oaklandz28

i just wanted to know what they do for your car the difference in ride for both and in what instance would you use them . thinking about purchasing some.

speed fiend

The STB does what the name suggests, stiffens the shock towers to eliminate movement during cornering. Sway bars increase roll stiffness to which ever end you install them. Both will not affect the ride quality. If you are looking to increase cornering ability and are going to get either one or the other, I would suggest getting the front sway bar. You will probably not gain anything except a bit of feel with the STB. Then again, I've seen this point about the STB debated alot over the years...

Bud M

Ditto the above post. Both are worthwhile improvements for our cars.

LT4Firehawk

STB makes a very small difference. Bigger sway bar can make a very noticeable difference.

trackbird

Yup, bang for the buck, buy the sway bar.

87DJP2001

I would go with the STB for improved handling and unless you have a very base 3rd or 4th Gen car they came with a stock sway bar.

stereomandan

I totally agree. A large front swaybar makes a HUGE difference. The STB does not. They are not even in the same ballpark for how much of an improvement each gives the car. The swaybar wins hands down.

Dan

Sam Strano

No way.... You will see a much larger difference with a bigger front swaybar. It's an active part of the suspension, one that works anytime the car rolls. It also greatly effects response and feel. A "STB" is of limited help. First you need only note that everyone who adds a swaybar notices a difference, there is very mixed reactions about STB's. Further, a STB is only a brace that is supposed to keep the upper towers from flexing as much (which isn't a ton anyway as they are part of the body and if the uni-body moved that much you'd have all kinds of funny hood gaps and such). I run them on 3rd gens all the time because the bodies are pretzels, and they work. Of course those are actually strut cars that put a load into the top of the towers, the 4th gen is a shock setup which doesn't put near the loads into the towers.

LT4Firehawk

I've had three different fourth gen f-bodies and done a good bit of drag racing, autox and roadcourse track days. I've run both with and without STBs and while I can feel a SLIGHT difference on the roadcourse, it isn't very much. For everyday driving, I would seriously doubt that you will actually feel any difference with an STB. Going from a 32mm (1LE) bar to Sam's 35mm hollow bar, I could immediately tell a difference even on the street.

Coolformula

Sway bar is a big difference I got the 35MM SOLID, yea big difference, I can tell a difference in ride I think, becuase a bigger bar is like a stiffer spring, so...yea, I would get a bar, I wouldn't worry about the 100 bucks for a STB yes I do have one, but if your not a racer freak I wouldn't get one....

Bersaglieri

Where can you find the ST or Same Sway Bar, and is 35mm the right match for the stock rear Sway? Any advantages of hollow, other than weight saving? Anyone like Hotchkis? How much do the single ones cost?

-Dustin-

snorkelface

Sway bar, no discussion.

Even on a car with all other components stock, an upgraded front sway bar is good. I'd go with the 35MM HOLLOW bar. The hollow bar will fit your needs, and the solid bar weighs a ton!

Someone a couple posts up supplies both the hollow and solid bars.

stereomandan

A solid 35 mm bar is stiffer than a hollow 35 mm bar, but it's a small difference. Most of the twist resistance comes from closer to the outer diameter of the bar. The weight savings with a hollow bar is nice.

I weighed my solid 35mm bar and it was 26 lbs. The stock one is 11 lbs. I'm not sure how much the hollow bar weighs.

Dan

Sam Strano

Dan's scale reads a pound lighter than my shipping scale....
I've got an ST bar @ 27, a stock 30mm bar @ 11, a 1LE/32mm bar @ 12. My Hollow 35 is roughly 13.5-14.

The rear Hollow 22 bar is about 5 pounds lighter than an equivilent stiffness solid 21mm (5 vs. about 10 lbs.)

ronin013

I'd have to say of all the mods ive done suspension or otherwise the 35mm ST solid was THE best bang for the buck, and if i could only have one mod it would be that.

it is really heavy though, i dont think the hollow 35mm was around when i bought my solid one i did a lot of researching and that was the "best" i could find at the time. maybe i just didnt look hard enough it was a long time ago.


I was all happy when i got my STB off ebay. but to be honest, i almost want to take it off the car im getting the impression its throwing off the balance of my setup. i want to find some hard facts about the benefits/downsides of the STB on 4th gens, but it has been debated a few times already.

it just feels like the front end is tooo tight now, i put it on and went for a drive and the front tires squeel now making tight turns. the change is very slight, but there is a change nonetheless and im not totally satisfied with it yet.