pavster

A sway bar is a sway bar is a sway bar, right? The intrax bars are much cheaper than Daizen and TRD at $350 shipped. Does anyone have experience with them? They are 29mm front and 19mm rear; how does that compare with competition?

thanks!
-pavel

JellyBean

First time I hear about intrax sways, but as for the Daizen and TRD dimensions, see here .

pavster

Thanks; that's an interesting post. Here are the intrax bars. I haven't heard of them until recently, so I guess they are new to the market. It's too bad we have such slim pickings and so little data. My previous car was a Miata, and there was so much more choice of upgrades for it.

-pavel.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Unless this is some new version, these have been around for awhile. Talk to the guys with the RMM Edition cars: RMMGS4, BananaGS, theseth. The Intrax were the sways that RMM were pushing and they are the ones that they put on their demo cars.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

it's a very very bad assumption that "sways are sways". if that's the case, just weld the two side of the suspensions together, now that's sways at best.

it's all about engineering. thicker, how thick, how heavy, it's all compromise. imho all sways are different

pavster

Weld the two sides together -- well, that sounds like a go-cart, and I hear they handle pretty well I guess I am talking more about quality -- it is just a metal rod or tube bent in a few places with holes on the ends. Point taken though; the cost of the bar doesn't only include manufacturing but also the R&D effort.

I am surprised more people aren't running the Intrax bars; is there something about them that throws people off?

thanks!
-pavel.

LEXUS_KID

iTrader: (4)

The difference your talking is only $100 and it's getting a brand that everyone on here trust very well TRD is like $460 shipped. But if you give them a try please do a write up on them before and after. Hey it could be worth it ?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well of course my example was on the extreme, but you get my idea

quality wise i think they are all about the same. i dont' think you will be able to break the sways. if anything, i say that the end link will give way first

but how to make the sways light and yet strong to a point for good handling, guess that's the hard part

i don't know why not many people have that too, just not many people interested in it i guess

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Of course I've had Intax on my car for 5 years with no problems, squeaking, noises, etc . You will find old threads where people have experienced one trouble or another on just about any of the popular brands. With regards to Quality, I see no weaknesses in the design and construction of these bars. Car handles great (as locals) should know. Several have driven my car and can compare to the TRD or Daizens that they have on their own cars. Maybe some of them can chime in? The bars are adjustable as the Daizens, which I feel is an important feature, since being able to balance over/understeer to your personal driving preferences is a good thing.

Unless you take the car to the track and take lap times or are a qualified professional race car driver, it will be difficult to quantify which is a "better" performing sway bar. As far as ride characteristics, those opinions are helpful but hardly definitive. What's too stiff for one, is not for another.

Everyone has different set ups, tire sizes, profiles, coil overs. With all the variables, how can any realistic comparison be made?

Whatever bars people own, the comments are typically similar: WOW, rides like it's on rails, less or no lean, yada yada yada . . . Very few have tried more than one set of bars on the same vehicle so this is where the problem lies.

Sorry I can't shed a more positive light on this subject, but I just want make sure everyone does a reality check when it comes to evaluating which brand x sway bar performs better than brand y.

Last note, yes my car was one of those Rod Millen demo cars.

HKGS300

Sways are very complicated products.

Sways are made of high quality spring steel, and different quality of spring steel will have different spring rate rates (stiffness/softness), thus different behaviour.

Also, different brands use different diameters and hollow or solid material, such that they are tuned differently.

pavster

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I am going to do a couple of AutoX's with the stock set-up before I make any mods, and then if I end up getting the intrax bars, I'll post a little write-up. I am guessing that sways will be my first mod as I am pretty happy with the ride otherwise.

-pavel.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Just be careful out there bro. The GS is not the greatest handler out there. It is heavy and loose. This is why may of us beef up differnent parts of the suspension, and we don't even do autoX.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

For Auto-X set the rear bar full hard and front maybe medium or full hard.

I plan to run my car this summer, so hopefully I can see if I can embarass an M5 or possibly a couple of 2 seater sports cars as well. Definitely have my work cut out for me.

Hopefully some of those owners won't have as good a driving skills as me.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

He does not have the bars yet. He is running the Auto-X with the OEM bars.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Hmmm... I think that's a bad idea. If you see and weigh the stock sways off the car side by side with stiffer sways like the blue TRDs I have it's pretty obvious why the stock ones bend like a contortionist.

Anyway, GO SLOW is all I can say - you're gonna have serious body roll in autocross with stock sways. Intrax, Daizen, TRD, all way better than stock.