Sway Bar Upgrade 19mm or 22mm

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smorneau

New member
I am looking to upgrade my rear sway bar. What are the benefits to using a 22mm Primitive sway bar over the 19mm OEM Sti bar? Are there any negatives to using it. I will be driving about 90% highway miles. In the winter with snow tires. What size is the stock bar in a 2008 OB 2.5i?
Thanks

 
0

05RSKID

Guest
if you go with a 22mm i would recommend taking it out in the winter or just keep in mind the back ed will slid around more.  I blame driver error and my rear sway for the telephone poll i hit this winter.  But on pavement there are great when I had mine in my lifted rs it had very little body roll

 
RedForester08

RedForester08

New member
You will hate a 22 mm bar in the winter. The STI bar will be a nice improvement at a lower cost. I had a 22 on my 07 wagon and i loved it in the summer but was so crappy in the snow i went back to the OEM 20 mm 02 sedan bar. it was a good balance and the weight transfer was more predictable. I currently run the same setup on my 04 WRX wagon.

 
RedForester08

RedForester08

New member
Matt00RS25 said:
I didn't have an issue with the 22 mm bar in the winter. Drive more better
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Remember. Not everyone can drive with the same skill level. Agreed the better you KNOW how to drive the less an issue the bigger bar will be. Some people will not get to that level. This is just my opinion. My son has a 22 mm on his 02 legacy and in the snow at a Rally cross event spanked a ton of guys in the modified class. So it is all up skill. Some of us can,t get to that level but some do.

 
Stein

Stein

Stein
Yeah, I thought I was OK in the slippery stuff the year before the bigger sway, but the next winter every little error was amplified.

 
T

Trainable

New member
RedForester08 said:
Remember. Not everyone can drive with the same skill level. Agreed the better you KNOW how to drive the less an issue the bigger bar will be. Some people will not get to that level. This is just my opinion. My son has a 22 mm on his 02 legacy and in the snow at a Rally cross event spanked a ton of guys in the modified class. So it is all up skill. Some of us can,t get to that level but some do.
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Driver preference comes into play as well. There's a range where a car will be fast, and simply setting the car up where the driver is more comfortable will yield the best results.

I'll agree with the 19mm votes. If you're here asking the question it's likely best to start small, and start to get an idea of how the bar changes things.

 
2point5RS_Dan

2point5RS_Dan

HATER DAN
I personally hate big rear bars. They suck when pushed hard on the loose. Too much non-static sideload.

Trainable is spot on with driver preference. RedForester08s son loves the big rear bar and works great with it, but my personal preference is against them with more static rear stiffness.

If you aren't doing anything else though, a slight rear swaybar bump usually wont kill you.

 
blehhh

blehhh

Active member
It all depends on the platform, GC/GD/GR/etc, and the suspension spring rate. Too big for one car might be too small for another.

I love my 22mm F&R setup, and I even wish I had a slightly bigger front bar, but the slight oversteer when pushed is fun.

I actually had a 19mm rear and decided to go bigger. Now I'm looking at actual springs & struts...

In the snow, I could only see it being an issue if you weren't paying attention. I personally love it. With a little left-right flick of the wheel and some throttle, the rear end will step out on command, but in a very well mannered and controllable fashion.

 
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T

Trainable

New member
blehhh said:
It all depends on the platform, GC/GD/GR/etc, and the suspension spring rate. Too big for one car might be too small for another.

I love my 22mm F&R setup, and I even wish I had a slightly bigger front bar, but the slight oversteer when pushed is fun.

I actually had a 19mm rear and decided to go bigger. Now I'm looking at actual springs & struts...

In the snow, I could only see it being an issue if you weren't paying attention. I personally love it. With a little left-right flick of the wheel and some throttle, the rear end will step out on command, but in a very well mannered and controllable fashion.
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Alignment makes a huge difference too. Some caster and camber up front can work wonders (on tarmac at least).

Delayed and over correction are issues when a car has a tendency to oversteer even if the driver is paying attention. A driver that isn't accustomed to dealing with oversteer will often miss the point when the car goes from under->neutral->over. This results in the need for a fairly large correction, which they most likely aren't equipped to make. Oversteer is more controllable, but understeer is more forgiving.

 
Boynton4

Boynton4

New member
I'm rocking 24mm Whitelines front and rear, with KB endlinks.  They're the beefiest bars that Whiteline sells for the 08-10 WRX, I ran it all winter and didnt have any issues.

Maybe i'm just a slow driver, but I didnt feel like I had any issues with control.  I could really tell the difference from stock the most when I ran it harder during an autocross.

Personally I'd go for the bigger bar instead of the 19mm.  I guess I prefer dramatic changes, and i'd rather have my driving skill level hold me back, than a smaller bar slowing me down

It doesn't cost more money to increase your driving skill and experience, but it would cost more money to upgrade the bar for a 2nd time if you weren't happy with the smaller bar.

 
CoupedUpSubie

CoupedUpSubie

FWD-FTW
Boynton4 said:
It doesn't cost more money to increase your driving skill and experience, but it would cost more money to upgrade the bar for a 2nd time if you weren't happy with the smaller bar.
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I disagree. Go with too big of a bar and end up in a ditch, could cost a lot. It's happened to forum members, but most have gotten lucky. Unless you have spent many hours doing stage rallys or hundreds of laps at a track the proper way to get better and upgrade is to make reasonable changes. How much does a sway bar cost? $200 or so. The rear bumper of a 08 Outback cost $400 just to repaint(I had an incident a few years ago).
Go big or go home does not apply in situations like this.

 
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