Rear Sway Bar

Well I have a 2007 Touring and extensive experience building and modifying suspensions. I'm on a few Prius forums but really like this one so I just joined and this rear suspension sway bar has been bugging me for a bit so I was greatful to find this thread. I ordered a TRD Corrolla rear bar the 24mm and it should be here tomorrow so I will find out how it does?

So far I have the rear underbody brace for the tunnel and 17X7 wheels with Potenza 760's 215/45 - 17 which I really like, but are addmitedtly noisey not because of the tire but the size, the Prius is a noisey unibody anyways. I ordered a BT front strut tie bar but have no idea if or when it will arrive??? I might do the TRD springs and shocks too just going step by step at this point. I drive mine pretty hard and handling and safety for my family is more important than the nth degree of milage although I do appriciate the milage I get. 35,000 happy miles so far...

Rob Morrell

 

Hi Rob,

Love to hear your report about the TRD Corolla rear sway bar, e.g., installation (is it really plug and play?), handling differences, ride differences.

If you haven't seen it already, you should check out this thread about the Strut Tower Brace:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...-strut-tower-brace-install-pictures-text.html

And attached below is a Word file with those installation instructions and photos for the Strut Tower Brace:

BT Tech Strut Tower Brace Install - By GadgetDad (Lee) v2.doc

 

I have had that same bar in my car for about 2 years. I reinstalled the center rubber snubber as well. I have to say it helped out the handling. The only negative is it squeaks on extreme angles, like when I turn into my uphill driveway. Not a biggie, but thought I would throw it out there.

 

With the current setup in my Prius, I've noticed increased wear in the rear tires. I like to throw it into the corners. It tends to oversteer in hard turns. The BT brace is great, but if you need more stiffening in the back, Tom's rear brace is awesome.

 

Thanks for the info. I am also considering putting in sway bars on my ride.

 

Ok just to recap, 07 Touring with the simple rear tunnel brace, 215/45 - 17s Potenza 760s. I installed the TRD 24mm rear Corolla sway bar and it does indeed bolt in as you all kindly confirmed. It feels about 3 times as heavy as the factory 20mm hollow bar, I'm not certain but it feels solid or it has very thick tubing. This would be hard to compare to the Hotchkiss 27mm hollow bar exactly but I bet it's very close, definitely comparable to the 22mm bar and just more of it.

I usually tune Porsches and BMW's but have some experience with pullers (FWD) too. I usually prefer a neutral car with some possible oversteer, probably because I grew up with 911's

My first impression, with my set-up and these sticky tires is, the 22mm bar would probably be the perfect match. I drove it today from Discovery Bay to Santa Cruz for dinner and to pick up some Donnelly's chocolate (Worth driving much farther for!!!) which made my day. There was a fair amount of traffic and if you’re familiar with highway 17 you know there is not a lot of room for testing, you make a mistake and you’re going to contact something or someone... I used to race a lot so I’m decent but admit I'm much more comfortable with a 911 over a front wheel drive car or puller, still I did feel the rear end wanting to go first more than once but never got it to actually side step. I was a little concerned because that road has some big swells using up most of the suspension travel but it remained impressively consistent throughout the travel. 1-2 mm more on the front sway bar would be ideal I think? Like I said I think the 22mm would be perfect at this point with no other mods, if you’re an experienced driver the 24mm might prove to be a little more fun.

Since I am going for the TRD/Sportivo springs and shocks I'm going to wait on tuning the front sway bar as my last step. I'm running about 34psi tire pressure all the way around right now just as a beginning point, has anyone else played with the pressures for the 17"s? I can definitely see why the rear tire wear would be more pronounced with this set-up. My gas mileage was horrible today but for the first time in the Prius I had a genuinely good time driving it. Looking forward to getting that front strut tie bar before I align it. I definitely surprised a few VW's and Honda's when I flew by today through some of the twisties, to put it another way, no one passed me! I know there is more left to do it does not feel refined yet, but it's getting there.

For the 15" tire regular Prius, I would suggest the touring sway bars, sway bar tuning is very side load dependant, my personal opinion is that the rear 24mm solid or 27mm hollow (probably very close to each other) would be just too much and probably far too much oversteer by themselves on a standard car. Pick your tires first!!! Then choose the pieces you want to match that set-up.

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions,

Rob Morrell
WORLDPAC
Technical Training Director
California

 

Thanks Rob (WTI Master) and Cairo for the great info.

If anyone is thinking of modifying their Standard Prius with Touring Prius suspension parts, they should check out this thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/41925-touring-suspension-parts-research.html

You can buy the Touring's rear stabilizer/sway bar for around $50 and its front stabilizer/sway bar for about $75.

 

OK Tom and everyone,
I have read so much on this I am a little confused. Are the TRD (sportivo) and Touring springs and Shocks the same. Has anyone gone from the touring suspension to the sportivo? If so whats it like? The touring and Sportivo springs and struts are the same diameter?

Any help appreciated,

Rob Morrell

 

The TRD Sportivo shocks and springs are not the same as the Touring's.

I understand that the TRD Sportivo's will lower the car about an inch, and are stiffer.

I hope a Touring owner who has switched to the Sportivo's will better answer your question.

 

Cairo,

After a week or two I found the two mounting bolts for the rear sway bar had loosened a bit or lost some tension I had some noise in the back too, retourqued the bolts, very tight, no more noises. I would re tighten them so the bar and axle do not wear against each other...

Also installed the BT front strut tie bar, not the best design just like the Toms unit but well made and good fit and finish. Was missing a washer but that could have been my fault too, glad they are making stuff like this for the car. It definatly stiffened up the front end and the dash squeeks are all gone now, feels tighter too. Love to see companies like this succeed.

Rob

 

Thanks I did re-torque the bolts and it did solve the problem. Thanks.

 

Has anyone been able to find out if the Front Swaybar on the Matrix is the same as the Prius?

 

After some research seems the Front Swaybar for the Matrix and Prius are not the same.

I've attached pictures of the suspension diagrams. The Swaybars have different bends.

 

Thanks! Good to know. I think this leaves the Touring front swaybar as the only beefed up front swaybar available for Standard Prius owners.

 

Finally received my rear swaybar and installed it.

It's the TRD Rear swaybar for the Matrix Part# PTR11-02060

It was a quick install. About 20 minutes. The hardest part was getting enough leverage to torque the bolts to 150lbs.

I definatley feel the rear end stay planted during quick turns.

Now, I just have to wait for someone to make a Front Swaybar.

BT Tech maybe?

 

When I was installing the TRD sway bar on my Prius, I noticed that the rear axle is almost exactly the same as the one on the Chevy Beretta I used to own. I ordered the 1" solid bar that is for the Beretta hoping I would be able to get it to fit on my Prius with a bit of tinkering. I ordered the bar from Summit Racing and it is made by Addco. It took several months to come because it was on back order. When it finally came I did a quick test fit and was disapointed that it wasn't as close of a match as I had hoped, but it was still close enough to work with. The bar sat in my garage for a few more months until tonight, when I finally had time to work with it.

I had to weld the two center mounts to the axle, make custom mounts for the ends and weld them to the axle. It took me about 5 hours to do all the work, which included painting the new pieces. I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow when it is light outside.

I just took it for a test drive and all I can say is WOW!! I already had the TRD rear sway bar, the C-One front sway bar, and a custom chassis stiffening brace that is way stronger than the aluminum one that I have seen for sale. Those things all helped, but adding this bar to the mix (yes, now I actually have 2 rear sway bars) just made a HUGE difference. The car reacts SO QUICKLY to stearing inputs now! It is really impressive. It still has understeer at the limit in both wet and dry conditions, so it is safe for everyday driving too. I still have the stock, basemodel springs, so the ride quality is still exactly the same too.

Now I just need to install the front strut tower brace, mount the front skid plate (which should act like a front splitter) that I have on my work bench, then dial in some front negative camber and this thing should be handling pretty darn well.

It would no longer be legal for stock classes in autocrossing. It would have to run in Street Prepared, but I have a 1972 240Z that is my autocross monster, so I am not too worried about the Prius. I might take it to a practice day sometime and make a run or two just to see what it is like on track, but that is all I would do with it.

 

Did you get into contact with these guys?
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/16285-prius-scca-solo-ii-fsp.html

 

I hadn't heard of the Prius SCCA Solo II FSP. Very cool car though!!! I don't think I am going to go that far though.