Anyone fit a rear sway bar or upgrade the front?

subachad · Post by **subachad** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:30 pm

Hi all,

Anyone on here fit a rear sway bar on their Lanos? I'm thinking a swaybar from a minivan with a semi-independant rear suspension should be fairly easy to bolt up, it's just a matter of finding one the right size.

The front: anyone upgrade the bar or put polyurethane bushings in? I know I'm still stock height, but the amount of body roll is VERY bad. I'm looking for some cheap upgrades.

Here is what I'm thinking and will document on my site as I go.

Front strut bar - will wait till I can get one real cheap, maybe modify one from a Civic ($30 bar)

Rear strut bar - I'll make it out of aluminum

Rear Sway bar - Possibly off a minivan, will go to pick and pull armed with a tape measure and purchase whatever is closest.

Front Sway bar - It has one, right? If so, polyurethane bushings and if that's not enough maybe take another stock sway bar and double them up.

Chassis Brace - I might make some braces for the front end to stiffen it up. Depends on what the car looks like from underneath.

Chad

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:18 pm

What the hells the difference between a strut and sway bar?

subachad · Post by **subachad** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:38 am

A strut is basically a shock that is designed to have a coil go on it.

A sway bar is a bar that goes from one side of the suspension to the other and makes it so the car does not lean as hard. Jeeps disconnect the sway bars for better suspension travel and hard core racers will run thick swaybars. Too thick though and you will lift the inside wheel, also too thick on the back makes the car snap around into oversteer much easier.

Chad

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:45 am

ohh i thought a strut was a sway bar... i see. Then i take it a strut brace is a sway bar? if so thats probably why i thought struts/sway bars were the same

TheGreatAndPowerfulOz · Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:09 am

No, a strut bar is not a sway bar.

A strut bar bolts to the tops of the strut towers, as you would see under the hood across the top.

A sway bar bolts to the bottom part of the suspension and acts almost like a solid axle across from one side to the other to help reduce the vertical suspension travel.

Here is a sway bar:

and here is a strut bar:

See the differance?

Cliff

bluesheepbrian · Post by **bluesheepbrian** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:28 am

Thanks OZ, for keeping us all in check.

subachad · Post by **subachad** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 10:04 pm

Well, it looks like a no on both accounts though I know there's at least one woo out there with stiffer front sway bar bushings.

After some inspection, this is what I found.

Front: get some 19mm polyurethane bushings for the middle 2 mounting points, should be about $20. Also get some Polyurethane bushings for the end links, another $20. That should eliminate some body roll.

Rear: I'm thinking of using a front Lanos sway bar and using some u-bolts to bolt the middle brackets to the rear beam. The ends will have a 90 degree bracket bolted to the shock mount. I will also triangulate the bracket so it's less likely to break. Stock bushings will be used to "soften" the bar and hopefully keep the car from oversteering with such a stiffer rear end.

Combined, I expect the Woo will lose a lot of it's clown car like cornering habits. I'll make a write up on my site and post here as progress continues. Meanwhile, anyone else is more than welcome to try, the idea is out there and cost should be less than $30.

Chad
www.uniquemotorsports.com