Just ordered some hotchkis sway bars ftw and was wondering how hard the install is on these and some suggestions on stiffness settings. Thanks.

Mike

 

easy. just have a jack and to jack stands and you'll be golden.

remember, the bolt hole setting that is closest to the bend in the bar means stiffer setting.

 

That is the greatest sway bar adjustment demonstration ever!

 

well, my car isn't going to be tracked a lot (i mean def not every weekend but maybe 1-2 times a month) over the summer, and it is still my daily driver, so what setting is best? i've heard medium/medium is good, but would that get me the best "bang for the buck"?

thanks... i've only had trucks before the Z so i know 0 about suspension stuff.

 

curious about good setting as well as I have yet to install my bar and would hope to not mess with them once they're on. also daily driver.

 

Med/med is the place to start IMO. I originally placed them there and have tried soft/med and hard/med as well, but went back to med/med. I might try adjusting the rear bar next, but I am happy where it is at. Soft in the front still felt a little sloppy on turn-in and stiff seemed to be too much for daily driving as it induced some annoying squeeks over irregular surfaces.

 

awesome, thanks... i will try med/med

 

Not absolutely necessary but an 18" breaker bar for the bolts holding the in the front bar is a definite help. Some of those sumb*tches were on there tight.

Started off med/med but switched to soft/soft. Definitely stiffer than stock but not too stiff for a daily driver.

 

Med/Med is definatly a good place to start

About the install: Try to get someone to help you hold the bar in place, especially in the front. Holding the bar up with one hand and your knee while screwing the bolts back in was not easy feat. The install took a little longer than it should have because of it.

 

I haven't upgraded my sways yet, but I've done some reading on the Hotchkis.
It sounds like you might also want to pick up a set of collars for the the front and rear. It sounds like Hotchkis is the only brand that doesn't have the notches for them.

Here is the like that goes into more detail...

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....hlight=collars

Ian

 

Damn... thanks for that... i didn't even think about anything close to that. Well, looks like more parts to order...

 

For your sway bar settings, it depends on your tires. If you have a staggered set up (larger tires in the rear) start with med/med. If you have the same sized tires all the way around start with med in front and soft in the rear.
Then drive it around corners and see what happens. If you want to get rid of oversteer, soften up the rear and/or stiffen the front. If you want to get rid of understeer, Stiffen the rear and/or soften the front.
I have had a lot of fun playing with the settings.

Now if you have a three way adjustable overcoil - it gets a lot more complicated! There is a great write up in last months Grassroots Motorsports Mag from a suspension expert. It is longer process when you have overcoils to tune your sway bars then.

 

It's pretty easy. Only getting the rear bar over the exhaust piping is a little tricky. Not difficult, just some trial & error. I can't even remember how we got it through...

 

Great Thread.

 

+1 very informative... as I am about to do a sway bar install too!

 

just got the bars on today... all i can say is why didn't I do this sooner?

 

i love informative threads like these..gonna get mine installed soon, thanks for the info, guys

 

Man, you're so lucky you didn't run into problems like I did! lol took me 2 days and 8 hours due to problems with 3 stripped bolts and the front not going in correctly (later found out due to the way the car was jacked up)

Anyway, I agree...Hotchkis swaybars FTW!!!