Suspension and Chassis Questions about your suspension? Need chassis advice?

rear sway bar, do you need it?

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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 09:50 AM
  #1  
88firebirdTBI's Avatar
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rear sway bar, do you need it?

This weekend i noticed that the driver's side stabilizer link for my rear sway bar was snapped. Do you even need the sway bar on in the rear. i read in my manual that it was an option part, and not every third gen has one. should i fix it or take it off

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Steve
88 Firebird TBI,TH700R4 - Open Element, Cat Delete, K&N filter 14*4 element
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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 01:15 PM
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No u dont need it unless u plan on tumbling the vehicle off the cliff. Of course u need the rear sway bar, thats the most important thing on your suspension. Trust me its not an option, its a must.

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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 01:28 PM
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I can see it now. A part breaks... Hmm, I don't need this, so you take it off and throw it away. Just fix it. An end link is like 4 bucks and takes 30 minutes of your time, and only takes that long because you have to jack up the car and the bolt is so long.
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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 03:28 PM
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I don't know about being the most important thing on your suspension, but Jza is right, it's a really cheap part, and is extremely easy to fix. Now a lot of people who use the cars strictly for drag racing remove both front and rear sway bars, for better weight transfer. But, if you do a lot of street driving, I wouldn't recommend it. My truck has no sway bars, and handles like a log truck pulling three trailers with flat tires...

Oh well, it goes pretty fast in a straight line...

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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 06:56 PM
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You definitely want it if you care about handling. I had mine off for a while while I was doing some suspension work and it makes the car unbalanced, the car tried to fishtail all the time without warning.
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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 10:21 PM
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You don't need the rear swaybar. But it does help you're car remain stable through the corners. My '68 Chevy II doesn't have a rear swaybar, but it does have heavy duty coil over style shocks and heavy duty leafs. Do yourself a favour and keep that Firebird stuck to the road and fix the rear swaybar.
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Old Mar 26, 2001 | 11:08 PM
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what the hell lets all drive without swaybars and hope for the best after all these guys are comparing cars with their truck. We use springs truck use leaf springs big difference.
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Old Mar 27, 2001 | 11:22 AM
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88firebirdTBI's Avatar
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fixed it yesturday, it was a pian to get off. it took forever to get off until i used a power saw. I think i bought the car with it like this, becuase i always felt a clunck when i put the car in gear. better now

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Steve
88 Firebird TBI,TH700R4 - Open Element, Cat Delete, K&N filter 14*4 element
1/4: 16.1@85.7
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Old Mar 27, 2001 | 03:07 PM
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The clunk when you put it in gear is probably a bad tranny mount. Fix that too. Pretty simple $15 repair.
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Old Mar 27, 2001 | 04:20 PM
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They are nice to have, and I would replace the end link. However, you don't need it. My 82 did'nt have one until 3 years ago. Without it you car will push like crazy if you have a big front bar.


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Old Mar 28, 2001 | 12:52 AM
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With a 34MM hollow front bar, and No rear bar, My car pushes like Nothin else


but that will be fixed as soon as I can Find my damn calipers and measure the Bar i got to order bushings.. hehe )



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Old Mar 28, 2001 | 07:07 AM
  #12  
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From: 51°N 114°W, 3500'
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The rear bar doesn't help as much in cornering as it does in straight line accelleration. The bar helps keep the right tire planted on the ground.

I still use a rear bar on my race car.

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Old Mar 28, 2001 | 09:52 AM
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88firebirdTBI's Avatar
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How do you fix a bad tranny mount, where is it?

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Steve
88 Firebird TBI,TH700R4 - Open Element, Cat Delete, K&N filter 14*4 element
1/4: 16.1@85.7
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Old Mar 28, 2001 | 12:25 PM
  #14  
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No reason to be so damn cynical vortech305. I didn't know it would make that big of a difference for being coil or leaf springs. And anyway, I did say my truck handled like crap, and I wouldn't recommend it, so have a nice day a**hole...

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Old Mar 28, 2001 | 02:30 PM
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look in the tech section for a step by step toutorial
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Old Mar 28, 2001 | 03:01 PM
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its called sense of humor,u know ha ha. Geez u cant make a joke anymore without someone taking it personal. Thats why this whole damn world dosent get along. LACK OF COMMUNICATION.
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Old Jun 2, 2008 | 03:37 PM
  #17  
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Re: rear sway bar, do you need it?

iron duke cars don't have one. At least mine dont...

sorry for the bump but this thread is relevant to my interests.
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Old Jun 3, 2008 | 02:38 PM
  #18  
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From: Sanford, FL
Car: 92 RS Camaro
Engine: 305 TBI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.08
Re: rear sway bar, do you need it?

Good Drifting Trick is to take the rear sway bar off a stock car to break the rear easier. On my monza (1 1/4 front/ 3/4 rear) I would take the rear off to do stunt type driving and to get a crowd going when my old car club would go to a drift/autoX event. We had a 88 turbo conv Rx7, 87 n/a rx7, 85 rx7, 78 monza, 92 mr2 and the little monza which has an almost identical suspension in the rear of a camaro would drive circles around the rest.
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Old Jun 8, 2008 | 09:19 PM
  #19  
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Car: 88 IROC, 76 Malibu Classic
Engine: 350 TPI, 350
Transmission: 700R4, 4-speed
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt ????
Re: rear sway bar, do you need it?

i've seen a lot of third gens with disconnected rear sway bars. from my experience, the rear anti-sway bar helps prevent rear weight transfer from going entirely on one wheel (outside wheel) and bringing the rear end around from inside wheel spin. really bad cases will make the inside wheel come into the air just a little bit so it'll start spinning.
my rear anti-sway bar has a broken end link too, but on the passenger side. i don't drive mine yet though. how do you take those old end links off anyway?
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Old Jun 8, 2008 | 11:03 PM
  #20  
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From: Huntington, NY
Car: 1983 Pontiac Firebird
Engine: LG4 305ci 4bbl
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: 10-bolt open diff.
Re: rear sway bar, do you need it?

i noticed that my Bird handled much better when i added the 24mm rear sway bar. i added the 36/24mm bars and it handles WAAAAY better then it used to.

as for the old endlinks, they were rusted so bad on the stock front bar that i just cut them off....it's quicker and less of a headache.
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Old Jun 8, 2008 | 11:07 PM
  #21  
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Re: rear sway bar, do you need it?

Originally Posted by nestz28
You definitely want it if you care about handling. I had mine off for a while while I was doing some suspension work and it makes the car unbalanced, the car tried to fishtail all the time without warning.
LOL, don't our cars do that normally?
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Old Aug 3, 2019 | 03:37 PM
  #22  
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Re: rear sway bar, do you need it?

Has anyone seen a gen 3 Camaro with out a rear sway bar from factory?
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