DIY - Sway Bar (Stabilizer Bar) Installation
 

Reserved....

How many hours for front/ rear?

Hi mla163,

Front should be about 1-1/2 hrs and the rear is 3/4 hr when doing it on the floor with jack stands/floor ramps.

I've done this install so many times though, I've gotten it down to under an hour for the whole car when using a lift. Compared to other car makes we deal with, this is one of the easiest sway bar installs.

Good Luck! ;)
-Aaron

Great Write up! Very glad to see those front brackets drop so you aren't snaking in and out the front bar. What is your recommendation for the rear bar adjustment for a neutral handling setup?

Thanks for sharing, wish I had this before my install :)

Very happy with the product, game changing upgrade.

Hi FastLane1000,

Yes, Subaru did us a favor by making those front sway bar bushing mounts modular. Dropping subframes are never fun.

With OE springs and tires, you can achieve neutral handling with the front on stiff and the rear on medium soft hole setting (2nd hole from the end). With some better tires you can have plenty of stability even on the medium stiff hole setting (3rd hole from the end). If you have Hotchkis springs, these settings apply as well. When introducing higher/varying spring rates, more aggressive alignment settings and shock damping adjustability, you will have to adjust the sway bars accordingly to suit your needs.

Cheers! :)

Mine just arrived today. No collars needed on the front bar to prevent the side to side movement?
Edit: never mind collars are built in on front bar

Huh. I did mine without unbolting from the subframe. It was a PITA of course.

i have clunking issue using the stiffest settings for the front swaybar with stock endlink. (adjustable endlink possibly will fixed this though)

I can't speak for any other bars but my Whiteline and a buddy's Hotchkis bar both clunk. Something needs to be done with the endlinks, either replacing or cutting and shortening stock.

You mentioned fixing this by adding washers in another post. Was this not a permanent fix?
@Hotchkis have any input?

Thanks!

Sorry, I might not have said it very clearly.. You'll need shorter than stock endlinks to prevent interference with the control arms. I had the additional problem of the bolts endlink->sway bar studs also interfering with the inside of the fender well/frame whatever you want to call it. I'll go try to take a couple pics, but its hard to see.

Here we go. The first pic shows the clearance from the endlink to the control arm. I was about to say "static clearance" but it changes a bit when you turn the steering wheel, which I had to do to get the pic on the ground.

With the stock end links you may or may not be hitting statically. Hit a bump in the road or turn and it will for sure, though.

The second pic shows the inside of the fender. You can see some paint has been scraped off. Directly below that is the end of the sway bar and endlink, and if you look closely you can see the washers I added between them. That stud sticking out was what was interfering under load.

Is that bar centered or are you using the centering collars? Couldn't imagine any contact on the body from the lower endlink bolt like that.

Also, if you are getting any clunking, you may want to check if your endlink bolts are properly torqued. Just using an impact isn't enough. You need a allen bolt for the endlink threaded end and muscle it tight.

I had the Hotchkis bar and no interference issues here.

It's centered with the collars. I had that interference on both sides. It's up high from when I had the links adjusted longer but it happened no matter what. The bar is a 22mm Whiteline.

Hi qoncept,

When we designed the front sway bar, we made it a point for the sway bar end to clear the lower control arm at all conditions including droop. This is with any length end links. The dimension from the centerline axis to the sway bar end is actually a call out (check dimension) on our CAD drawing to ensure no interference is present. So we do try to make sure that this particular concern is addressed.

We've had a few customers call in about clunking noises from the front, but that was due to loose end links. Once the end links were tightened completely, the noise was fixed. We've had our sway bars in our test car for almost a year, with plenty of autocross runs and street driving and have not had any noise what so ever.

Please have your buddy with the Hotchkis bar give us a call and we will be happy to help him if he is having any issues. (562)907-7757

Cheers!
-Aaron

Hi FastLane1000,

The front Hotchkis bar should have centering collars welded onto the bar. The installation pictures show an early prototype that did not have centering collars. Sorry for the confusion. Truth be told, when testing with the prototype we did not have any issues with centering. The main lever arm bends in the bar are close enough to the bushings, so it self centered itself. We added welded centering collars for production as a precautionary measure.

Thanks,
-Aaron

Thanks for the info, I'll let him know to check and give you a call if he doesn't get it.

I'll give that a try this weekend ... if i still get the clunk (while on stiffest setting) i'll just get the adjustable endlink

Did the whiteline adjustable endlinks solve your issues, or did you have these issues with those endlinks? I have a set of them about to go on with the RCE bars.

I've had the whiteline links all along. Finally getting the adjustment right fixed. it. :w00t:

Cool. So keep them as short as possible and have as little bolt inboard as possible. Got it. :D

Pretty much. I'd also make sure you get the bar to where you think is perfectly centered and then tighten the slip collars in place. I don't know if it will tend to walk at all but a sway bar clunk has become the most frustrating sound in the world to me and any little thing I can do... :party0030:

ever done a mk6 GTI? not THAT is a piece of cake

thanks, this worked out great. Had some difficulty following this with a ehiteline bar. Everything still worked out though. Very helpful DIY!

Sorry for reviving the dead but I need some help. I'm installing sway bars and the end link length is something that always troubles me. I've installed the sway bar with the car on jackstands, all 4 sides. Is this the correct way or must the suspension be loaded at regular ride height to avoid any preload? One of my endlinks is slightly longer than the other in order to not have any preload, why in the world is this so? I have white line adjustable end links btw. if I had not allow the suspension to drop I wouldn't have noticed the end links hit the control arm, the distance isn't the same at full drop as opposed to loaded suspension. Thanks
@Hotchkis

Thanks for the super clear instructions. Did my Perrin 19mm front swaybar in about 2 hours. Just drove it up on ramps, used a jack to raise hte car a little while leaving the tires on the ramps. Honestly, the part that seemed to take the longest was removing and re-installing the two covers.

Good question, i'm wondering this also! Seeing as the only way I can adjust my swaybar is with the car on jackstands I wonder how preloading works with the adjustable endlinks.

Do so in jack stands, when the suspension is loaded(car on floor or ramp) the bottom part of the endlink will be farther away from the control arm so you won't know for sure if it hits when suspension droops. i did it on ramps and when I raised the car and put it on jack stands, the endlink hit the control arm, adjusted while on stands once more and it was perfect afterwards. I learned the hard way.

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what's the torque specs for the bolts on step 3R? (rear bushing brackets)

Thanks for this DIY. I installed mine on the weekend. It took longer than expected, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without your instructions and pictures. My first sway bar install done!

I just picked up a rear sway bar to try on my street class auto-xer, and am a bit confused by the bridge plate.

http://qrgarage.ca/wp-content/upload...tchkis-wtf.jpg

Is there supposed to be a cutout in the chassis side mount for the bridge plate to fit in? I can't find one on my car. The bridge plate doesn't seem to sit flush to anything.

I've currently installed the bar without it... although I noticed that the retaining collars can't sit flush to the bushing because there isn't adequate clearance to chassis mount.

The rear mount on the subframe should have a "valley" that the booby on the bridge plate takes up. What year is your car? Do you have any pictures of the mount?

Thanks,
-Aaron

Thanks for your response!

Mine is a 2015, so surely I'm not the first. Odd. I'll take it apart and snap some pics.

Replacing a TRD rear sway bar, I realized I had the TRD reinforcement plate installed. If TRD thought the plate was needed for their bar, it's surely a good idea for the Hotchkis, so I just left it on and put the Hotchkis bridge plate back in the box.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....GL._SX355_.jpg

I'm planning on installing my front sway bar on my car on Sunday and will be reusing my stock endlinks.

Any tips on loading the front suspension when installing the end links? I'll be working on jackstands so I'm not sure how to proceed. Just don't want any clunking going on. I'm on stock suspension.

Does anyone know what thread pitch the 10mm and 12mm skid plate bolts are?

Are the 12mm bolts for the metal skid plate and the 10mm for the transmission one or the opposite?

Thanks!