Picked up some Toms rear plates and Daizen Sways today.
 

I bought these from my friend today. Toms rear lower control arm plates and front and rear Daizen sway bars. I installed the plates and rear sway bars only since it was already night time. Installation is a breeze. Toms plate are simply bolted on to the lower control arm so that take only a few minutes. The rear Daizen sway bars also only takes a short while. None of my bolts were frozen so the stock sway bars came off with no problem. Basically it was just a simple remove and replace job. Will do the fronts later this weekend. Since they are used sway bars I know they probably will squeak since the lubrication grease is probably half gone. Going to have to regrease them when I get some new grease.

http://www.pbase.com/chrisk/image/10...0/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/chrisk/image/10...9/original.jpg

What does the rear plate actually do?...i.e. is it worth it? I'd like to read your impression of the sway. I'm thinking about getting the trd blue.

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The plates supposed to box the open arm and keep it from flexing. To he honest though, I can't really feel and difference. I don't think it makes much of a difference unless you track the car. On the street its probably not needed. It makes the lower control arm look cool though:p Its something you could probably make in your garage, but I got them as a package deal with the sway bars for a decent price.

LOL..as long as it's free it's all good ;)

I'm interested on how much body roll is reduced with those sway.

The sways will definitely reduce body roll, depending on the setting of the rear bar. I had TRD first then switched to Daizen (now stock) and both sets will reduce body roll. Make sure you have the suspension to go with them though.

Put the front sway bars in tonight. Again it was easy as none of my bolts were frozen so it was as simple as removing all the plastic, removing the sway bar mount bolts and swapping in the Daizen bar. Since these were used bars the lubricating grease has worn away, so these fronts had much less grease than what was left on the rear. Since I don't have any grease for these poly bushings I simple added some anti seize compound for the time being. Believe it or not its not making any noise or squeaking after my test run. Well see how long it last before I have to buy the bushing grease.

The fronts definitely make a big difference in reducing body roll. I have coilovers which has helped a lot in reducing body roll from stock, but its is pretty obvious the sway bars do a much better job at doing what it is designed to do and reduce roll. My biggest pleasant surprise is it has helped a lot in reducing and nearly eliminating the bump steer I was getting. I was just out tonight before I installed the front bars so I had a good feel of the bump steer I was getting. After front sway bars on the same roads bump steer is nearly gone altogether and gone in a lot of the more minor bump steer conditions.

All in all, it is a little stiffer than with my coilovers and stock sways. If I had to guess, it kind of feels like a stock BMW 5 series. Not quite as nimble and tossable feeling as my old E46 with sports suspension, but quite the improvement over stock. I'm happy.

PS. I have my rear bar set in the middle setting.

Chris, how bad are the roads where you live? I'm surprised with coilovers and sways, your car feels like a stock 5-series.

Great pick up :thumbup:

Why'd you go back to stock?

I dont take turns as fast anymore. My commute is practically going straight the whole way on the freeway. My car isn't as bumpy/stiff/firm as with the stock sway bars, and that's something I can appreciate on the highway :)

Sometimes i do have the itch to go back because sometimes that firm feeling does feel nice. Sway bars are great addition to the suspension if your primary goal is to reduce body roll without altering suspension geometry.

There was a study a couple of years ago that said Hawaii had the worst or at least among the worst roads in the nation. People were very surprised with that as somehow they think we have perfect roads:p Truthfully though they have done a lot of road work since then so many of the bad roads have been repaved and are actually pretty good now. There are still many areas that haven't been touched due to lack of money.

Not sure why but the sways tightened up my front steering. I used to get a lot of bump steer. Some major most minor tugs left or right depending on the road conditions. Now, I barely feel ant tugging at all. It is also tighter in the center of the steering wheel range. My next upgrade is probably going to be the steering rack bushings. I don't really have any slop in the steering, but I'm probably due for the change anyway given that most other GS's bushings wear out so fast.

As for the 5 series comparison, if you remember a 5, the steering does seem to feel lighter than a 3 series, but still much better than other luxury cars. That is about how mine seems to feel now. Also, the handling is there like in a 5, but you can feel the weight of the car. It doesn't feel like a nimble 3 series or a Miata, but it sticks to the road, little body roll, and you can tell its a heavy luxury car still:p It doesn't have the same balance feel as a BMW, but its definitely closer to one in feel than a stock GS. By the way, I also raised my coilovers back up for now. Right now my ride height is about what a standard set of drop springs would do, maybe a tad lower. Probably less than a 2" drop.

Glad you like the tom products. As for me, I took what I had when I used to have my tracked IS300 and applied it to the GS300. While I was redoing all of the daizen bushings and installing my coilover, I dropped my entire rear subframe down and took apart all suspension pieces to make sure that they were not bent. I then tig weld supporting plates to where the sway bar mounts up to the car along with beefing up the rear lower control arms. What I did with the lower control arms was take 1/8" thick steel plates and boxed in the lower control arms leaving a small hole to fill the newly lower control arm with foam to add rigidity. So far, I have my car setup pretty neutral with little to no flex. Oh, I'm also using the stock sway bars.

Its most likely because your suspension isn't compressing as much from left to right unless you're driving straight towards a speedbump :p Bumpsteer is usually magnified as the suspension is compressed.

Your posts makes me want to ditch my L-tuned springs to go with some nicer setup. I really hate the OEM steering feel and I've previously done many suspension mods to my car. I think my next mod is to reduce the power steering pressure.

The steering feel is still the major weak link though. It is feels a lot better than pure stock, but I also have the upper strut brace. Feel is still nowhere near BMW like. Based of memory of other cars I drove or had, I'd say the steering wheel tightness is now similar to the 07+ Infiniti G35S I drove. Actual road feel and feedback still isn't that great, but it overall it doesn't feel like you can steer the car with your finger anymore:p