cage the bitch !
for real tho sways,strut bars
Sways are the cheapest most notibable mod for sure… with D bracket and endlink bushings as well.
Who ever was talking ish about the poly bushings doesn’t know what they are yaking about. PROPERLY installed poly bushings don’t squeak…
“Will bind worse/increased friction, articulation reduced further. It’s smart/good to know that they require greasing maintenance and the proper way is to install zerk fittings on the bushings/arms.”
FYI… the grease goes between the BOLT and the BUSHING not between the BUSHING and HOUSING as the above stated grease nipple (Zerk Fitting if your from africa) would place the grease.
Maybe thats why your ish squeaks.
???
Hey Samson, recommendation on sway bars for an S14? What’s involved in installing?
^^
very little, I took mine off myself.
I’m looking for recommedations now.
Suspension Techniques and Progress seem to be quite pricey
Heard bad things about God Speed.
Cusco, Tanabe and the other JDM brands are they worth the price?
What spring/shock combo do you plan on using or are you going coilovers? If so, what are your spring rates?
Stiff springs can also minimize roll in a turn but I think it might contribute to grip differently than a sway bar’s effects. So I would carefully take spring rates into consideration when selecting your sway bar.
Of course go with a decent name for sway bars (ie. try to avoid God Speed) but I think you should really be looking at sway bar construction, diameter, and end link adjustability and style rather than just name? Research some makes and just throw everything into a spreadsheet with their prices to use that as a good overview for you to make a decision.
Sway bars are a pricey investment imo so you should go troll some forums for feedback on the different makes out there to give you an idea of what you want. That and your comparison chart of construction, diameter, end link style & adj, and price should be more than enough info for you choose wisely.
At the end of the day remember…a sway bar itself is tube or solid bar of steel. Manufacturing wise you can’t go terribly wrong with quality so that’s why I’m saying don’t pay attention to name so much as function for this part. There are people out driving that do not even know they have broken end links. If you plan on beating on this car pretty good invest in some decent name ones but if you’re not, just pick up any bar that makes sense to you financially and invest in some good end links.
To add to the above, depending on your spring rates, make sure to choose swaybars wisely…
If you run coilovers and want to gain/maintain grip and traction it’s a good idea to try in the rear running no swaybar or sticking with the oem 15mm swaybar… Thicker swaybars may be a little too much while running coilovers with higher springrates… I run no rear swaybar… although I’m thinking of lowering the rear springrates and trying the 15mm swaybar. I’m undecided.
Progress, tanabe and whitelines are good choices. I run tanabe in the front. The progress ones come with endlinks and clear a bunch of silly jdm braces and greddy oil pan. (Tanabe has a few issues and the now discontinued massive largus ones definitively have issues). If I were doing it again I’d go with the Progress ones and save myself the hassle (clearance + spherical endlinks included)
End-links are something you may consider now that we’re talking swaybars. They play a big factor… as after all that’s the joint at which the bar and LCAs connect.
Running crappy rubber or polyurethane endlinks will make the car behave funny and not make the swaybars as effective. Spherical endlinks will make a swaybar feel as if you put on a thicker swaybar… Changing endlinks alone with stock oem swaybars can make the car feel like a million bucks again 
Plus less bushings = less binding, which is what you want on our cars as they are bushing-plagued.
Ebay/bings thermoplastic/polyurethane ones are dirt cheap for like <50 bux. Go ebay or bings for those… give him a shout. Otherwise if you’re adventerous build your own spherical ones for under a hundred bucks.
Edit: Typo meant to say progress not tanabe
I used Progress sway bars because it had a 3 way adjustable setting on the endlinks, which were SOLID spherical ones.
Imo, these fit my preferences the best since i could go full hard, or full soft within 10minutes. Plus, these endlinks don’t go bad after a few years. They last forever! It cost me under $400 for full front and back iirc.
^ X2 very good choice. I meant to say if I was doing it again I’d go with the progress ones not tanabe ones (which I already got)
Anyone ever use Whiteline sway bars?.
Sorry for the thread jack.
I concur that sway bars are probably the best bang for the buck… Biggest noticeable difference it seems.
I’ve never felt anything wworth mentioning from strut bars…
Now stitch welding… I noticed a big f’ing difference, lol… and it cost me nothing!!! l
putting strut tower bar on my hatch made a definite difference in feel to mine… i guess it depends on how mushy each chassis is.
I put a gtspec c pillar bar and trunk brace on mine just a while back… not bad either, it reduced certain noises, made the car a tiny bit more comfortable, definitely more controllable, i know it may seem like ‘all in your mind’ placebo effect but I felt this way… it’s minor but it’s there… This will run you 200ish bux for both but hey… They are more of a ‘nice touch’. When you got other things imo.
I just have to still install the tie brace and I need to get a front fender brace… these can make a significant enough difference too. That section is weaksauce on mcpherson strut cars/our cars.
Maybe if you are incompetent because I was able to do the entire job, start to finish, without a press. And it took me maybe, and I mean maybe 30 minutes to get all the new bushings into all the arms/spindles etc etc etc…
Funny thing is… everything for the front end literally goes in by hand. So where a press comes into play is way beyond me.
-1 for not having a clue what your talking about.
+1 for being a retard for trying to make me seem incompetent or not know what i’m talking about.
-1 for assumptions about somebody and their car
My point was what’s the point of wasting money on something you’ll eventually trash and that’s ultimately inferior. Not whether you are competent mr extreme mechanic.
I’d really like to see you do all that in 30 minutes. Hell I’ll give you 30 minutes to do all bushings on my z32 uprights. Last time I checked my car still had the parts on the car not on a shelf.
Now that I mention it… a nice cheap upgrade where you can lose unsprung weight on the rear is getting z32 uprights. They run for <80 bux but you must get the conical spacer for the balljoint from nissan to get it to work.
On an s13 you can just use z32 dampers with fork mounts… not so sure on s14 fitment… but in either case the difference would be using a fork type mount instead of the bushing type mounts.
Edit with pic:
cast iron vs aluminumm if I recall 8lbs per side… pretty spiffy:
Fail.
You even quoted him and he said you’re incompetent because he did his in 30 minutes. Why are you asking him to do it again?
:picard:
I noticed no one said multilink?
Cuz he’s full of shit if he claims he did a whole car’s bushings in 30minutes. It’s not about incompetence or competence. It’s easier to install and uninstall arms, than uninstall arms, press, insert bushings, install arms. It was not a major negative con.
Edit: Additionally please don’t be an additional shit starter, this thread was going in the right direction, now it’s not.
Man who the fuck are you?
You can shut the fuck up instead.
I personally know Jeff(jedi_car_fan) , and was at his shop RIGHT after he did his bushings. He isn’t even exaggerating.
I’ve done it in three of my cars… the third time around literally took 30 minutes to press in all the rears. The first time probably took about an hour.
You’ve failed three times in this thread.
I agree 100%. Sways are the most noticeable, if you are running stock-ish suspension. With coilovers, I felt that it wasn’t AS noticeable… but that is just basic logic.
Okay, I’m sorry I’m arguing with ex-formula1 mechanics here. Make sure you time yourself when you take the wheels off too. Don’t forget to drop the car on yourself while working.
Please carry on.
/exit
240xcsv is Ahmed.
Lol, he can’t get enough of this forum. Even when everyone rips on him.
Anyways, do strut bars actrually make any noticible difference?
Aftermarket STRUTS AND SPRINGS, strut bars help in terms of body roll. If you are looking for the best “bang for buck” with the most improvement, spend money on some struts and springs man. Then you can go for:
- strut bars
- sway bars
- poly bushings
- other suspension shit that i dont think you’ll need.
IMO, 1st comes the struts and springs, then the bushings, sway bars then strut bars.
GL in your endeavor!