First off let me thank my friends Neil and Chris over at COBB Tuning Plano for setting me up with these sway bars.

Good, time to dig in! Sway Bars are a very important part of your suspension, it is also very hard to find a set that actually improves your handling. The COBB Sway Bars though really do the job and do the job well.

I do a lot of road racing, and on my first day out I was fighting to tame the Z's natural under steer, which is a huge pain when you are trying to make it around a corner. I immediately began searching for the best solution to fix my under steer problems. Soon I landed on the Sway Bars.

How do Sway Bars work?
The sway bars control the amount of "sway" that is allowed. Sway is when the body of the car rolls from side to side when under the stresses of turning. The sway of the body shift the weight there by affecting your ability to turn the 1 and a half tons or so of metal that you are attempting to change the direction of. The sway bars are anchored to the frame or unibody and the suspension. These anchor locations help keep the body level with the suspension, keeping weight distribution even and keeping more of all 4 tires on the road. Finding a good sway bar is hard because of the engineering that goes into them, a good sway bar is hollow and has just the right amount of wall thickness. Having adjustable sway bars like these, although very comon in the aftermarket, is a fantastic improvement over the stock sway bars.

Can you stiffen the body too much?
Yes, you know when you see a car or go cart on 2 wheels? That happens when there is not enough roll in the suspension and body. It makes the body and suspension so solid, that the car just lifts and on the inside wheels.
Least exaggerated example I could find :


How hard is the install?


The sways connect to the suspension via this tie rod end, remove this nut and the bar will be free from the suspension. I would start here when removing that bars and end here when replacing them. There are a total of 4, 2 per sway bar, 1 on each side of the vehicle.

There is a bracket holding a busing and the bar connected to the frame, romvoe these 4 bolts to remove the bracket. There are a total of 4 of these, 2 per sway bar, 1 on each side of the vehicle.


The install is very simple (instructions included); all you need is 10mm socket, 14mm socket, and a 17mm socket. for the Front, after removing the skid guard, there is a total of 10 bolts/nuts to remove. The front sway bar drops right out and the new one bolts right in and you have the option of 4 different stiffness setting. I of course chose the stiffest.

The rear is just as simple,10 bolts/nuts and some creative maneuverings and you will have the rear in, and you might be tempted to set this on the stiffest, if you do you will have very solid cornering, but it makes the back end just a bit too tail happy. I would suggest setting in on the middle setting to allow for a bit more give.

Installed Bars

Front


Rear


The Performance, do the sway bars do the job?
First impressions, I couldn't wait to get out and try these (both bars on the stiffest setting) I could feel the rear end just follow the front of the car where ever I lead it to go. I saw and immediate increase in the handling and I was about to take turns at a good 5-8 miles an hour faster without experiencing under steer. The only down side was I could just feel that the back was going to murder me if I let it get away from me. And then I got my chance to see if my instincts were right... They were, once the rear breaks loose at high speeds in a turn you are spun and looking the wrong way very quickly.

Second Impression, I got a little more time behind the wheel with this set up and it makes the car seem so much more powerful in the corners. I can manage the rear end now when it breaks loose, it just took some adjustments. I plan to reduce the stiffness in the rear and see how that goes, as weather has been preventing me from being able to go out and get a test of the different setting I haven't bothered changing it yet.

Over all :
Install - Easy, and short, (1 maybe 2 hours if you take your time)
Do they Actually work? - Yes very much so and they are easily worth your hard earned cash.


Recommendations
Daily Driven Vehicles - put the front on the stiffest setting and the rear either on the softest or moderate setting. These sway bars do not change the ride comfort in anyway what so ever, that I can feel anyways. You will see the improvements when you need to make that right on red just a little bit faster than you normally would.

Track Vehicles - Stiffest on the front, and I would suggest moderate on the rear. These sway bars will dramatically reduce if not eliminate your under steer, and the rear sways will bring in the rear end and put your car on rails.

I highly suggest these sway bars to anyone needing to improve their handling.

Imported Performance is building this Z into a Time Attack car, I invite everyone to observe our progress over the coming months and as I am new to write ups like this, please if I have left out anything that you want to know, or have any questions at all just as and I will be sure to get you your answers.

 

Nice review. Thanks. Have you had other sways on the car besides stock to get a comparison?

 

Good review. Do you have stock endlinks? I want to purchase these also but ive heard you have to buy upgraded endlinks or they will bind after a few thousand miles.

 

+1 ... more specifically hotchkis.

Any other personal reviews who have tried them?

 

Very very interesting and filled with FAIL

 

I suppose we all have different opinions.

I have not personally used the hotchkis but I have heard many great things about them.

I am using the stock endlinks, if they do bind I will be sure to post something up about it. Hopefully that won't happen, I haven't heard anything about that happeneing though.

No I have not, not on the Z.

Thanks for the praise. BBK write up coming soonish.

 

the Hotchkis and Cobb swaybars are the same aside from color

 

wow 7 post and already slammin a sponsor, TALK ABOUT FAIL!!!!!

 

Just because someone sponcors a site doesn't mean they know what their talking about. Full stiff front and soft rear. fun fun fun super crazy understeer FTMFL, but those recomendations are straight from the directions. Someone who knows what they're doing would look at the specs for adjustment and NOT do what they say from the directions.

 

Actually the right suggestion is to START with what the instructions say and adjust them to suit your particular setup/needs and driving style. There is no right and wrong -that is why they are adjustable in the first place. If there was one magic setting that suited every condition and everyones setup, they would not be adjustable. One setting doesn't automatically equal under or oversteer, as these are all relative to many factors, from spring rate, to ride height, to wheel and tire choice, differential choice (and setting), cross weight, among them.

 

I completely agree. As this was my first time preparing a write up I went with the most general approach to all explanations and recommendations. I was also going with what I experienced in an otherwise stock vehicle. That being said I think that I have come up with a couple of ideas on how to make the next one better.

I appreciate everyone's input and the addition information that has been provided.

 

I've had them for over a year now and i love them, last I heard though they were discontinued, any truth to that? My only complaint about them is that I would have liked them to come with stiffer bushings to replace the OEM units.

I have mine set to 2/4 front and 2/3 rear on my daily driven G35 coupe. I get knocking from rear endlinks, but I hardly notice it anymore.

My first and current impressions are like that of other sway bars, they do greatly improve the way the car feels and responds. When I first had them I had a square OEM setup of 235/40/18 on OEM 18. The drive was extremely neutral.

Once I put on my 19x10 and 19x11 combo with 255 and 295 tires the feel changed up quite a bit. The car has a little more rear bias in terms of grip now, but I think that is in large part due to the tires, however. I still find the loss of traction front and rear predictable and manageable, so I'm still happy.

In cruises, all of my buddies say my car stays amazingly flat and that makes me smile.