Does the sway bar hang too low?

Just installed a 1 inch sway bar in my skylark. I did not have one on before obviously so I have no refernce point. Does it hang too low? It is bolted into the holes in the lower arms, although I had to drill one

 

Did you use boxed lower control arms to bolt the rear sway bar into?

 

Here is a pic of my 1 inch rear sway bar to compare to yours.

 

Thats important! Also, do you have a front bar and is it bigger than 1 inch? Did someone recommend the 1 inch bar? The reason I ask is because you want to balance the front and rear bars to enhance your handling. If the bar in the rear is larger it will cause strange behavior in your ride. :eek2:

From the net: "A big bar on the front, increases rear lateral and motive traction.
A big bar on the rear, increases front lateral and motive traction.
So, if the car is understeering, decrease front bar size, or increase
rear bar size. This increases front lateral grip and decreases rear lateral grip
giving the car a more neutral to oversteer feel. Reverse the process for
too much oversteer."

- Bill

 

Yes, I also have a 1.25 trans am front sway bar. The rear ia a 1 inch ADDCO bar. I know I am going to get a rash of s--t for this but, I installed the thick steel bolt bushings that came with the kit to go inside the lower arms. But off topic, does it hang low? It seems to hang like yours Chris near the corners of the pumpkin, but mine has a lower dip in the middle. Guess I just need to watch that i don;t run over something. If I like how it feels, I will box the arms

 

Hi Jay,
Your bar does seem to hang a bit lower but I don't think it should cause too much of a problem. My 1 inch rear bar came from OPG. Did the ADDCO bar have a kit to install in non-boxed control arms?

 

Looks good to me,but if your control arm bushings are shot that will be a factor on where it sits.

 

Yeah, the kit came with all grade 8 bolts, washers, nuts, shims and the thick steel spacers that you hammer inside the control arms for the bolts. ADDCO said that they do not need to be boxed with this kit. Might be a question of my purpose for the car. I just drive it on the weekends.

 

okay by me.

 

Looks like you got all the bases covered. It looks to me like the bend at the center is different and causing it to look low. You might try loosening the bolts, push up on the center of the bar at the lowest point (use a jack or something to hold it), then tighten the bolts back up. Due to the clearences you might gain some height.

- Bill

 

Awe man, took it for a ride today, wow what a difference. I have had the front bar on, but the car handles so much better! Noticeable just pulling out of the driveway!!! Man car feels so much more stable

 

You think the sway bars helped out, wait until you start messing with springs.

Adjustable swaybars make a huge difference too because you can preload the tension on the bars.

 

Adjustable sway bar??? Do tell

My rear sway bar came as a kit with two shaped inserts that, when welded into the bottom of the control arms, boxed and reinforced them at the bolt holes at the same time. I don't know who made the kit though, bought it at a swap meet, brand new, from a chevelle guy... made a huge difference to the handling of my granny four door car!

Anyway, the bar itself sits an inch below the pumpkin, much like the OP's, and in years of driving I've never had issue... mind you, I am aware of it and the times there has been something on the road I had to run over I always keep it near the wheels! lol

Edit: Oh yeah, I put some station wagon rear springs and regular GS front springs, boxed the arms in the rear, 1" rear bar, 1 1/4" front bar, KYB Gas shocks, and the car handles like magic... hardly any corner roll, and crisp instantaneous steering response, yet it isn't hard enough to feel every crack in the road. Far cry from the sagged out old oil burner I started out with! While you're playing with the front and rear control arms, definitely change the bushings. I used Energy Suspension's polyurethane kit for the whole car and love it... it included all bushings, tranny mount, spring isolators, boots for all the centerlink joints, tie rods, ball joints, etc... Lot of work and some money, but it's magic compared to when all this stuff is worn out and not working correctly.

Enjoy!

 

Here's shots of my Spohn swaybar installed.

 

I guess maybe they handle a bit better with those aftermarket jobs but with GM rear bar still available new why not go that route? They look a hell of a lot better and not Mickey Mouse.