View Poll Results: WHICH IS THE BEST REAR SWAY BAR

CUSCO

33.33%

WHITELINE/MRT

44.44%

PERRIN

5.56%

PROGRESS

HOTCHKIS

16.67%

Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 18. You may not vote on this poll

What is the Best SWAY BAR for WRX...

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07-23-2003, 02:09 AM

Maniac

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Car Info: Silver 2002 WRX Sedan

What is the Best SWAY BAR for WRX...

I am in the process of upgrading my suspension.

I am looking to buy a rear adjustable sway bar.

There are quite a few of them on the market now.

Which one should I get?

1) Cusco
2) Whiteline
3) MRT
4) Perrin
5) Progress
6) Hotchkis

I do not care about the price. What I need is a good quality bar that will do the job and will not have SQUEAKY BUSHINGS!
Also, I saw some old Progress rear adjustable bars that are straight (no bends for the exhaust) and come with mounts. Is a straight bar any better than a bent one?

Thanks for your help!
Maniac.

07-23-2003, 05:59 PM

Kevin M

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I would recommend Whiteline. They have the most experience with Subaru suspensions and will give you excellent advice on which of their products will best suit you if you contact them with specifics about what you want out of your car. They have a wide selection of sway bars, plus excellent quality HD mounts and endlinks, and they are less expensive to boot. The bushings will not squeak if you use the white grease they include in the package. I used some silicon spray on my swaybar's bushings when installing it 6 months ago and it hasn't squeaked either. (It's an FHI 20mm.) The RSB should have 2 bends in it- one to clear the muffler, and one to come up to the passenger side mount. The passenger side lever arm will also have a bend in it. I suppose a straight bar of a given diameter might have different effective rates than a bent bar of the same diameter and length, but the "size" of a sway bar is based on it's relative spring rates- for instance, the Whiteline 23-26mm RSB is actually 24mm in diameter. Regardless of the actual physical size of the sway bar you can expect it to behave as one of the diamter it is rated as due to slight changes in geometry between brands.

Cusco and Perrin are also high quality, nothing to really detract from them, other than the fact they are more expensive without really doing any better than the Whiteline equipment. Perrin also sells new mounts with all of their sway bars, though this is only really necessary if you will be getting a bar with an effective diameter larger than 22mm. They also use spherical bearings on their endlinks which adds cost, and may or may not be as effective long term.

Progress and Hotchkis both have outstanding reputations for suspension components, but are newer to Subaru tuning than the others. I would expect them to be good as well, but I have not seen either of them on a WRX yet personally.

07-24-2003, 06:43 AM

Subdued

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I run Whiteline bars 24 front and 22-26 rear. The only issue I encountered was the tell tale clunking after two weeks which was rememdied by properly torking a rear endlink. I will buy Whiteline products for my next Subaru also.

07-24-2003, 10:09 PM

DoomE.Q.

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Hmm heres my analysis on my top 3 choices if I had a WRX since i'm in RS land over here...

3. Whiteline- Cheap and reliable, whiteline makes quality suspension components and have been doing it for subarus as long as most of us can remember... plus they make lots of other well matched bits. May not impress people as much. But will get you the same snappy handling you're after.

2. Cusco. Probably works about the same as the others but has that JDM sex appeal that really can't be denied. Sure it's expensive but one could point out that its run on Japanese Time Attack WRX's...

Now heres where some people are going to loose me

1.Hotchkis. New to subaru and , maybe for just a swaybar not the best choice... but their total vehicle packages are tuned together much in the same way progress does their suspension kits plus they have that wicked camber/pillowball mount/strut tower bar. Look no further then their Celica's in SCC to see how well these guys make cars handle. They beat the Bozz Lancers slalom speed with a Celica! Thats gotta be worth at least a try... So my vote is for a total vehicle WRX system from them.

But I don't own a WRX and alas this is just a swaybar. just don't overkill it and they all should work fine.

-DE

07-24-2003, 10:25 PM

Kevin M

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Upon further review, Jacquot's SCC Project WRX is running Progress Group swaybars and mounts, and they are quite happy with it. I doubt you will really be dissatisfied with any of the choices you listed.