dude... in no way shape or form is a sway bar and "anti roll bar" the same

a roll bar is mounted INSIDE on your car. that is NOTHING like a sway bar

like i said before. please refer to my profile pictures to see a roll bar

 

and im fully aware of the fact that your roll bar is different from a roll cage, yours is to prevent side to side pitch and body roll because its located at your B pillars and tightens up the body, whatever, im done with this

 

http://www.turnfast.com/tech_handlin...antiroll.shtml

 

and your roll bar is different from the anti roll bars im talkign about, we're both reffering to the same things here, its just a simple confusion due to the different names that they can go by, thats it

 

Yes I am using oem shocks and struts. but people tell me they dont make much of a difference. if anything theyd make the ride even stiffer wouldnt they? I dont want that.

its a pain in the but to remount into the outer holes, ill have to wait until the weekend. I drove it a bit today and Im getting used to the new feel.

the thing is when I got the sway bar from toyota the outter hole on one side looked all scraped and beaten, but I think it was just a bad paint coat in that area, but thats how I got it from toyota

is it unsafe to drive it with the tight setting on the sway and only have the rear sway with stock front sway? I dont want to make my car unsafe to drive. I just want good handling. safety always comes first.

 

Its only unsafe for the hotchkis set to have only a rear sway. The rear sway on its softest setting is like 280% stiffer than stock where TRD is 67%? stiffer than stock on the racing setting. The hotchkis is best used w/ the mid setting on the back and the softest setting on the front. If you are just street driving, either stay with the trd on street or go back to stock. The hotchkis is overkill unless you go to the track, autox, or are really agressive. Get the trd rear swaay if you are just an everyday driver. In about a year, you will begin to have really sloppy ride if you keep your stock struts. I have hotchkis springs, but haven't installed them yet because I am saving up for struts. Its an investment now, but in about a year or two, you will save time, $$$, and have a better ride...

 

ill put them on street settings when I can. Im not going to spend anymore money on the car, im flat broke right now and have too many bills.

ill get trd shocks and struts later on in the year than.

 

Im interested to see how much difference you see between the street setting and the race setting... For the TRD, most people just put it on one and never change it...

 

If you don't likethe stiffer setting, try the street one. You shoudl be happy with that.
I think it has alot to do with how big your aftermarket rims are. If you can, you should try the bar with your stock wheels on.

I have the Hothckis set, and for a wee, I only had the rear on. It felt like my car was going to snap in half around corners cause the rear would squat around corneres and the fronts would lift. I put the front in the next week and it was very difficult.

The issues you were reffereing to about regular mantanence was on an earlier set where they did not have "bump stops" (not sure of proper term) so the brackets would slide. The new ones do not allow the brackets to move.

I had them on TRD springs (by the way, struts and shocks reffer to the same thing, just as some people call anti-sway bars anti-roll bars) and they were great. When I upgreaded to the Hothckis springs, I had to set my sways to a lower setting to be comfortable.
I say this because it may be that the race setting is great with stock springs, but with the stiffer, lower TRD springs, you may be happier with the street setting.

Either way, you get used to it after a couple weeks.

 

jesus....

 

Sway bar is often called stabilizer bar, anti-sway bar, roll bar, or anti-roll bar. Roll cages and roll hoops are called roll bars as well. It's all about context, however the term "roll bar" shouldn't be used to avoid confusion.

Anyway...

To the original poster: yes, you will get used to the rear sway bar. Things usual feel a little weird after making suspension changes, it's perfectly normal.

 

i've never heard a negative review of the trd rear sway. Yeah, I'd say you should leave it on race setting and get used to it.

 

my s-tech's rub on my 19's, I'm thinking about getting TRD Springs and rear swaybar

 

alright tonight I switched the trd settings to outside holes. aka street setting.

I havent had a chance to drive it tonight, so Ill see tomorrow.

Ive been driving around for a week with the stiffer settings and have gotten the hang of it.

some thoughts.. I feel like the front end is lifted a bit on the stiffer settings. I dont get as much overall grip and thus losing a bit of torque and acceleration. At higher speeds on bumpy roads, it takes more work to keep the car straight. there is much heavier oversteer so unforgiving road conditions makes it that much easier for the steering wheel to move around. When I take try to take a sharp turn, it feels like the back end anchors itself to the pavement and the front end lifts a bit in the turn, thus allowing me to make a tighter turn. Car feels slower... and too sensitive for me. Ive gotten used to it, and I feel like im always in control of the car. I like the sharp turns, but imo the steering is a bit too much on the sensitive side for me.

biggest thing I noticed over stock sway bar is that the tight settings actually feel like I lost power.

I cant wait to try out the street setting, I just want a minor improvement in handling over the stock sway. So I think the street setting, will be ideal and a good match for what Id like.

it could be my driving habits are much more conservative and less spirited to others on the forum, this is probably why they like the race settings. For me.. I was forced back to the stock sway, I wouldnt mind. I felt like I had more front tire contact with the stock sway.

 

I hear ya. Unfortunatley, that is exactly what it's supposed to feel like!
But I think you will be pleasantly surprized at the difference the 2 settings have.
I have the hothckis, and I really dind't think moving the bolt half an inch would make a difference, but it really does. Changes the whole ride. I think you'll be happy with it.

 

went to pick up lunch today, so I got to test out the difference.

imediately I noticed the increase in power once again. the steering is a lot more stiffer and turns have to be taken wider now. however its so much easier to drive in a straight lihe and im happy with the return of power. the car also feels more grounded and stuck to the road, which I like, I didnt like how the tight setting always felt like the front lost grip and lifted a bit.

the steering wheel also stays more stable rather than mve around all over the place.

I do miss the tight turning, however the power I lost has returned,which IMO is a much better trade of for me.

 

So, the tight turning was on race setting, not stock, right?
Do you like it better on street then before you ever installed the TRD Sway bar?

 

yes, the tight turning was from the track setting on the trd.

I dont remember what differences there are between the street setting and the stock bar.
I was driving home today and didnt notice much difference from what I was used to with the stock bar and the street setting on the trd bar. Since I got used to the track setting on the trd sway bar, now the street setting feels like its super duper understeer.

the thing is that there is really no middle point, between the two settings on the trd sway bar, they both seem to be on both ends of the spectrum with nothing in between. From what I can remember the street setting feels a lot like stock, which the track setting is a massive difference, kind of like driving a different car.

I didnt like the track setting because I seemed to have lost notable torque and acceleration. the street setting on the trd makes the car feel like its firmly planted on the ground, while the track setting felt like the rear end was anchored and the car would pivot from it and the front would lift and turn.

I also noticed that the ride improved in terms of shock absorbtion in the rear. with the street setting there is a nice cushion when I go over bumps and dips while the track setting was much more rough and practically no cushion effect in the rear.

altogether to me, for daily driving the street setting feels more balanced to me in overall distribution of the cars weight and power to the wheels, while the track setting made the car feel unbalanced in weight distribution.

track setting felt really sloppy at higher speeds on the freeway, while the street settings, feels firmly planted and rigid at higher speeds. i.e. hypothetically speaking... if I was to just press acceleration and not touch the wheel, the car will accelerate nicely and quickly in a straight line on the street setting (like what I was used to on stock with 18s) while the track setting was much more sensitive, if I didnt touch anything but the gas pedal, the car will move outside of a straight line the moment I run over a rock.

street setting feels much safer and reliable on the freeway, so I think Ill stick with street setting or now. I may switch back to track setting if I ever get the trd front strut bar and trd shocks. that might balance it out more. other than that for daily driving, track setting makes the car feel unbalanced to me while the street setting feels much more balanced and reliable to me.

plus I got what seems like much more traction again with the street setting. what I do miss is the turning, it was fun to be able to cruise without slowing down much and just take a turn like nothing. with the street setting my turns are obviously wider now or I have to turn the steering wheel much more of a distance for the same wheel position in track setting. theres also less resistance turning the steering wheel on track setting then there is on street setting.

one time with the track setting, I entered a tight turn, I let off the gas and at the end of the turn I pressed the gas and the car just took off straight like nothing happened, I was like wth? felt like driving mario kart.

 

Well, I'm sorry you could not find a happy medium with your bar.
I'm glad I went with the hotchkis front and rear. 2 settings up front and 3 in the rear give me more optoins, but they are much stiffer then yours. Teh dialy ride is a little rough, but I like feelign the road under my tires, and yeah, it's like driving mario kart!!!

 

I didnt read to see if anybody has said this. But in order to get an even steer you need the front and rear sway bar. If you have gotten front first you would've been fine.