Does Prius III has anti-roll bars?

that's (oversteer) usually a good thing in a front heavy car.

 

The Prius does a good job of resisting turn-in, at least initially,(maybe because of the heavier 17's) so a little oversteer would be welcomed... But it definitely would be tiresome to fight oversteer on every turn.

 

Deltron,

Yes, yes, yes and yes!! Install wasn't as bad as I thought. I didn't want to unbolt the bottom of the rear shocks just to get to tighten down the top of the linkage, so I bought a dog leg 15mm wrench that I was able to get into the tight quarters. Because the ball joint at the end of the linkage will spin with enough force, what you do is jack up the opposite side you're working on so that there is tension on the ball joint so it won't turn when you're torqueing down the nut. Once finished with one side, then do the same to the other side. jacking up the opposite side. Note, this applies to the TRD ASB for the '08 Scion XB and newer. The Hotchkiss setup I haven't looked at entirely but from the pictures it looks like it attaches slightly differently at the ends. One person commented that the bushing didn't have a grease fitting and he solved it by using a dremel to carve out channels on the interior of the bushings and drilling in a fitting. That's something I'll probably do after the winter passes. Oh, nothing needs to be removed to install, and yes, jacks will be fine. This is something I don't know why I didn't do sooner. (Oh, I know, because I didn't know about the TRD option until recently.)

Creaky

 

I bought the hotchkis sport front and rear sway bar set. I think it was only about $40 more than the trd rear, so figured i might as well go for it. The front is huge at 32mm and the rear is 25mm. I was able to install the rear bar in about 20 minutes in the dark.

the front is a whole different story. I heard it was really difficult so i took it to a shop that i've used in the past. Estimated install time: 9 hours!

Turns out you have to disconnect the sub-frame, then remove the A-arm to twist and angle the sway bar in. It didn't look too bad on the xB sites, but i think the frame connections are slightly different on our cars. I wasn't able to get a socket wrench on the bolts that connect the lower A arm to the sub frame due to very limited distances between the head of the bolts and the chassis. I need to buy a 22mm wrench and try it again.

In terms of handling with just the rear sway installed, it definitely helped control the rolling in turns, but it's too big for just a the rear to be installed. In my opinion the car feels unbalanced in it's current state. In a hard turn you can feel the back fighting to stop the front from leaning.

I can induce over steer pretty quickly on onramps, definitely not something I'd recommend for someone who isn't used to driving and toying with a higher powered red car. I currently have 225 45 17 so I'd imagine it's only worse on the stock W's.

 

With regards to inducing oversteer on the on-ramps, how does the VSC handle in those cases? Does it kick in and help reduce the oversteer? I know you have a big rear sway and need a front sway, but I am still curious how the stock VSC handles that.

 

Did you end up getting the front sway bar installed? I'm thinking of getting the same Hotchkis 22429 sway bars and wondering how the handling is with both installed? Thanks.

 

Josh, Do you have the part number for the end links that you use for TRD sway bar? They don't come with the TRD sway bar, right? Thanks.

 

Actually, the TRD sway bar did come with the necessary end links. Nothing was missing for an installation on a Prius. In fact Toyota provided a mounting point for each endlink as there is already a hole to install them into, much the same way it is on the Scion xB.

 

Are all the suspension components identical on the Prius & Scion xB?

Mike

 

Thanks, Creaky. I was confused between TRD and Hotchkis bar. I have better idea now. Hotchkis bar bolts directly to the base of the shock and does not come with end links like TRD.

http://www.hotchkis.net/_uploaded_files/22429instructions2104089925file.pdf

 

For my clarity, I assume OP is talking about front and rear SWAY bars as in suspension stability control. I've always considered roll bars to be the steel bars through the roof/header that safeguard the driver's head in the event of a vehicle roll-over; i.e. convertibles, race cars other vehicles use them.

 

In case you're still around or anyone thinking about installing the Hotchkis sway bar DIY, I did it and it's pretty easy to install. The front install takes about 2 hrs but that's because it's my first time. You can see some notes on the install in this thread.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-modifications/92408-sway-bars-installed.html

 

That is the first thing I thought. I was like anti-roll bars? Why? It's not a race car. lol

An anti-roll bar is the blue bar you see going across the roofline of my backseat in this picture.



These are Anti-Sway Bars

 

Anti-sway and anti-roll bars are the same thing. The bar on the inside of the Trans Am is simply a roll bar.

 

+1
It's a motor vs engine thing.

Whatever you call it it, increases "roll stiffness", a suspension characteristic, so I call it an anti-roll bar. If you get into serious technical literature anti-roll bar is more common.

Manufacturers often call them stabilizer bars.

 

Since I usually just call them a roll bar (mine was a 6 point), or cage when applicable, I should have just kept quiet. Thanks.

 

Gen 1 & 2 had very small anti roll bars, execpt Touring model. Gen 3 has right amount of anti roll. Just put my 11 thru the on ramp pucker test. Watkins Glen Green GP on Track this Friday and opening day Saturday with 3 laps for $25. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Post pics when you get them

Mike

 

The roll is not bad with the stock eco tires, but they were terrible when I mounted my slicks or even my other set of high performance tires on there.

 

Sounds like fun!

You probably know this, but it's not obvious to everyone, so here goes.

An anti-roll bar increases resistance to the cars body leaning.

A Prius has an twist beam type rear axle.

A twist beam rear axle can be designed to have as much anti-roll as you want (or more than you want) without the addition of an anti-roll bar, so the lack of a rear anti-roll bar on a Gen III doesn't mean that it has less anti-roll than cars that have an anti-roll bar. I'm not saying it has more anti-roll, just that the absence or presence of an anti-roll bar is meaningless unless you know how stiff the twist beam axle is.