Sway Bars - Who's the best?
 

I am thinking about getting sway bars soon. Between Stillen, Eibach and Nismo are there any advantages of one over the other? There is a considerable price difference also - it is worth it?

https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-suspension/55776-sway-bar-summary.html

Most people go with Hotchkis, Stillen, or 350evo due to fact that you can adjust both the front and rear bars.

Hotchkis are fine but they don't have a collar that comes attached the bar to keep it from moving too far to one side. This was a major problem and I had issues even with a subsequently added collar from McMaster. I ended up dumping the front bar as I felt it was too much trouble and was making too much noise. I may not have allowed for enough clearance but got sick of finding a lift and not getting anywhere. They may have changed the design but seemed pretty set in thier ways a year or two ago.

I just put my Hotchkis bars on with the collars. Everything went fine and they don't make any noise at all. I didn't have any grease that the bars probably come with (I bought them used) so I used some very thick axle grease.

I'm not sure why you need a lift. I did mine with ramps.

Even with no collars, I don't think the bar would move that much anyway. I bet even a really heavy duty plastic zip tie would be strong enough to prevent the bar from moving back/forth.

The Eibach's are also adjustable. 2 settings for the front, and 3 for the rear. The also come with integrated collars and poly bushings.

My bar was shifted to one side severely as did several members, one of whom posted a pic.

I don't work under my car without a lift. For 20 bucks when I get time, it's worth it and it comes with mechanic's expertise and tools I will never own.

Understood. I guess it's the shade tree mechanic in me that would try a bunch of things in order to make sure I could run the front bar.

Even if you never intend on working on your car, one should have a very basic tool set and maybe a set of ramps imho.

I have alot of tools and work on my car - from the topside. Being a landlord makes tools a necessity. Don't get me wrong there's a bit of a shadetree do it yourselfer in most of us modders, but I have wrenched my neck too many times underneath tight spaces working on my starter or whatever from days of crappy cars gone by. Not having a garage or an acceptable flooring surface makes things more complicated as well.

As for the sways - I needed the help diagnosing the problem and while dissapointed the sway never worked up front, the soft setting I had put it on was only 9% stiffer than stock. The GT Spec bars do more for the front handling than that sway setting ever would. I got rather PO'd after 5 attempts to correct the problem where the bar would bang into something and make horrible clanking noises under the car. If I needed better roll control, I'd get another brand at this point. I am not enamored with the Hotcki front at all.

Man that is odd. But I was fortunate enough to get the collars with the bar. I haven't had any problems.

I was just thinking outloud though. If I had the bar on w/o the collars, it would have been pretty easy to run the car on some ramps and try to put some cheapo THICK zip ties or a hose clamp around some rubber just to see if it fixed the problem.

But once you took the bar off, then yeah, I can see you not wanting to go though the installation process again. If I was local, I'd be happy to give you a hand, if you were willing to give it a shot again.

So, I don't see anyone with the Stillen sways posting comments... Is there any reason to avoid them or has no one tried them out?

I like my Stillen sways, no complaints here. :)

I am pretty anal about what I put on my car, but finally decided on the Stillens. They are definatly worth it. It made a huge difference, especially in the rear.:D

Excellent - thanks for the info. I'll easy into it with the Stillen - they offer the best bang for the buck.