Is it worth replacing the stock sway bars with Suspension Techniques (S/T) anti-sway bars? Does it drastically change the handling and control ? Any regrets or reasons not to buy them? Can they be easily installed and are they truly 'bolt-on' simple ?

Chris Linthicum
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Re. 1

Here is my experience with these anti-sway bars on my '92. I slolam race and can't stand understeer, even on a street car, so the first thing I did was buy their rear bar only, to neutralize my cars handling. After putting their rear bar only on, I found the car handled better, but was affraid that putting a bigger bar on front would bring back the push again, so before I bought the 1 1/8 front bar, I got an RX-7 FRONT bar, modified it to fit the rear of my 240, whoa look out. I spun the car out on the cloverleaf with some trailing throttle oversteer. I immediately took this back off until I got the bigger front bar. Now, today I have the front S/T bar, and the front RX-7 bar on the back, and still have a hint of understeer, but it is very close to neutral, and really helps in the turn-in. My car is also lowered 1.5 inches, which lowers the roll center, which negates to a degree the bigger bars, but overall, they are worth the money. One note. The brackets for the S/T bar stink. They will barely bolt in place. I chose not to use them, and instead shaved the polyurethane bushing till they fit in the stock 240 brackets. Then they bolted up fine. Also, my '92 brackets were not reinforced like some '90 model ones I found in the salvage yard. The reason I know this is the '92 brackets broke (just strap steel with no angled reinforcement like the '90), and I have since replaced them with the '90 model brackets, which are holding up fine.

The bar I used was from a 1st generation RX-7. The only reason I attempted this was I constantly was noticing bent (not broken as I expected) sway bars from accidents. So being my factory '92 pushed more than I liked, I wanted to experiment. I chose a 280ZX rear bar first. This 19mm bar was close to the right shape, so I first bent a small or slight "u" shape (very slight) so that the bar would clear the exhaust pipe by curving under it (done first because this will affect the total lenght of the bar by shortening it slightly). I then slightly decreased (or maybe increased) the angle of the arms just a few degrees so that the estimated new end locations would match the ends of the original 240SX bar that I was overlaying as a template. Then I lopped off the ends to the appropriate length, welded material onto the  sides of the new ends to resemble the normal rounded ends on many bars, ground the ends flat to about 3/8" thick, and then redrilled new holes for the links (It took over 3 bits to do this being its very hard steel). Then I just mounted the bar using the original brackets and aftermarket links, but with new polyurethane bushings. The car came in good (right at neutral steering now), but if I wanted to use a bigger (1.125") front bar, then I would be right back where I started (pushing again). This is when I found the 24mm RX-7 bar. I duplicated the same proceedure on this bar again, except for the slight bending around the exhaust (this bar was too stiff  for my 20 ton press to do much good). So to clear theexhaust, I fabricated extensions for the new aftermarket brackets to bolt on too, and then the extensions bolted onto the original location of the factory bar. These extensions drop the bar about 1.5" down and come inboard about .75" ( due to the configuaration of this bar). After I put this bar on the car, I found MAJOR (even dangerous) oversteer until I put the new 1.125" T/S bar on the front. It should be noted that I have 225/50r16 on back and 205/55r16 on front. When I used the same size tires front and back, the neutral handling I now have changed to a slight oversteer with the 24mm bar in back. Note: there is a tremendous amount of potential (lethal) energy bound up when attempting to rebend the bigger bars, so usage of a press should be undertaken only with the utmost caution and care. I tried bending a 27mm bar one time, and the arm shattered. The arm went right through the drywall (whewwwww!!!)

Terry
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Re. 2

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes. HUGE difference. I whole-heartedly recommend ST sway bars. The car will fire across 4 lanes at 100 mph and not so much as twitch. No regrets, baby. These things are the shit. The only problems I had with installation was the brackets with the poly bushings in the that mount onto the underside of the car were too short. I had   to buy others. If you want, I can research where you can get those brackets. Otherwise, the install was a piece of cake. Do it, man. You will not be sorry.

Chris R
'95 SE
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Re. 3

If you have an SE model, it comes stock with relatively decent sway bars. I found that when I upgraded the suspension to tokico shocks with eibach springs, the stock SE sway bars weren't enough. If you have anything other than an SE model, the ST sway bars are even more important and useful.

The installation didn't drastically effect handling/control - it makes turning a little harder and faster; and rather dramatically decreases  body roll.

Installation was fairly straightforward. The rear sway bar is really easy - about a 20 minute job (on a lift :-). The frontsway bar is a bit  of a pain as the new bushings are larger than the old ones. You kinda have to pry things around a bit to get the bushings to match the holes in the frame. I actually had to grind the bushing holder (metal piece surrounding the bushing) to get it to fit, and *thank god* for the impact wrench I had to help tighten the bolts. Get a friend to help or you'll be kicking yourself!

--will snow
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Review of Suspension Techniques Sway Bars

Always wanting a bit more handling, I ordered up a set of Suspension Techniques front & rear sway bars w/ polyurethane bushings. I bought them from Options Auto Salon for $230. (http://www.optauto.com) This was the best price considering NOPI wanted $270, and Stillen wanted $329. They both come powdercoated in dark gray. The front bar is 1-1/8" and the rear is ~ 1" -- a definite improvement in size over the stock bars. Installation wasn't bad at all. It took my dad and I about an hour and a half to install them. This included time to get the car up on jackstands, lubing of the bushings, and to drink pop. The only problems we had were getting the rear sway bar  off (the trick here is to go ahead and unbolt the ends before sliding it around the exhaust and driveshaft) and bolt problems with the rear sway bar bolts. Herb helped me figure out this one -- the bolts actually are too long, and when putting the nuts on, you actually run out of thread. Solution? Put about three was! hers on the end before you put the nuts on. No problemo. Oh yeah, when putting the front bar on, after you get the bushings on, you will need to jack up the a-arm quite a bit so you can get the nut on -- otherwise there is no room. All in all, it was an easy installation. YOU HAVE TO GET A SET OF THESE! The performance is stinkin awesome. Anyone ever drove a go-cart? The performance is very similar to the two Viper GTS I have autocrossed. Probably the only difference is the Viper's tires are what -- about 4" wider? Hmmm. You can actually be running down the road at about 55/60 and start turning the wheel from side to side -- and the car doesn't give an ounce of hint that it's turning. NO BODY ROLL what so ever. None -- 0%. The thing's on rails. If you think your car handles so good now (which it does), just wait till you get a set of these puppies. Turn in is great. Steering response is excellent. Just a little bit of understeer when approaching limit. I can't really think of any bad things to say about the bars. It's definitely a worth-while investment. A good inexpensive bolt-on that gives more performance / dollar than   anything else. GET THEM!

Brent Lykins
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