Does anyone have the hotchkis total vehicle system on there car? I was thinking about using this system to update the suspension on my iroc. How is the ride quality?

 

no comment on ride quality, but that kit is grossly overpriced for what it is.

 

Amen to that

 

I have almost all of it, (did have it all at one time), but I bought it in chunks, and not as a TVS. Hotchkis has about 2-3 big sales a year, (like 25%-50% off), and I bought most of it during a "Summer Sizzler" sale several years back for 50% off, so it worked out nicely. I still get the fliers from them every year though, so I know they still have the sales. At the time I did forget to buy one thing though, but I found the best deal on it, (and on a lot of their stuff) at Street Side Auto so I'd check them too.

I've found their stuff to be great and I felt the difference immediately. No regrets about getting it if you can get a nice deal on it too. I even get compliments on it from the speed shops when I'm in for a dyno or X, Y, or Z, which is always nice to hear.

On word of advice if you go with their sway bars though, just be real careful about the bits and pieces for the sway bars that you pull from their boxes. Make sure you don't get the stuff from the front mixed up with the stuff from the rear piece because the mounting bolts and sleeves look real close in length but they are different and not called out by size in the instructions. A quick call to Mark & Drew over at Hotchkis sorted it out though, but I thought I'd try and save you the time.

Also, lastly, about the Panhard Bar in general, (there's or any other aftermarket companies), I'd say skip it and save your cash for an Adjustable Watts Link. I'm gonna basically just repost what I recently said elsewhere on this site, but the info is sound for someone like yourself looking to upgrade your suspension.

I have read on this site and others the back-and-forth on Watts Links and have always been pleased with the performance I got out back with the Hotchkis Panhard Bar, but I was having my exhaust done over this fall, (at Custom Tubes in Hampstead, NH, highly recommended), and I was told that if I was ever gonna go with a Watts, I had to do that before the exhaust because of any potential routing issues with the tubes.

For reference, I have an '82 T/A with (as is relevant here and I can remember at this hour :P), Spohn Fabricated Spherical Upper Strut Mounts and Torque Arm, Bilstein absorbers, Hotchkis lowering springs, SFC, Sway Bars, Rear Trailing Arms, and, at the time, their Panhard Bar.

So, after months of mulling, late this summer I finally bit the bullet and decided to go with the Fays2 Watts Link (http://fays2.net/fays2_watts_link_21_.html). I talked with Jim Fays on the phone for about 30 mins before finally buying in, and I asked him what one word would he use to describe his product's effect and he said predictable. It would make the car predictable. Hot damn was he right.

Now, I know that the cost is more than three times the amount for an aftermarket Panhard Bar, and the Hotchkis Bar was fine, I certainly felt that improvement when I got it installed years ago, but after I had the Fays2 Watts installed, (and set at -1, see there's that adjustibility at work for yeah), my car is like a frigg'n extension of my legs and arms now, a completely predictable on-rails experience. I was floored just going on on-ramps and off-ramps after the install!

I would never recommend to anyone again to go with an aftermarket Panhard Bar, and I even have a G-Body buddy jonesing for a Watts Link now after going for a ride with me, he's now making plans to try and due the swap on his Monte this winter while it's laid up.

The key is really the adjustability, it totally changes the ride, so make sure you go with one that offers it or it will only give you a slight gain over a normal aftermarket Panhard Bar. In fact, I recommend the one linked above if you ever decide to buy in yourself. It is totally worth the cash, you will be pleasantly shocked at the late-model muscle car feel that you will get out of your 20+ year old ride. I certainly was. I'd say next to the Hotchkis Sway Bars, this has been my favorite and most noticeable suspension upgrade.

As a last anecdotal tale, I have a rotary on the main street that leads to the road my house is off of. Every night on the way home if there's no other cars in the rotary at the time, I hit that thing like I'm on the track and my nearly-30-year-old car (on stock 15" wheels!) sails around it with such predictability like I'm driving a frigg'n Light Cycle in Tron or something. Simply amazing and I can't recommend it enough!