Hotchkis Sways and TRD Springs
 

I''m considering the Hotchkis sways and I already have TRD springs and Michelin PSS tires. How will the car feel with them? I autocross a few times a year and mountain roads once a month. Also have maxed neg camber with bolts (I believe toe is 0 all around).

I bought the Hotchkis swaybars as well, though I haven't had time to install them yet. however, I can tell you that the ride will be firmer due to the fact that the bars are larger than the stock ones. the main selling point of the Hotchkis was the adjustability and you might need to play with them and find the right setting for your driving style.

I believe I read in a thread that on a stock suspension, people have had good results with a full stiff setting in the front and the 2nd to last hole in the rear. definitely adjust them to find out your sweet spot though.

The ride shouldn't be firmer because of the sway bars, except over bumps where only one wheel is hitting it.

The whole point of sway bars vs stiffer springs is that bump stiffness isn't increased by increasing roll stiffness.

What are you trying to achieve with the sway bars? Ideally sway bars are used to fine tune handling balance, not just something thrown at a car for no reason.

Ideally I'd like a little more oversteer and less turn in roll (no one enjoys the feeling of body roll, right?). Will the bars increase steering response, too? I'm willing to give up a small amount of total grip for this.

Does anyone know the % stiffness of the TRD bars compared to stock?

I like my bars, and the adjust ability. Initially I had it set full soft up front, and med soft in the rear, but it was too loose for me. Per Aaron Ogawa's suggestion, I went full stiff up front, and it is much more neutral. The fact I could tell the difference, and I don't drive the race cars, was pretty cool. I've been tempted to go med stiff in the rear now that I have stickier tires, but I with the steep transition we have in the drive at work, I pickup the inside rear if I'm not careful now, I don't want to exacerbate that issue, lol.

fyi, I just saw that Hotchkis is selling 25% off Oct, 2, 3, and 4.

You can get the Hotchkis set for $370 off TireRack, even if you don't make the deadline for the sale. that's where I got mine from though I had to wait a week and half for them to ship (apparently it drop shipped from the hotchkis factory)

That list doesn't state what size TRDs are. Seems like TRDs are 21mm and 16mm. Does anyone know why Hotchkis went with such a large rear bar? Others like RaceComp matched a stiff, large front bar with a smaller rear bar.

@Hotchkis could probably address that. My suspicion is with 4 positions on the arms, that dia gave the best range from full soft to full stiff.