Sway Bar Opinions

Mattstang04

15 Year Member
Sep 15, 2006
1,152
143
104
St. Louis, MO
Been thinking about trying to get rid of some understeer. I took a look at my front sway bar bushings and they look pretty beat, after all they are the original ones at 10 years old now. Why just upgrade bushings when you can replace the bars, right?

Been looking at the Eibach kits? Is Eibach rear sway bar better than the 96 to 98 Cobra 25mm sway bars? The Eibach rear is only 24mm?

If anyone has good experience with one brand or another, especially with rear bars, let me know.
 
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I was really thinking about getting new bars. I have the energy end link bushings. Did the Bar bushings actually fit? I can never get a good bearing on what size bar Ford used on the front of these cars. There seem to be many different sizes thru the generation.
 
I bought the eibach kit for my 07 350Z a while back, and it definitely made a nice difference. It came with poly bushings, and both bars were adjustable which allowed tuning. On my 89 Mustang, I installed a larger (tubular) Steeda front sway bar, and added the Steeda adjustable rear sway bay, and that also made a nice difference in the handling.
 
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I'm going to let you all know how the Eibachs are soon because I ordered a set. It has to be better than the nose diving OEM set I have at the moment.

I would consider an adjustable bar if my car ever saw any track time but she's a streeter. Always will be. I don't need tweak and retweak the suspension to pretend I'm the Bandit or the Duke boys when I blast down the backroads. Just need her to do a little better than she's been.
 
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I'm going to let you all know how the Eibachs are soon because I ordered a set. It has to be better than the nose diving OEM set I have at the moment.

I would consider an adjustable bar if my car ever saw any track time but she's a streeter. Always will be. I don't need tweak and retweak the suspension to pretend I'm the Bandit or the Duke boys when I blast down the backroads. Just need her to do a little better than she's been.
Yea, me too. I had dreams of super
chargers, but after having car problems, without a service engine to guide me, funtionalbility is all I need.
.
Obtained a Steeda adjustable rear sway bar and a Roush front sway bar. Glues me to the street and makes my steering sensitive. The twisties are a blast.
 
Just an update. I got the bars in today. Took me about 2 hours to install. Not a difficult job at all. The rear Eibach bar is much bigger than the stock rear and almost as big, if not bigger, than the stock front bar. The front Eibach bar is huge compared to the stock front bar. It came with new polyurethane bracket bushings and new end links with poly bushings as well.

If I had a lift and air tools this job would have taken about 45 minutes but working on your back with hand tools takes time. I will post some comparison of the stock bars versus the new bars when they download to my computer.
 
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I'm curious to not only see the pictures but to ride in a GT with upgraded bars to feel the difference. Mine only has lowering springs and upgraded shocks/massive tires (315's) and I've always been very happy with the handling and available grip. I installed a 1 1/8" front and 3/4" rear bar on my 66 Mustang and it completely changed the behavior of the car for the better. But, that was to be expected based on the horrendous factory suspension on those older cars. Please update on the driving experience with the new bars, I'm considering the upgrade for my 00' GT too.
 
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The first 2 pictures compare the stock rear bar to the new rear bar. The second 2 pictures compare the stock front bar and the new front bar. For kicks I threw in the last 2 pictures. They show how the new rear bar is as big as the stock front bar. And of course, a shot of the complete kit.

The pictures almost don't do the difference in size justice. The new front bar is massive and the rear bar obviously far exceeds either of the stockers.

In the little driving that I have done so far, the result are noticeable. Most of the turns I took were on asphalt country roads. Some with good 90 degree bends. A couple were S turns. I haven't done any interstate on or off ramp tests. My speeds in these did not exceed 50 mph none were lower than 35.

Understeer has been noticeably reduced. The car doesn't want to nose dive the front corners into the turn. It stays more level. It didn't plow through the front tires and what little tire screech I heard seemed to be from the rears catching up with the fronts.

A couple of times the car felt like it was on the verge of oversteering but it never actually broke loose. I wasn't goosing the throttle to try and make it do so, either. I'll take a car that turns too much over one that one won't turn enough any day, though. It has a much more confident feel and you don't have to turn the steering wheel over as much to make the harder turns. You just point the thing and it goes there.
 
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The adjustable probably allows you to be more aggressive than just a bolt on bar. I concur with drilling in the underside of the car though. I'm kind of hesitant to make holes too.

I had it out today, a little interstate, a little back road. She ate up some corners. I could cut down on ramps and enter the interstate at the speed of traffic with no problems before. But sometimes it felt like the car was a little sloppy to straighten out coming in to traffic hot. It would kind of want to veer or continue in the same direction that it was coming in at and I would have to reel it back into the lane before crossing the line into the next lane. The car isn't so sweeping now, if that makes any sense.

I'd recommend these bars to anyone wanting to tighten up their steering. But I think this the way my car performs overall, is a credit to the rear lower control arms with spherical bushings, strut tower brace, struts, springs and FLSFC. The sway bars just tied everything together so much better.
 
The adjustable probably allows you to be more aggressive than just a bolt on bar. I concur with drilling in the underside of the car though. I'm kind of hesitant to make holes too.

I had it out today, a little interstate, a little back road. She ate up some corners. I could cut down on ramps and enter the interstate at the speed of traffic with no problems before. But sometimes it felt like the car was a little sloppy to straighten out coming in to traffic hot. It would kind of want to veer or continue in the same direction that it was coming in at and I would have to reel it back into the lane before crossing the line into the next lane. The car isn't so sweeping now, if that makes any sense.

I'd recommend these bars to anyone wanting to tighten up their steering. But I think this the way my car performs overall, is a credit to the rear lower control arms with spherical bushings, strut tower brace, struts, springs and FLSFC. The sway bars just tied everything together so much better.
Full length subframes are a must, realized that after some modding that the underside is really malleable. Makes the car feel as if it's on rails.