Poly bushings for OEM sway bar, or aftermarket?

[Bumnah]

Sway bars are the last things left that need to be addressed.

Should I put in poly bushings for the OEM bars and their endlinks, or should I go with progress sway bars?

What should I take into account to make an accurate decision? Right now I'm leaning towards just getting the bushings and seeing how the car handles with them.

How hard is it to replace the bars after the suspension has been put back together?

Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Matt93SE]

Bars are easy. Follow instructions that come with them and you're done. ramps make it go quick, but jack and stands works just as well. My base S14 didn't have a rear sway bar- I'm pretty sure the ST kit came with all of the new endlink parts necessary to install.

If you've swapped to stiffer springs and shocks, then more roll stiffness is in line as well. I'm running KTS coilovers on my S14 and I saw a huge improvement in transition response and overall handling when I installed my ST bar set. I shoulda gone with adjustables, but price was a concern at the time. I'll go custom later if needed, but right now I just want to get the car back on the track and see how it feels with the new chassis mods.

[gawdzilla]

i did what you described. new ES bushings into the stock endlinks and bars. my S14 came with a oem rear sway so i just changed out the bushings for that too. i will probably be looking for an adjustable rear sway in the future to help dial away some understeer, but it's tough to go wrong changing out the bushings to new ones given the price ($30ish?). i did notice some improvement but mainly it was probably do to worn out 10 year old crap being replaced by new stuff.

i suggest trying the ES bushings and see how you like it first. use the money saved for some track time to dial in your skills

[flip240]

if i were you, i would get stiffer bushings with the rear stock sway. i have a whiteline adjustable rear (softest setting) and my car has too much exit oversteer for my liking, especially once i'm on the throttle. a lot guys on this forum recommend disconnecting it altogether or having a soft one to help in transitioning

edited: clarified which sway i was talking about

[Matt93SE]

In a lot of cases, people are jacking with the wrong end. look at a bigger front sway to increase roll stiffness and rid the car of understeer, but it still keeps corner exits okay. Many RWD cars are like that. I tend to have better success fiddling with the front bar and sticking with a 'decent sized' rear bar.
On a FWD car, you'll do the opposite.. but a good size front bar on and tune with the rear.

... on another oversteer related note...
I've found the ES bushing set to be a royal PITA to install and then to drive the car quickly. They caused so much bind in the rear suspension on my car, it was holding it's position on entry and then snapping over mid-corner, causing random snap oversteer issues.

I removed half the ES bushings and replaced them with heim joints (by installing adjustable arms in the back and leaving the ES bushings in the spindles), and the handling and predictability got WAY better. I'm just too cheap to buy all the spherical bearings to rebuild the rear knuckles. ouch... I'll probably take the ES bushings out and ream a bit of urethane out of them to reduce the binding a bit and try again. just need to have a plan B ready for if/when that backfires on me.

[Bumnah]

Right now I'm leaning towards going with the aftermarket sway bars. Others I have asked have said similar things. Plus I'm really liking the end link design.

Front sway bar endlink 01


Front sway bar endlink 02


Rear sway bar endlink 01


Rear sway bar endlink 02


These are progress sway bars.

[Matt93SE]

Endlinks are easy enough to make... a 3/8" heim joint is about $7...
grab a male and female joint and screw them together.

The U-bends can be made easily or take a piece of 1 or 1.5" square tube and cut one edge off. drill a hole through it and you're done. made in less than an hour.

[flip240]

Checkout this thread, a lot of good info

http://nissanroadracing.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74&highlight=swaybar

[cdlong]

Endlinks are easy enough to make... a 3/8" heim joint is about $7...
grab a male and female joint and screw them together.

The U-bends can be made easily or take a piece of 1 or 1.5" square tube and cut one edge off. drill a hole through it and you're done. made in less than an hour.

i was thinking about doing that. i guess i don't have to think about it too much more. thanks.

i can't say i've shopped much for heim joints, where do you get them. are ones from home depot good enough? i guess for $7 you could replace them every season.

[Def]

McMaster stuff is usually from FK, pretty good quality.

[Matt93SE]

I get mine from Rod End Supply.. good knowledge, good prices, good quality.
Been a while since I've bought any, but a teflon-lubed 3/8" joint was about $6 each last time I bought a box of them....

[Bumnah]

Perhaps. I'll be very honest. I barely have time to work on the car with off the shelf parts. Trying to make end links will only slow down the progress I've made. I'm leaning heavily towards just getting the progress bars. Many people say the same thing: "Yeah oem bushings for now, but I want to get "X" bar next." I'm doing all this work to avoid having to go back under the car again. I'm just going to swap them, but keep my OEM bars. That way if I decide to go back to the OEM stuff, I can.

[Matt93SE]

Good plan. I hate working on something 5 times because I didn't want to do it right the first time.

[flip240]

if you don't get the progress bars (which come with spherical endlinks)
the thread i posted earlier has part #s of everything you need from mcmaster to make your own...

[Bumnah]

yeah i looked through the thread. Lots of good information. I've saved the list incase I ever decide to build them for my OEM bars later.