Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com
 
Roto-Fab
Go Back   Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com > Technical Camaro Topics > Suspension / Brakes / Chassis


Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 05-25-2012, 03:35 PM   #1
NoSloSS
BUMBLWHO
 
NoSloSS's Avatar
 
Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS/RS Convertible
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Evans, GA
Posts: 275
What Sway bars to get?

I have been looking at all the sway bars available to upgrade our cars and have just plain gotten lost in all the differences. I would like something adjustable in case I find it too stiff, but want to get rid of the sway in the car stock.

What I'm really asking is what would be the recommended size and type for better street handling with an occasional trip to the 1/4 mile?

I'm planning on Poly bushings at some point also.
NoSloSS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 03:55 PM   #2
Apex Motorsports
 
Apex Motorsports's Avatar
 
Drives: 2000 Camaro SS
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Posts: 25,179
Pfadt and BMR are my go to brands but you really can't go wrong as long as you stick to any of the reputable brand. For the kind of use you are describing you do not need to get too stressed over the minute technical differences. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM or give us a call.
Apex Motorsports is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 07:23 PM   #3
Scott@Bjorn3D


 
Scott@Bjorn3D's Avatar
 
Drives: Kami, 2013 2SS LS3 Luvin
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Eufaula, Alabama
Posts: 6,427
Send a message via MSN to Scott@Bjorn3D
Love my Pedders!!
Scott@Bjorn3D is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 10:50 PM   #4
Falundir

 
Falundir's Avatar
 
Drives: 2017 1SS 1LE - Hyper Blue, P85DL
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: East Bay
Posts: 2,189
Honestly, for your use go with the best deal you can get from a reputable brand. I went LG because I couldn't pass the deal up. PM Blu808 and see what he can do for you.
Falundir is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 11:19 PM   #5
Info@PeddersUSA.com
 
Info@PeddersUSA.com's Avatar
 
Drives: 5th Gen Rental
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: New England
Posts: 1,901
The best of the best for Rear Sway bars is the Pedders ZL1 sway bar conversion.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JusticePete View Post
The Camaro SS FE4 suspension moves the rear sway bar endlink / drop link mounting close to the knuckle to increase efficiency. The stock bars are now solid 23mm front and 24mm rear. The ZL1 will have 25mm solid front bars and 28mm solid rear bars. Chevrolet moved from hollow to solid bars for strength and durability. They did well, very well

Pedders exists to take Modern Muscle to the next level and we have a particular affinity for the 5th Gen Camaro. Our FE4 / FE5 sway bars are solid. The front is 27mm and adjustable. The rears are 32mm. Our bar sets are sold with high efficiency OEM quiet front end-links and fixed position drop- links. How do they perform, do you really need to ask? The owner of this Camaro is a law enforcement professional with countless hours of driver training. His professional opinion -- 'Holy shit, man! The front HOOKED not even CLOSE to breaking traction and the back end stayed right with it. I mean....when the car turns, it TURNS.'

Our FE4 / 5 rear sway bars can be retro fit to any 5th Gen Camaro. The new Camaro rear lower control arms have the 'old' style close to the differential endlink mounting tabs and the 'new' close to the knuckle mounting hole. This is a smart choice by Chevrolet as one common part number can be used on all versions of the 5th Gen Camaro. The new OE lower rear control arms are inexpensive.

Why did Chevrolet make the change in rear sway bar geometry and size? To make the 5th Gen handle better. From day one of the 5th Gen the bias of the car has been heavy on understeer. This is a function of weight distribution, wheel base, track, wheel and tire size and of course sway bar strength. The FE4 addresses both with improved rear sway bar geometry and sway bar strength. The old bars were hollow. The new bars are solid, the material is stronger. The old bars were almost the same diameter (strength) front and rear. The new FE4 rear bar is 1mm larger than the front. It doesn't sound like much, but coupled with the increase in efficiency of the new outboard mounting position it is a big difference. The FE4 Camaro is far more balanced that the FE3 SS. It is more neutral and handles better in the corners.

The new FE5 ZL1 takes this all on steroids. The front bar goes up in size to 25mm and the rear bar a huge jump to 28mm. Talk about balance from the factory

At Pedders, even great isn't good enough. We have been using a dumbed down rear alignment with a 32mm bar to reduce understeer and improve cornering. We set the rear camber to half the front camber or even less. The on track results were excellent. We feel we had a ZL1 two years ago with our Pedders USA Camaro. Now, there is a ZL1 so we have been hard at work with our partners at Lingenfelter on the L/28. When you next see the L/28 it will be running Pedders new FE4 / FE5 / ZL1 sway bars.

Here is the new rear bar complete with Pedders drop-link. The rear bar is NOT adjustable because the FE5 / FE5 / ZL1 drop link design is most efficient when straight up at rest.



The new 32mm bar takes up space, but there are ZERO clearance issues.




To get the aggressive alignment we wanted Pedders Extended Range Rear Camber and Toe bolts are necessary. They increase the adjustment range by 1 degree or in layman's terms a lot. We achieve this result my moving the eccentric to the outer edge of the bolt. The eccentrics are cut on a water jet, assembled in a jig and welded. This is a time consuming process. To finish the bolts we have them cadmium plated.


Eccentrics have a bad habit of drifting under high loads. We address that with more material. We make our eccentrics out of stock that is much thicker than the OEM bolts. More material means more strength and improved holding power.



We use a thick 'holding' nut and a thin jam nut. Unlike quenched nuts, you can use these again and again.


FE4 / FE5 / ZL1 Track Alignment

Front
Caster: Max it out with Pedders Caster Eccentrics
Camber: -2.3 Do NOT run a strut tower bar, let the car work for you in the turns. If you have one, take it off
Toe: OUT .5

Rear
Camber -2.5
Toe: IN .20

Pedders Full Camaro Alignment Kit is required.

Heath Bratcher, owner of American Muffler / Pedders in Fredericksburg Texas, Jimmy his lead Pedders Tech, myself and TAG UR IT


We'll have these bars available in about 60 days. I'll have confirmed dates for the initial production run in a day or two for the made in the USA Pedders FE4 / FE5 / ZL1 27mm adjustable front with high efficiency OEM quiet front endlinks and 32mm rear bar with drop-links kits as well as pricing.

Yes, we will have a retro-fit 32mm rear bar and drop links ONLY option for our clients that ready have our front bars.

Yes we will take pre-orders so you can be certain to start your driving season with the new FE4 / FE5 / ZL1 bars.

If you have a ZL1 on order, now would be the ideal time to order your Pedders upgraded sway bars.

If you drag race, you'll want to upgrade to Pedders FE4 / FE5 / ZL1 32mm rear bar with OEM Drop-links to improve control of the rear wheels and load distribution. Yes we will have a drag race kit.
Info@PeddersUSA.com is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2012, 07:50 AM   #6
Anubis
 
Anubis's Avatar
 
Drives: 2011 2SS/RS Black A6
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Posts: 50
I just had the Pedders Street Z bush inserts and the ZL1 front and rear sway bar conversion for OE height installed on my daily driver a couple of weeks ago. My suspension is stock other than those additions.

The difference in control and stability is amazing. I cannot be happier with the results.

Here some pictures of the differences between my stock bars and the upgraded bars.

Name:  RogersRearBar.jpg
Views: 918
Size:  68.0 KB
Name:  RogersNewVSOld.jpg
Views: 903
Size:  59.9 KB

Last edited by Anubis; 05-26-2012 at 08:10 AM.
Anubis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2012, 08:19 AM   #7
Rockit_z28
www.1baddogracing.com
 
Rockit_z28's Avatar
 
Drives: 2010 IOM 2SS/RS Auto
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Indian Land, SC
Posts: 998
Love my BMR
Attached Images
  
__________________
2010 Camaro 2SS/RS Aqua Blue Metalllic (bolt-ons)
2020 Camaro 2SS/RS Satin Steel Metallic - Shock and Steel Edition 1 of 98 - A10 (bolt-ons)
2010 Camaro 2SS/RS IOM - 1,023 RWHP 813RWTQ (Previous Paxton Record Holder: 9.82@139)

Built and Tuned by Heintz Racing
Go: DSS 9", RPM Trans TH400, Carlyle Racing 15" Conversion, ECS Vortech YSI-B, Fore Fuel System, ID1700, Gall Racing 427 C.I LSX, Mast 285CC Heads, HR Custom Cam

Show: Custom Painted Stripes/Badges (Orange Pearl over White), Z/TA Spoiler, VFN Hood, Weld Wheels
http://www.HeintzRacing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/1baddogracing










Rockit_z28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2012, 08:41 PM   #8
Billabongi

 
Billabongi's Avatar
 
Drives: '17 SS 50th Camaro
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Tampa, Florida
Posts: 921
So are new end links required for new sways? It's a DD so no track driving needed.
Billabongi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2012, 09:24 PM   #9
Info@PeddersUSA.com
 
Info@PeddersUSA.com's Avatar
 
Drives: 5th Gen Rental
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: New England
Posts: 1,901
Pedders sway bars come with sway bar links,
Info@PeddersUSA.com is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2012, 01:51 AM   #10
Ozzie RS
 
Ozzie RS's Avatar
 
Drives: '11 Camaro RS 2LT
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Kingwood,TX
Posts: 666
I purchased Whiteline (Australia)sway bars front & back for a really good price from Auto Agenda. Honestly I haven't driven any other cars with a different brand of sway bars but both are adjustable and at the time the cheapest. Are they the best? I don't know but love the difference in handling after having them installed with BC, ER series coil overs installed at the same time. It was like I bought a new car after the install. Others can tell you but I think it is end links you will need to upgrade with a rear sway bar and I got BMR for those.

I'm a noob and any of the suppliers on this forum are more than willing to answer any questions you have. Ask a lot of questions to any of them because they are all reputable dealers that I have come across, otherwise they wouldn't be on the forum very long.
__________________
Ozzie RS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2012, 07:12 AM   #11
Rockit_z28
www.1baddogracing.com
 
Rockit_z28's Avatar
 
Drives: 2010 IOM 2SS/RS Auto
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Indian Land, SC
Posts: 998
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billabongi View Post
So are new end links required for new sways? It's a DD so no track driving needed.
Depends on the bar and year. BMR will typically let you reuse the stock end-links.
__________________
2010 Camaro 2SS/RS Aqua Blue Metalllic (bolt-ons)
2020 Camaro 2SS/RS Satin Steel Metallic - Shock and Steel Edition 1 of 98 - A10 (bolt-ons)
2010 Camaro 2SS/RS IOM - 1,023 RWHP 813RWTQ (Previous Paxton Record Holder: 9.82@139)

Built and Tuned by Heintz Racing
Go: DSS 9", RPM Trans TH400, Carlyle Racing 15" Conversion, ECS Vortech YSI-B, Fore Fuel System, ID1700, Gall Racing 427 C.I LSX, Mast 285CC Heads, HR Custom Cam

Show: Custom Painted Stripes/Badges (Orange Pearl over White), Z/TA Spoiler, VFN Hood, Weld Wheels
http://www.HeintzRacing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/1baddogracing










Rockit_z28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2012, 02:33 PM   #12
Falundir

 
Falundir's Avatar
 
Drives: 2017 1SS 1LE - Hyper Blue, P85DL
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: East Bay
Posts: 2,189
Doing sways w/o end links is like doing a blower and leaving your tires off...
Falundir is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-28-2012, 06:56 PM   #13
AutoAgenda


 
AutoAgenda's Avatar
 
Drives: 69 Camaro, 02 Escalade, 67 Eleanor
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Scottsdale AZ
Posts: 5,140
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzie RS View Post
I purchased Whiteline (Australia)sway bars front & back for a really good price from Auto Agenda. Honestly I haven't driven any other cars with a different brand of sway bars but both are adjustable and at the time the cheapest. Are they the best? I don't know but love the difference in handling after having them installed with BC, ER series coil overs installed at the same time. It was like I bought a new car after the install. Others can tell you but I think it is end links you will need to upgrade with a rear sway bar and I got BMR for those.

I'm a noob and any of the suppliers on this forum are more than willing to answer any questions you have. Ask a lot of questions to any of them because they are all reputable dealers that I have come across, otherwise they wouldn't be on the forum very long.
+1

Whiteline are very high quality and well priced. With Whiteline, BMR or Pfadt its hard to go wrong!

Last edited by AutoAgenda; 05-28-2012 at 08:20 PM.
AutoAgenda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-30-2012, 09:28 AM   #14
wirebender
 
wirebender's Avatar
 
Drives: 2017 ZL1, A10, White, sunroof, nav
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Garner, NC
Posts: 720
I went with LSR...front and rear are both adjustable, chrome moly....never looked back, I am totally satisfied with them. I encourage you to call Aldo and talk to him before you make a decision.
wirebender is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:01 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.