for those of you with sway bars, does it effect the ride quality at all? i know it handles better but im hoping that they dont ruin the ride quality.

 

IMO -- The sways bars only have a minimal impact on ride quality. The rolling is gone and only noticed a slight increase in harshness over broken pavement.

I have NO regrets and I don't like a harsh ride!

 

i seen the installing instructions for the sway bars, did you install it yourself and if so was it hard? if you had someone do it for you how much did you pay to have it installed?

 

I had the dealer put the sways, headers, and intake on as a "package" deal while the car was being serviced. I paid $400 for the whole enchilada (minor service included).

The best price I got for sway installation (ONLY) was around $50-$75 dollars at a Discount Tire Center.

 

No rider penalty at all. The car frame will seem stiffer and more solid but the ride will not be penalized in any way

 

EricL,

Which dealership actually installed those parts for you? My dealership wouldn't do it.

$400 dollars is good considering St. Andres in Orange County was asking for $400 for install of the headers alone.

 

I am so glad to hear you say that. I think the combo of -

Comptech sways
H&R OE sport springs
16" TLP wheels / tires

is going to be one sweet Ohio daily driver. My 39 year old back can't handle the full sport drop anymore. I wish it could, as the look is georgeous, but it just aint happen'n anymore.

Jim

 

Hmmm. interesting choice on mods

No ride penalty at all from sways, did them myself with the one change to the instructions on this site, only took 2 hours.

 

Hey....a fellow Bay Area TLSer! Anyways, if you ever want to try em out in person just attend one of the meets. Unfortunately I wasnt able to attend the last one, or I would of given people test drives.

 

We shall see, but I'm thinking this combo is what I'm looking for. Looks like Tim is out of stock on OE's, but should have some in soon. Bummer.

At least I'll get my sways this week.

Jim

 

If you do them yourself the pain part of the install for most people is loosening/tightening the end links per the instructions on this site.

What I did is instead of using an allen wrench to hold and the wrench in the back to turn (wrench can only move a small distance) I bought the allen head socket for my socket wrench and used the wrench to hold, using the ratchet/socket combo went really fast, much easier.

Good luck

 

Good call, bro. Last week I picked up a set of metric crows feet, but your plan sounds even better. More $$$ for tools. Like I don't have enough allready!

Thanks for the tip.

Jim

 

IMO -- $400 for headers alone is too high.

There is a Discount Tire in El Monte that a lot of people like (I believe it was on this very site that someone suggested them.


I'm not going to recommend the dealership.

 

don't worry about the ride quality...


JUST DO GET THEM!

you WILL NOT regret it!

 

This is good advice, but I need to add one more thing. I followed this advice, and ended up stripping one of the hex bolts and almost stripped another. Don't be a dumba$$ like I was and try to break the nut loose with the hex driver on the socket. My bolt was a little bit rusty inside the hex part, and it stripped out. It took me a couple hours with channel locks to get it off and back on again.

Use a 14mm socket wrench by itself to break the nut loose first, then switch to the hex socket (5mm hex) and ratchet it out that way. Just be careful, because those end-link bolts get rusty pretty quickly (my car was only 6 months old), and the combination of that and the WD40 can make the inside of the bolt pretty soft.

 

Thats a good point, didn't think about that cause mine weren't rusty.

 

I didnt even think about using the hex key untill after i loosened the nut with the wrench first. Only after did I loosen it up enough (to the point that the bolt rotates) did I use the hex key to hold it in place.