brillo

So after finally installing the Mazdaspeed rear sway bar to match the front, I thought I would post my thoughts on the MS sways (and sways in general) for people thinking about the mod.

First, off, dollar for dollar and in terms of relative ease of install (I’ll get to that) sway bars are the best single mod you can make for the car. I’ve driven cars with just springs, and mine with just sways, and I can tell you that the sways offer greater improvement in body roll and steering without really any appreciable ride quality issues. Now, there is still some slight roll, but the car feels planted through any good sweeping turn, the steering is much more “right now” and the rear bar makes launching the car hard easier. The car’s movements are much more predictable in turns now, you can feel it take a set much better.

I do notice that without the springs, going over hills and soft bumps, the car does still have a slight floaty feel to it, now I’m not talking Lincoln town car float here, but after back to back rides in my buddies 240sx totally tricked out drift car with a full suspension job, it’s a little floaty, but no more than stock, and consistent with what most mag’s have said. There is a fix for this, which is the rest of the MS suspension.

In terms of install, any set of sways are pretty easy, as you don’t need to mess with spring compressors and the work can be done fairly quickly if your prepared. Just be very careful with the nuts on the sway bar endlinks, as they strip easily. A little WD-40 on the nuts helps, just be gentle with them. You will also need some rubber grease if your getting the MS sways as they don’t come with bushings. Now I did order front polyurethane bushings from Energy Suspension for the front bar, you can get a universal piece that will fit for like $15. I don’t feel that the rear bar needs new ones as the bushings are quite firm, unlike the front.

All in all, if you don’t want to sacrifice ride quality, the sways are a great first mod. When combined with springs and or shocks the car is a totally different animal. You feel like you can practically carve your name on the road, its that precise. I have been in a car with the full Racing Beat kit, and I have to say, if you don’t want to go the MS route, that setup is incredible for the money.

What ever your choice in sway bar is, you don’t want to be driving the 8 without an upgraded set, it’s a no brainer.

2nd Alarm

Did you replace the endlinks too?

brillo

I had to buy a new stock front left endlink, but I didn't get aftermarket endlinks yet.

takahashi

What happened when you just have the front sway

Kart Racer

Ive had some friends with sways on thier cars( STI) it seems to have a heavy clunking noise as he goes over bumps (car is not lowered or anything), does anyone have this problem with sways, I really think im going to go with a set of sway bars, the only thing stopping me, is a the Clunk....any feedback would be great!

JeRKy 8 Owner

Im upgrading to this next

crossbow

Kart,

The 6 owners have clunking issues with sways. Basically the stock endlinks aren't strong enough to handle the beefy sways, and they come loose when your driving around...this causes them to "pop" and "clunk".

Its usually fixed by tightening the sway's down, or going to beefier endlinks. Of course this may not be your friends problem, I'm just relating what it is on the 6's.

Congrats on the sways brillo!

brillo

having the front sway only improved the steering response and helped curb some of the roll, but it did feel somewhat rougher over bad roads, maybe b/c the rear suspension was softer than the front, therefore it would react at a different rate to bumps than the front. It wasn't horrible, but i did notice a ride quality improvement with the rear added.

RotaryZZ

brillo,

So are the MS sway bars come with the bushing too? Speaking of bushings from Energy Suspension, I believe they offer you a choice of different stiffness to fit your particular application. So I suppose you can get one that is just about as soft as the OEM, thought it may last longer than OEM :-)

brillo

no they don't. I had to order the custom bushings seperately

RotaryZZ

Speaking of sway bar for the back, I believe boys at SpeedSource mentioned that the OEM rear bar is good enough for the 8 (as well as the old 7) and don't really need any replacement. Depends on track condition, sometimes they even disconnected it!!

Shamblerock

Brillo, did replacing the rear sway bar solve the dreaded axle/wheel hop issue as this is a major annoyance for me.

Kart racer, I am serious considering changing the sway bars as well and would like the Racing Beat set. They say you can get RB products from Mazdees in Pickering. So I called and their senior mechanic was the only guy in the shop for the next week because the others went to California and therefore he could not give me any further info on cost/quality. Do you know anyone else who sells RB products? What kind of bars are you planning to get and at what price? This will be my first mod and I know you know a hell of a lot more about this stuff than I do.

Kart Racer

Shamble rock : I will ask a friend of mine if he carries Racing beat products, or if he can at least order them. I am stongly considering the RB set, as i think they are a more cost effective package then the mazdaspeed ones. Both are supposed to be really good products, and i think both Front and Rear should be installed. As far as installation goes, me and a buddy put in a full suspension system for his STI over the summer at his work, so i think we can do it there again. The only issue stopping me from getting them is "the clunk" which is attributed to the end links.....i will look into this as well.

brillo

I haven't done a serious drag strip style launch, but I definitely feel like the rear end is more solid with a good street start, so I would say any wheel hop is pretty much gone with any of the rear sways (my friend with the RB setup commented he doesn't have any either)

Shamblerock

Kart Racer, thanks for the feedback. If you don't want to be alone in this process, I would be in to buy the front, rear and end links as well and your freind can get a sale from me. Just an Idea: When you know your freind can bring them in and you know the price, we could advise some of the other T.O. 8 owners and possible get a group buy and group install from a certain outfit(s). I have heard a million times from others that the bars are the first and best mod one can do with the biggest bang for the buck.

Brillo, thanks for the response. if you do try a really strong launch (6K or higher clutch drop) any time soon, let us know if you experienced any wheel hop.

Shamblerock

Kart Racer, FYI found somebody that could send the front and rear sway bars for Can$ 440 all taxes in + Can$40 delivery. What do you think? Aparently I was advised that changing these is really nothing much at all.

Kart Racer

Wow, that price is really good!! im gonna think about it i think, with exams and winter coming i may hold off till the spring. These are the RB ones right??? and yeah install is really easy!!

Shamblerock

I guess I'll have to be the test pilot and let you know how it goes. I'll probably buy before Christmas.