I just removed a set of traction bars from my car. I bought some Competition Engineering ones from someone on Ebay who had several sets of them backstocked. Comp Engineering doesn't make them anymore for Mustangs, but they do make them for other cars. They are way thicker and stronger looking than the Lakewoods. I removed them because, besides the fact that I couldn't tell that they added traction or did ANYthing, they are very low and scrape speed bumps and anything slightly raised like that. Also, I was worried about long term damage to my rear components because of the way they work...
They are bars that are connected by the rear lower control arm bolts and mount to the axle at the rear of the lower control arm's location. Then there's a threaded link that attaches to the front of the traction bar on one end, and up to a clamp that bolts to the axle on the other end. The idea behind them is that when you accelarate strongly, the rear end naturally wants to twist backwards. When it does, the threaded link pulls up on the front of the traction bars and the rubber snubbers on the traction bars "slap" up onto the frame and keep the rear end from twisting backwards. So the idea is that the force that is trying to twist the rear end would be used to push downward onto the tires and provide traction. The original leaf spring traction bars that were invented in the 60's (can't remember the guy's name) were nicknamed "slapper bars", since they slap up onto the frame.
So the reason that I removed mine.... Any time you turn a corner and the car sways to the side, the traction bar on the side your turning into is pressed with the full weight of the turning car. This, in turn, is pushing on the upper control arm and pulling on the lower control arm....
HARD, and twisting the rear end forward on one side. If this was on a track-only car, maybe it wouldn't be a concern, but I drive mine daily and I worried about the added stress to the rear parts. Also, like i said, I couldn't tell that they did anything at all. A good set of aftermarket
control arms will do what traction bars claim to do anyway.... stop rearend twisting. I think that leaf spring traction bars do work, just because of the way they are designed. Leaf springs need that kind of extra stiffness. But think about it, how many fox body Mustang drag cars do you see with traction bars? Not many.... that's because there are much better products for gaining traction for these cars than old fashioned traction bars. There are other similar products that do work though, like Southside machine bars, Mega-bites Jr's, etc.
So to summarize my long story (sorry about that)... I thought they hurt more than helped, so I took them off. I didn't really want to at first because I thought they looked really cool, but taking them off was a good decision. I have tubular upper and
lower control arms,
Eibach drag launch springs, subframes, and other mods to help the car's traction and handling, so the bars weren't nessesary. The traction bars didn't allow the rear of the car to squat much at all, but since I removed them it squats down nicely when launched hard.
This was just my experience with them though, other people may have had good results with them. I'm not saying "they suck, don't get them" I'm just giving my input with the experience I've had with them. If you do still want to try some, mine are for sale.
Sorry so long... hope this helps.
