considering sway bar on stock car, just want to get less roll, doesn't really care about name brand or not. please help. hotchkis is hollow (lighter) and 25 mm, where as cusco is heavier and only 23mm but more reputable name. stock is 22mm. hotchkis cost $167 and cusco cost $225. $58 differences. which is better? any of your input would be appreciated. especially for those of you who had experience on those two brand of sway bar thanks.

 

don't forget to do the endlinks while your doing the rear sway bar. cheap upgrade!

 

We tried both and for us the hotchkis bar worked much better. Its also on sale right now (or has been for a few weeks).

All we do is race.

 

is the endlink really necessary? if i don't put endlink, then would the sway bar be too hard for the stock endlink to the point that will break them?

 

RT, what setting are you using?

 

We Autox so for tight, slow, twisty courses we run the center hole and for more open, faster layouts we use the third hole (nearest one to the rear). The rate of stiffness with the hollow bar is less than that of the larger (than stock) solid bars so when using the stiffest setting we have no rear wheel lift issues.

Rear end is very controllable with the hollow bar, rotation is smooth in corners and if need be the rear will come out just a little when you need it with the throttle. The Hotchkis bars are formed on a CNC tube bender, very nice quality, and perfect fit on the Evo.

As far as end links go, 12 months of testing and a full race schedule so far this year and no problems. The stock links line up very well with the hollow bar and we see no signs of binding in the suspension.

 

thanks alot RT, you answered all my questions.

 

I got the RRE bar. Its less then most of them, is 3-way adjustable, and comes with some really nice installation hardware. I would go with that one: http://www.roadraceengineering.com/evoswaybar.htm

 

The RRE, Perrin and Buschur rear sway bars are all made by the same parts sub-contractor.

 

The RRE bar appears to have the tabs welded on whereas the cusco is all one piece. I think I'd prefer a one piece construction for reliability.

 

Don't forget the WORKS rear sway bar. It's 24mm and is a one-piece construction.

 

I have the Hotchkis Sway bar, but i'm having a difficult time installing it. It seems like having a hoist is the only way to take out the stock sway bar because of the bolts being so tight. Anybody have a good way of taking out the stock bar with just getting underneath the car? Any links for a how-to install? sorry for hi-jackin the post go2evo.
The Hotchkis sway bar, like RT says, is very well constucted and has perfect bends, very light and strong and comes with everything u need.

 

it's cool, i used the money for a dynoflash instead hahahah, happy w/ it

 

I was thinking bout going with cusco... but I don't really know much about hotchkiss bar ...

 

A non-welded solid sway bar will be enharently more reliable and of greater strength. I would go with the cusco.

Any time I have the choice of welded or non-welded, I will always pick the non-welded part.

Even in the best welds there is a discernable interface between the two parts at a microscopic lever. At a microscopic lever the granular nature of a metal is visible. The microscopic surfaces of these grains have a certain "surface energy" depending upon the composition of the metal. The slightest change in compostion of these grains or how there were deposited (welded) causes a significant imbalence in the grain to grain energy state. This in turn becomes a location for a micro fracture to initiate given the right loading conditions. Over time (and sometimes not much time) additional micro fractures begin to grow and create a swarm of micro fractures, which grows into a visible fracture. Ultimately failure results assuming the initial loacing condidions remain.

microscopic intergranular interfaces have a higintergranular interface