take the car to the track and see what it does, THEN make a decision. if you just dump money at parts you'll never really know if they're helping or hurting the car until you get on track and see what it does.

As for the hotchkis swaybar, if it functions the same as the Steeda but without adjustability that's an even bigger waste of money than the Steeda. Maximum Motorsports or an oem sway are the only way to go.
 

vermilion

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ive had both HD sway bar and adjustable from steeda. the HD one is still on my car and is very good piece... take note of the Welds though.. please do.

quite to the contrary of what people believe of the adjustable one, i liked it very much. i had used it 2 years. in fact the only reason i removed it was for the pan hard bar. IT was very well tunable for your driving needs. yes it made noise. you can tune for under/oversteer. instructions were very simple.
 

ReplicaR

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Perhaps the sway bar can be tuned, but it's not how sway bars are supposed to work. Progressive behavior for suspension is mostly useful for springs, where you have a soft spring at ride height, and stiff spring when you compress the suspension. It does take away predictability, but makes for a good riding street car. Sway bar should never be progressive. There is no reason for that. Sway bars don't affect ride quality at all. That's what they were made for, to reduce body roll at no cost to driving comfort. The only thing you are doing by adding a spring that has to get compressed is changing the amount of suspension compression before the spring on the sway bar is fully compressed, and the sway bar becomes fully effective. Not a very good design at all on my opinion.
 

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