Can You Say Swaybar?
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Are sway bars really worth $400+ and however many hours of labor? Do they really improve the ride all that much?
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587 Posts
I finally got the swaybar on yesterday/today. I did not drop the rear to do it either. When they are available for sale, I'll show yall how I did it. Dont want anyone stealing my ideas. Anyways, so far its the shiznit. The ass of the car is tight, just as I like it. Now the front needs some work. I guess I'll have to make one of those, too. Website will be online next week. Took a while to find a designer. L8R!
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202 Posts
mmm tight asses.....
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587 Posts
Today I drove the R/T to Texas Motor Speedway which is about an hour, round trip. I like the bar more today than earlier today. The one thng that took me a while to notice is that I wasnt battling the steering wheel. Before the bar the ar would seem to sway from side to side on its own. Now thecar has the tendency to go in a straight line.
Also noticed that the rear of the car no longer lags behind the front. When the front tires are turned left or right, the ass end follows. Just point the car in the direction you want to go and its there. At the Speedway I decided to hit a lot and do a few fish tails. I should of had someone tape it. Its a whole lot easier to swing the rear. My R/T has 20s and I had no problem with the fish tails and even did a mild drift.
So far so good with the bar. Before the install I did not have the confidence in this vehicle to drive it aggresively. Now I cant wait to put my foot in it and whip it.
Also noticed that the rear of the car no longer lags behind the front. When the front tires are turned left or right, the ass end follows. Just point the car in the direction you want to go and its there. At the Speedway I decided to hit a lot and do a few fish tails. I should of had someone tape it. Its a whole lot easier to swing the rear. My R/T has 20s and I had no problem with the fish tails and even did a mild drift.
So far so good with the bar. Before the install I did not have the confidence in this vehicle to drive it aggresively. Now I cant wait to put my foot in it and whip it.
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587 Posts
A few days ago I went down to the dealership where I bought my R/T. I gave my salesman a ride around a few corners and to a lot to do some fish tails. He said that the car is very much improved with the upgraded sway bar. I could tell that just by the smile on his face. Since he has driven all the LXs, he has a good gauge on the amount of improvement.
I’ve noticed a few more characteristics about the car that have resulted from the bar. Before when going over tracks the rear tires would skip and hop over to the other side. That and hopping over other sharp bumps is virtually gone. The car stays planted.
When going around curves, the car can easily increase speed and adapt to the change in direction quickly and precisely. In other words, you don’t have to ease into the turn as before so you can be more aggressive. The other benefit I’ve noticed is smoother acceleration. Thinking about it, on a rear-wheel drive car this makes perfect sense. It feels like putting firm motor mounts on a FWD car by keeping the wheels planted to the road when the transmission transfers the torque.
So as for performance, the bar is performing beyond my expectations. We are still in R&D mode so when everything has checked out, I’ll update again.
I’ve noticed a few more characteristics about the car that have resulted from the bar. Before when going over tracks the rear tires would skip and hop over to the other side. That and hopping over other sharp bumps is virtually gone. The car stays planted.
When going around curves, the car can easily increase speed and adapt to the change in direction quickly and precisely. In other words, you don’t have to ease into the turn as before so you can be more aggressive. The other benefit I’ve noticed is smoother acceleration. Thinking about it, on a rear-wheel drive car this makes perfect sense. It feels like putting firm motor mounts on a FWD car by keeping the wheels planted to the road when the transmission transfers the torque.
So as for performance, the bar is performing beyond my expectations. We are still in R&D mode so when everything has checked out, I’ll update again.
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587 Posts
UPDATE: So far so good with the bar. We are going to make one more design change to the setup. The bar being oversized will make the end links wear out faster so that must be addressed. We have a few ideas so testing starts next week.
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474 Posts
Swaybars are one fo the cheapest, and best ways to improve a cars handling in the twisties. They make the car corner a lot flatter than before, and also give you a noticeable quicker turn in. Usually, it's better to install one on the front than the rear (but best to do both), because that's where all the weight is, and therefore, where the car needs more stiffness with regards to side to side movement. I believe that on the Charger, as with most cars, you will notice a bigger improvement by upgrading the front swaybar than the rear. Once upgraded, the car will handle much more crisply in turns. Has anybody thought about checking on the SRT8's swaybars??? I mean, should practically be a replacement product since it's designed for the same car.
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131 Posts
ChargerOSix, I'm buying when you start selling. I live in Maine and everytime I go over tracks or Motar hole in the road up hear the damn rear end jumps and skips. I want mine like yours, NO BUMP, NO SKIP.....
Thanks for the info on the site, hoping to have one of your sway bars installed before Christmas.
Thanks for the info on the site, hoping to have one of your sway bars installed before Christmas.
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549 Posts
That has alot to do with the actual shock absorbers and lowered stance then just the swaybars which I am sure are also larger.moparfan said:
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6,117 Posts
yeah alot of the bump issue with the rear wheels is a need for a tighter suspension setup. the srt8 is stiff as hell so i can imagine that bad boy just stay planted on the road. with the r/t a lowered stance alone doesn't get that stiffness, so i am probably going to go with the coilovers so i can change the dampening rate of the shock/dampers. but alas, headers are going in first and this will be down the road.SRT8Charger07 said:
swaybars - cool but i would only do the backend and with a lowered car - very cool.
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