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Sway Bars


Slater

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What about it being HOLLOW?

I don't know that it is. I will have to check. Sure felt solid to me. Then again, it's supposed to be 20.8mm when it's measuring over 22mm. So I am beginning to wonder if I even have a stock Volvo sway bar...

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drill it with the smallest bit you have, my old mountaineer had a huge sway bar but it was hollow (97 model) but on the 98 models they were same OD but SOLID. I replaced my 97 model bar with a 98 model and WOO the difference. I drilled my old bar and it was 3/16"

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I have heard that it is hollow also, and to me my stock one felt much lighter.

Well, the IPD has that thickass sheet metal bracket on one side and that solid block mount on the other. That accounts for a lot of the weight difference...

I'll know soon enough. I have another way to tell if it's solid or hollow without cutting the bar open...I may just drill a tiny pinhole in the bar and see if the drillbit goes through a wall or keeps on cutting metal (welding the hole up and hit it with touchup paint afterwards).

- Slater

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drill it with the smallest bit you have, my old mountaineer had a huge sway bar but it was hollow (97 model) but on the 98 models they were same OD but SOLID. I replaced my 97 model bar with a 98 model and WOO the difference. I drilled my old bar and it was 3/16"

You beat me to it ;0)

Yeah, the old tricks they are using to try and get better rollover ratings on SUVs...hilarious.

- Slater

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Guys, don't dismiss the stock bar being hollow as a bad thing, I think. Someone else with much more knowledge in these matters will hopefully comment, but I'm pretty sure I've read things in the past about hollow bars and how they can actually be stiffer than solid bars if made correctly.

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Guys, don't dismiss the stock bar being hollow as a bad thing, I think. Someone else with much more knowledge in these matters will hopefully comment, but I'm pretty sure I've read things in the past about hollow bars and how they can actually be stiffer than solid bars if made correctly.

Perhaps, but with the type of load pressure that the rear sway bar receives, I can't imagine the stock bar being more rigid.

However I am wrong most of the time, just ask my wife. :ph34r:

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remember, ipd's first rear bar was 25 mm...and it snapped like a b*tch on crack. u'll have to ask them/scott if those were hollow or not. iirc, they had so many different types of materials used over the 5 designs they had...and iirc, solid vs hollow was mentioned when i inquired years ago

anyway, well, my ol' wagon didn't come with no sway bars in the rear..so yeah..it made HELLA difference :)

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Guys, don't dismiss the stock bar being hollow as a bad thing, I think. Someone else with much more knowledge in these matters will hopefully comment, but I'm pretty sure I've read things in the past about hollow bars and how they can actually be stiffer than solid bars if made correctly.

Hollow bars are only stiffer if larger diamater.

A solid bar of the same diamater will ALWAYS be stiffer than a hollow bar of the SAME diameter.

That's why you see some aftermarket hollow bars that are HUGE - like giant pieces of pipe. It's because they must be that way to get the same stiffness per inch as a solid bar of a much smaller diamater.

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Yeah, I want to get rid of the ridiculous understeer on my R. I can't recall driving a car that plowed more. Feels like my Grandmothers old Buick.

FWIW on my GTi I had the biggest rear bar made, 28MM, and removed the front :o . I also had Neuspeed race springs and Bilstein sports on it and all kind of braces and it handled incredibly. Many people almost flew off offramps simply by following me off (since I wouldn't slow down). :D The only car that I have driven that was comparable was the Evo8. Cool car, but needs a some engine modding. Best front driver was an 04 SRT-4 (Quaife) the dealer guy forced me to drive while waiting on my Grand Cherokee to be serviced.

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Yeah, I want to get rid of the ridiculous understeer on my R. I can't recall driving a car that plowed more. Feels like my Grandmothers old Buick.

FWIW on my GTi I had the biggest rear bar made, 28MM, and removed the front  :o . I also had Neuspeed race springs and Bilstein sports on it and all kind of braces and it handled incredibly. Many people almost flew off offramps simply by following me off (since I wouldn't slow down).  :D The only car that I have driven that was comparable was the Evo8. Cool car, but needs a some engine modding. Best front driver was an 04 SRT-4 (Quaife) the dealer guy forced me to drive while waiting on my Grand Cherokee to be serviced.

Exactly.

For a "performance" car the understeer is as bad as a minivan.

The SRT4 is nice, but stock zero camber in the front blows. Once you dial in some negative camber and tweak the toe in the rear it's niiiice.

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