What Sway bars do you recommend?

[TCAT]

Thanks Pete! I will be looking into your 32mm rear sway bar. I really appreciate the information and support.

Also, I can vouch for Pedders Subframe, differential, and radius rod bushings. I got the HD version of everything and they are stout as all hell. It's a great mod to perform right off the bat upon ownership of the car.

[Rich@BSP]

Always address the foundation first.

[Aceman1120]

How about for us v6ers?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by Aceman1120

How about for us v6ers?

1. Street Z Radius and Sub-Frame Inserts
2. 220032 Front and 220033 Rear Coils
3. Z BarZ Upgrade with BarZ, Links and OEM Arms

[Nutro]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

Yes sir, the Pedders 32mm Z style bar.

bhall82 is spot on when he says that sub-frame and radius bushes are the lowest hanging fruit on the 5th Gen. A Street Z kit will address that!

Damn it. More parts I cannot afford!

Can Heath and the crew install all of these parts?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by Nutro

Damn it. More parts I cannot afford!

Can Heath and the crew install all of these parts?

In their sleep...

[SummoneR]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

Sweet dude, you got a ZL1!

read his signature "ZL1ized MOURNING THE LOST OF HIS FATHER "

BTW L99CAMA2011, might want to fix the typo of "LOST"

I can't decide what I want to do suspension wise... I don't plan to race, but I do want a lower more aggressive stance, I should ride in a car that has coilovers, and one that has Springs and sways to figure it out I guess...

All of the suspension vendors here make great products. Good luck in your decision.

[Zeus95]

Originally Posted by ORANGA2D

I went with LSR sway bars http://www.lsrperformance.com/suspen...vy-camaro.html . And yes huge difference, the car is planted and almost flat in the corners now.

Just order my set from Matt Neal at LSR, can't wait !!

[matt@lsrperformance.com]

Thanks for the order! Please let me know if I can help with anything else.

[ActNup NY]

Question here folks does it matter if the sway bars are solid or hollow? Because I was told that pedders sway bars are the only solid bars out, and most of the rest are hollow. The hollows are more subject to break (as I was reading in an old post where the guy posted a pic of his front sway bar I believe being cracked) Just curious cause I'm still in limbo as where to go in terms of getting the most bang for my bucks regarding sway bars. Leaning to pedders, but reading about pdaft (possibilty) and LSR, etc.. Thxs !! Decisions, decisions, and more decisions.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by ZIPNBY

Question here folks does it matter if the sway bars are solid or hollow? Because I was told that pedders sway bars are the only solid bars out, and most of the rest are hollow. The hollows are more subject to break (as I was reading in an old post where the guy posted a pic of his front sway bar I believe being cracked) Just curious cause I'm still in limbo as where to go in terms of getting the most bang for my bucks regarding sway bars. Leaning to pedders, but reading about pdaft (possibilty) and LSR, etc.. Thxs !! Decisions, decisions, and more decisions.

Most companies are selling hollow bars for the Camaro in excess of 27mm in diameter. The chances of a bar that size or larger cracking are slim. Consistency bar to bar and the strength of the bar are an entirely different matter.

Circle Track Sway Bar Article

What Affects The Rate of The Sway Bar? There are several things that affect the rate of a sway bar, or more accurately said, the spring rate at the end of the arms related to how that affects the overall wheel rate. The sway bar resists chassis roll and with some of the more popular setups, minimizing and/or eliminating chassis roll is a desired effect helped along by using large-diameter sway bars. Here is a list of what can affect the rate:

1. The length of the portion of the bar that will twist with chassis roll affects its rate.

2. The outer diameter of the bar affects its rate. The larger, the stiffer it will be.

3. Hollow bars are less stiff than solid bars and the wall thickness affects the rate.

4. The arm length affects the rate, the longer the arm, the softer the bar rate.

5. The material the arm is made of ultimately affects the rate if it istoo soft and bends.

6 The material the bar is made of, or the hardness of the steel, affects the rate. There is a modulus of elasticity for each type of steel that depends on the mixture of metals and the hardening process used in the manufacturing process.

7. The installation ratio affects how the bar rate is translated to the wheel rate.

The rear bar of the 5th Gen lends itself to a basic sway bar calculator. SWAY BAR CALCULATOR

The Calculator opens with a 32" long sway bar with 1.5" bar OD or a 38mm OD. The bar ID shows as 1" making the walls SUPER thick. The minimum acceptable wall thickness for a hollow tube sway bar is .166" and .188 is better. To use these dimensions in the calculator you double them to .332 and .376 inches. The calculator assumes the length of the sway bar arms to be 10". Using the calculator preset data and the only variable being solid, hollow .166 wall or hollow.188 wall These are the results in bar strength.

Solid Bar: 1,747 lbs
.166 Wall: 1,101 lbs
.188 Wall: 1,204 lbs

The largest rear bar we found in a quick search is 35mm / 1.375" hollow tube.

Pedders 32mm or 1.259": 870 lbs
35mm / 1.375" .166 Wall: 848
35mm / 1.375" .188 Wall: 907 lbs

The 5th Gen rear bar is a simple bar with two bends so this calculator will be close to spot on. To use the calculator you need basic product information.

Ask the company that makes the sway bars if the bar is hollow.
Ask them what the wall thickness is.

With that information you can go to the calculator and determine the strength of the bar to make an informed buying decision. Knowing if the bar is seamed or seamless is good information. Seamless is better.

Going one step further, if you take the time to look at a variety of sway bar and the bends you will see that all bars incur some distortion in the bends. The amount of distortion alters strength. Flat spots in the bends are worse than simple distortion. Distortion in hollow has greater impact on bar function with hollow bars and flat spots on hollow bars more so.

In theory, the advantage of a hollow bar is lighter weight. In practice, the weight advantage is minimal.

Then we come to state of the art for the 5th Gen. The new geometry on the FE4 and ZL1 FE5 rear sway bars is a huge improvement over the 10 and 11 setup. The old style rear bar mounts inboard on the rear lower control arm close to the differential. The new style is close to the hub increase bar function. It is a HUGE and DRAMATIC improvement. The ZL1 will deliver with a 25mm solid front and 28mm solid rear sway bar. This setup makes the 5th Gen far more neutral and balanced. The good news is that you can retro fit a 10 or 11 with a couple of ZL1 rear lower control arms. Chevy retail is about $100 for both arms. Pedders has released and is already shipping a new ZL1 sway bar upgrade package with a solid 27mm front bar and 32mm rear bar. We also offer a complete upgrade that includes bars, ZL1 arms, front adjustable OEM quiet endlinks and rear droplinks.

[PfadtRacing]

Originally Posted by ZIPNBY

Question here folks does it matter if the sway bars are solid or hollow? Because I was told that pedders sway bars are the only solid bars out, and most of the rest are hollow. The hollows are more subject to break (as I was reading in an old post where the guy posted a pic of his front sway bar I believe being cracked) Just curious cause I'm still in limbo as where to go in terms of getting the most bang for my bucks regarding sway bars. Leaning to pedders, but reading about pdaft (possibilty) and LSR, etc.. Thxs !! Decisions, decisions, and more decisions.

We choose to manufacture hollow bars pretty much across our entire lineup. The reason we do this is simply for efficiency, we want to dial in the roll stiffness required without adding unnecessary weight to the chassis. We avoid any durability issues with our hollow bars by using ears that are slipped into the hollow bar and then welded into place, rather than by sandwitching the hollow bar into one flat assembly and then machining holes into it. You can see the difference between our bar end design here in this photo:



Notice the weld a few inches down from the end of the bar. That is the machined ear that's welded into the hollow bar for maximum strength. With this technique we can design a bar that not only provides the stiffness we're looking for in a performance sway bar package, but the weight efficiency not found with a solid bar.