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Poor man's suspension


crazyjay1089

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Itsme, The bushings and brackets sound like a good investment. I was under the car last night and found cracks in my stock front bushings (maybe normal?). I was also reminded of how thin the RSB brackets are. No problems so far but probably not a bad idea to reinforce them. Are you getting the AVO or the Super Pro bushing set? And are you going to get the caster enhancing bushing or the "regular?" I only installed the rear bar (AVO 20mm) and it took me about an hour with just a couple of wrenches. I don't have a lot of patience or practice with mods, but I decided to do this one 1) since it looked pretty straightforward, and 2) I've had shops mess up a sway bar install on my Contour. It was pretty easy, even for me. Subietonic's walk through was very helpful. How would you rate the front bar install on ease and complexity compared to the rear bar?
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I got in on the Superpro GB. I'm getting the regular set. The front bar is about the same as the rear. The thing different is you have to take off a plate to get our the swaybar. I think it has like ten bolts.
Racer X FMIC for '05-'09 LGTs, '08+ WRX and '10+ LGT,'14+ FXT, and '15+ WRX TMIC Racerxengineering.com
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Guest subiecity
anyone kno the difference between like 19 mm and 22 mm besides i kno one is longer then the other but what makes it soo special the longer the better???? does size matter?
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anyone kno the difference between like 19 mm and 22 mm besides i kno one is longer then the other but what makes it soo special the longer the better???? does size matter?

 

3mm,

and, apparently, YES, size does matter.

 

 

...:lol: c'mon, I couldn't resist, you set that up perfectly. :icon_mrgr

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Does anybody know of progress's sways and reinforement brackets? I've heard there springs are good, but haven't heard much about their sways.

 

I have the Progress F/R sways and the rear reinforment bracket, as well as the springs. After a few thousand miles, the sway bushings needed a little grease, but other than that everything seems to be working OK.

 

I have upgraded the front endlinks, but didn't really have to. The rear links seem a little weak, especially since I have it on the max position, but it's not the bars fault. The reinforcement bracket looks a little cheesy, but it does the trick and after I painted it black, it's gone visually.

 

Got the sways, springs, and brackets on ebay for $460 shipped.

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I'm real happy with just the AVO 20mm and better tires. I may do some more stuff with the bushings, bracing, etc. But for now these two things have made a dramatic improvement in the handling and feel. I also wouldn't hesitate to get the IPD 19mm bar if you're on a budget and if you're not necessarily looking for an oversteer bias.
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I'm real happy with just the AVO 20mm and better tires. I may do some more stuff with the bushings, bracing, etc. But for now these two things have made a dramatic improvement in the handling and feel. I also wouldn't hesitate to get the IPD 19mm bar if you're on a budget and if you're not necessarily looking for an oversteer bias.

 

I've actually been going back in forth between f/r sways (cusco or whiteline) or just the avo rsb. 1. I've heard about clunking issues with front fsb. Isn't the fsb sufficient enough anways (21 mm?).

 

I cannot stand the body roll and understeer right now, the avo rsb seems to work well with the fsb to create a little bit of oversteer which seems fun.

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I've actually been going back in forth between f/r sways (cusco or whiteline) or just the avo rsb. 1. I've heard about clunking issues with front fsb. Isn't the fsb sufficient enough anways (21 mm?).

 

I cannot stand the body roll and understeer right now, the avo rsb seems to work well with the fsb to create a little bit of oversteer which seems fun.

 

suspension nooB here how does a little bit of oversteer help the LGT?

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suspension nooB here how does a little bit of oversteer help the LGT?

 

Well its all preference. In my opinion the lgt has understeer out of the box. Basically If you are going into a turn pretty hard the car pushs, if you had a little bit more torque steer you could rotate the car more easily (thus the backend could come around).

 

I'm still learning about suspensions too, but its my understanding that a little bit of oversteer can help you accelerate out of corners faster, and give the car a more neutral feeling.

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My sense is that there is plenty of front roll stiffness with just the OEM 21mm bar. For me, the AVO 20mm balances well with the OEM FSB with a little oversteer bias. I don't think the front needs replacing. Maybe if I go to the firmer setting, but I haven't gone there yet. The oversteer tendency under hard braking feels pretty manageable. (But that's why the IPD 19mm is not a bad choice if someone doesn't want to deal with the oversteer possibility.) The "ugh, who through an anchor out of the back" feeling is definitely gone. I wasn't sure why I used to prefer driving my Contour around town rather than the Subaru. Then I realized it was because of the of the way the rear rolled over and made the front end push. It felt heavy and hard to move around. Not any more. The stiffer rear bar makes the car rotate so much better. That's why I'm thinking that the RSB is first suspension change to make, even before replacing the pitiful tires (although I replaced the tires first).
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The oversteer just makes the car turn more easily. With the stock RSB, when you drive into a turn and slow down/brake, the front of the car wants to keep going straight. That's because the front sway bar is stiffer relative to the rear sway bar. The rear actually feels anchored while the stiffer front bar makes the front want to slide. Once you can pitch the rear into a turn you can actually make it throttle oversteer, use the throttle to bring the rear around. It's kind of chore to drive that way though. By stiffeneing the rear, you jack more pressure into the front tires allowing them to "turn in" more easily. A little throttle lift or brake pedal will both jack more force into the turning tires and allow the rear to slide around in the direction of the turn. Ideally you want the front and the rear to turn and slide in the same amount (have equal "slip angles"). That is the ideal of neutral handling. I think AWD cars have alittle inherent bias towards understeer and a little oversteer bias (with a fatter RSB) counteracts that. Too much would occur for example if you totally disconnected the front bar and left the rear bar in place. A little oversteer also makes the car feel "tossable" like it can be tossed through corners in a controlled way rather than being just directed by the steering wheel. That's probably a lot of jargon (I hope it makes sense) to say that the car will turn more easily and you'll feel like what you do with steering wheel, accelerator and brake are more connected and balanced when the roll stiffness of the front and back are more equal.
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I'll vote for a Rear Sway Bar as the first mod (maybe even only) for a poorman's suspension. I've got the JDM 20mm RSB on and it made a big difference in the fun of driving the car. Between the JDM, iPd, and AVO, it all just comes down to how much rear bias you want. Move up that line depending on your preference. I'm thinking about going up to the AVO since knowing how much of an improvement the JDM bar made, a little more can't hurt.
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