Are the Hotchkis sway bars worth the money? And are they that much better then the Spohn or anyone else?

 

Several people are just using stock bars. Much cheaper. Size wise hotchkis is biggest(36.1mm) but stock 1le is 36. I have not seen a test that shows spohn,umi,etc are stiffer.

Also how do you know you need these? Bigger is not always better. Stock is nice so you can tune to tour style and spend very little

 

Whats the downside of bigger? Where do you find a 1le bar? Was there that many of them that they are in the junk yards?

What about WS6?

 

Some ws6 had them if I'm not mistaken. Hard to tell exactly without measuring. Buy some digital calipers(you will use them more than once trust me) and measure. There are several different sizes. There is lots of information on bar size and tying out there I'm sure someone will chime in. I don't want to misquote. Will you lower your car? Posi? Different bars will do different things to different cars. Like right now, if you had understeer you could get a slightly bigger rear bar to balance it out. Too big and you have oversteer. Several things come in to play but I would get bars last and use as a tying tool unless you are pretty sure what you want.if you don't want to do much to your car I would just put stock ws6 on and consider it done for now

 

yeah thats what i think im going to do. Obviously the bushings need to be changed in doing so. Do the brackets the bushings sit in need to be changed as well? What about the end links

 

Brackets and end links are the same no matter the size of the bar.

 

I say no - aftermarket sway bars are not worth the money for a few reasons:

1) F-Bodies came with a wide assortment of bar sizes, front and rear - making for a lot of OEM choices

2) Sway bars don't wear out and can be used for decades

3) Higher quality materials (metal in the bar itself) in an aftermarket sway bar have very little effect on performance of said bar

4) If you like the look of the aftermarket bars, you can have oem ones powder coated too

 

So WS6 bars are 36mm in the front and 24mm in the rear?

Thanks to everyone for saving me a sh*t ton of money from buying the hotchkis for 700 bucks. I can prob get ws6 from a junk yard for 100

 

However, bar bushings are different.

I don't think all.ws6 came that way but don't quote me

 

Sway bars are sway bars. Doesn't matter about the brand. There are LOTS of 36 mm bars out there. The GTA's came with 36/24 mm from the factory.

 

Esp having a vert, I would invest that money on sfc then wonderbar, and stb(I would do 3pt)


Many say sfc are a must in these cars along with wonderbar. A stock wonderbar works good too.I have both but have not driven on them. I got them for reasons like fore mentioned.

If you want more bang for buck "must do" mods I would suggest
Koni yellows. I have seen several people do similar mods and say some of the best money spent


It's around $200 for sfc IIRC,50-100 for wonderbar, and 150? For stb

 

Verts had SFCs from the factory. They do benefit from an additional set though. I would suggest the wonder bar first, the a 3-point STB, and SFCs last.

 

Im aware of the factory bracing but heard its not great. Haven't seen it though


Whatever order I would say it's all good choices

 

wonder bar and welded alston sub frame connectors i already installed. first thing i did when i got the car.

 

does the STB make that much difference? I hate the way they look. Also do you have to disconnect enough during the install on teh strut tower that you then need to go get an alignment?...

 

To be honest, I have not installed one on my car yet so I can't answer either question from first-hand experience. That being said, I have not seen any STB designs that would require you to unbolt or change anything that would result in needing your alignment checked. As for how much they help, there are differing opinions on how much they help, but the general consensus seems to be that they do. I plan on building a custom one for my camaro eventually, but I need to finalize my intake choice first, which will determine what design I use for my STB.

 

I did the same thing with my car too. Now having to downsize the rear sway bar to a 19mm to correct oversteer.

 

For stb they are worthless with stock camber plate as stock onnes don't have solid strut mount so there still some flex

But used in conjunction with camber really stiffens the front but if your heading that route then mightiest well invest in it

Running dual sfc Alston and your choice of outer really stiffen a thirdgen up
When running single I notice big difference and once installed the Alston all flex was eliminated

Like stated above sway bars are sway bars go to junk yard and take your pick along with wonderbar

Are you seeking handling improvement Biggest handling improvement would be shocks struts and tires and preferably run at least 9.5 all around or up front at least then springs then all other upgrades will support those upgrades

Of course ensuring all wearable suspension components are upgraded or replace as you go

 

GM put a lot of engineering effort into making the suspensions on these cars work very well from the factory for a number of road racing series that called for factory built cars: the only real thing holding them back from being awesome in street trim back in the day was tire and shock technology... put modern sticky tires on a car with a suspension rebuilt to the best factory specs with updated shocks and the body stiffened up a bit and you could shame a lot of modern cars in the corners for a lot less money. then all you'd have to do is swap in a more modern engine- like, say, a readily available and cheap LS engine of some flavor- and you could take them on the straights, too.

so don't think too hard- get the best parts GM threw into them over the years and find the combination that works on your car and with your driving ability.

 

Don't get caught up in the Hotchkis name. They really dropped the ball with their thirdgen products. They aren't any better than stock. I would use Hotchkis in my 69 camaro and it would be a huge upgrade but NOT in my thirdgen.

 

I have Hotchkiss sway bars in my 84. They are massively larger than the stock bars that were on it. I also have the Hotchkiss Lowering Springs and TDS wonderbar.

I don't know if I can tell any difference between the stock bars and the Hotchkiss bars, but I think if you put Poly bushings all around, you'll feel a good increase in suspension stiffness.

Also, I do personally think SFC's are a mandatory upgrade. I run Spohn SFC's and the reason I say they're mandatory is that if you've done anything motor-wise to the car, you'll twist the frame, have a T-top fly off if you have those, or paint cracking and body flex. Since I added the SFC's the car corners much, much better and the ride is a lot more stiff. I just feel the benefits out-weigh any possible negatives from doing SFC's.

 

How does your car ride with those springs?

 

It's a fairly stiff ride compared to the stock worn out springs I had but not uncomfortable with good shocks.

 

That's good to know. I've been thinking about buying Hotchkis springs and sway bars for my car. I expected it to be stiff but at least it's not unlivable on the street.

 

I've driven it daily for the last 7 years with the Hotchkiss lowering springs. Definitely livable on the street.

 

And those Hotchkis front springs are about 100 per inch softer than the stock stiff springs. The 450# front springs on my 84 z28 were pathetic and rode as soft as any Cadillac I have ever been in. I replaced them with some cut 5662 moogs (~750# after cutting) and love the firmer ride with the Koni's. It's not harsh at all but it is firm.

 

The 86 sway bars were 36mm in front and 24mm in the rear. Don't think they make them bigger than that. I'd pick a set of them off eBay w/ some poly bushings. Probably cheaper/better.