I purchased Spohn Front & Rear sway bars, along with a panhard bar. Rear sway bar and panhard went in perfect. The car has Prokit springs.

For the front sway bar I:

1) Removed old one (which had a bracket attached to it with another bar on top of it, is this the wonderbar?)
2) Put this bracket and bar on the new sway bar
3) Attached the brackets first to new sway bar, THEN did the end links.
4) While the car was on jack stands, I tightened everything down (end links last).

When I was done, my driver side tire was hanging lower then the passenger side (car still on jack stands). When I lowered it to the ground, my wheel gap was higher in the front than before. Also, the driver side wheel gap was larger than the passenger side.

I took it for a drive, and it handled AWESOME. After a 10 minute drive, my wheel gap in the front went down to where it was before, and both sides were even again.



Do you think I'm ok? Anything I should check? Thanks guys!

 

Wonderbar. Sounds normal to me.

JamesC

 

Great! Thanks James! Do you think I'd see any difference by removing the stock wonderbar and putting a Spohn one in? That stock sway bar is light! My aftermarket one is much heavier.

 

No.

I do get a chuckle out of members who swap in a Wonderbar and proclaim what a difference it makes in handling and how they can feel that difference--and maybe it does make a difference if the steering box area is cracked to heck--but in a blind test, few, if any, would be able to tell whether their car was equipped with the brace or not. GM designed the darned thing as a Bandaid and in the last few years it's become a performance piece in the minds of many members.

JamesC

 

Your supposed to torque everything down when the weight of the vehicle is on it.

In a way the wonderbar is a performance part. Like you said, it prevents the frame around the steering box from cracking. This means it strengthens that area of the car, and the extra strength will prevent future cracking. Therefor preserving the high performance aspect of our vehicles, making it a performance piece. So yes, it is a performance piece, and don't even get me started on the performance aspect of the adjustable wonderbar...

Mike

 

The stock sway bar is lighter than the Spohn one?

 

I read my manual, it says to do it when its on jackstands. I did a search here, and it seems people do both. Kind of confused there.




Yes, by quite a bit.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree about the Wonderbar's performance properties. At any rate, we're off topic.

I torqued up on stands as the manual indicates.

JamesC

 

Thanks for all the replies guys! I emailed Spohn and his response was:

"You need to tighten the end links with the suspension loaded. Tighten them until the bushings start to compress and then stop."

 

Another manufacturer suggested torquing, then driving a few miles before double checking. Seems reasonable.

JamesC

 

You didn't happen to ask him about the bushings did you? It would be kind of nice to know what they say should be done with those as well.

I have always torqued everything with the weight of the vehicle on the suspension, and then drove around a little and re-torqued everything but it never needed to be re-torqued.

 

That is why I am so happy with my $15 stocker from a donor at the local P'NP

 

[quote=IROCThe5.7L;3857003]I read my manual, it says to do it when its on jackstands. I did a search here, and it seems people do both. Kind of confused there.



well if your torque all the parts down in the air, when you drop the car you will twist or rip your bushins, and i know u don't want that

 

This might sound like a dumb question, but after installing the brackets on the sway bar, how do you put the weight back on the suspension with the wheels being off? Can the endlinks be tightened down with the wheels back on?

 

All of that "suspension loaded" stuff doesn't apply to sway bar parts. Just put em on, and tighten the bushings down to around 40 ft-lbs, and the links until the rubber is just barely larger than the washers.

 

Thanks sofa, that info is going to help me alot when i replace the front sway bar next week!