Finally broke down....

[rogerdugans]

Since I bought my WRX (end of December 07) I have been talking about changing the sway bars...

Set my sights on adjustable front and rears, so I can pick and choose, being a nOOb to Subaru-ness.
I had planned on getting Whitelines, and was just waiting until the rear bar was available.

It was too nice out today. :D

Went to Exeter and picked up the front bar, and the Whiteline endlinks (since it seems like they might help responsiveness a bit as well.)

Last I checked, sunday is supposed to be a decent day so I'll probably be installing then.

I will be looking at all the info around on best practices and so forth, but if anyone feels like posting pointers, tips and tricks, feel free to make my life easier. :rofl:

While it may be minimal, I am soon to be joining the ranks of the Modded Subarus. :devil:

[Robk0000]

after reading the thread title, i thought your car broke down. Aftermarket sways feel awesome, simply put.

[Kevin]

lol I thought the same thing.

ya sways are a good start.

[rogerdugans]

Yeah, I have a tendency towards.... twisted humor. ;)

Definitely looking forward to getting the new bar on- very little that about the car I don't like, and pretty sure that sway bars will fix 90% of that.

I might even get lucky, and find that just the front is enough...

But I expect to get a rear bar too, eventually.

[Murphy2012]

Ummm, where do you live? Fix your profile? I might be able to help sunday.

[Bu11dogg2]

Sways are a great first mod :)

Now that the bug has bit you....

[rogerdugans]

Sways are a great first mod :)

Now that the bug has bit you....

Well....
The aforementioned rear bar is also part of my plan. ;)

But I have things to be done on the house as well- radiant heat in one room to replace electric baseboards.
Screen porch that I plan to eventually convert to a year-round room...
Need a new, bigger driveway, which is one job I can NOT do myself...

So funds for mods are limited, for one thing.
Plus, I am pretty happy with most of the car as-is.
Well.... maybe a short shifter. :D

[banned4life]

advice? buy zep or pb blaster before u start

if ur around dover, u can come over. ill be re-doing my rear as well.

[rogerdugans]

Depending on the weather, I may make my test drive an extended one. ;)

Some good roads up towards Dover and the Seacoast...

I'll definitely be doing the work at home though- just way too many tools available not to...

Though I don't expect to need all that much, really.

Edit-
I've got a couple of cans of good penetrating oil in the welding truck too. :D

[rogerdugans]

Update:

things dried out and it is supposed to be cooler tomorrow, so I did the bar today.

Took a short test drive and can report that I am VERY happy with the results. :D

Much less understeer.
Much less body roll when cornering.
Much less of that "floaty" feeling at speed on the highway.
Virtually no difference in ride quality.
Steering seems to communicate just a tiny bit better.

Cornering has just become FUN again!

Just doing the front bar (in the 24mm equiv. holes) and endlinks has made
a huge difference in the car, and I am glad I decided to go ahead now even though the adjustable rear bar I want isn't available yet.

And I do want the rear bar even more now...

The handling feels far better than it did, but it still isn't up to the standards I became used to over the last 6 years....
I expect the addition of a rear sway bar will get it just about there.

[sticop]

i was gunna say this is the first broken down thread i think ive ever seen on a subaru sight. congrats on the sways i love my whitelines

[rogerdugans]

Which reminds me-

I ordered the new rear finally on monday.
It arrived friday.
It was installed saturday morning. :D

Marvelous, really- understeer is a thing of the past, the car is ROCK solid at speed and the ride quality is.... well, that is where I may have rushed to much. ;)

I got the larger of the two bars, a 22mm instead of 20mm, mainly because they had it NOW.

With the rear bar set in the softest setting, and the front where it has been, in the hardest setting: the ride is just a bit "crunchy."
Not actually bad, mind you, at least not to me, but it is now very noticeably different from stock.

I plan to run like this for a few weeks, and then maybe put the front bar in the softer setting, see how that is.

Worst possible case, I am happy as is, but I think slightly softer in the rear MIGHT be better, in case anyone with an 08 is considering bars.

I'll update whenever I adjust the front bar.

And yes, my thread title was intentionally.... humorous. :devil:

[rogerdugans]

I am finally clearing out my camera's SD card (getting a big one has disadvantages..)


I took one shot when I put the rear bar on, and a few when I went to a garage saturday morning to get the braces put on- because the control arm nuts were NOT coming off when I was laying on the ground. The lift and impact wrench helped a lot. ;)

Sway bar pics (http://picasaweb.google.com/dgetgood/SwayBars)

[Skidder]

Nice... I was talking with an 08 sti owner and he asked about sways. I told him to go get some if he wants to curb some (if not all of his understeer). It seems that I didn't steer him wrong.

[rogerdugans]

Haven't driven an STI and I am NOT certain, but I think it has bigger stock bars than the WRX by a small amount, and other changes to the suspension...

Still, I have to think that increasing them a bit can only help. :)

[Kevin]

my car understeers like a mofo. I needs sways and coils and some nice camber plates.

[rogerdugans]

No guru at Subies, but if you plan all of the above, I'd do the sways last, as kind of "fine-tuning" for the rest.

While the ride of mine is still good, if I upgraded anything else in the suspension.... pretty sure it would be a bone-shaker.

[Kevin]

I drove a guys sti with full race suspension and every hard bushing and it really wasn't that bad at all.
I think the worst thing was his full on race pads squeaking.