DIY - rear sway bar [pics]

[tomato]

@ ControlAltDefeat: Thank you for reposting that. Great help!

As to Loren: as usual!

[fmicle]

Okay, so I'm going to try to write a more detailed review of the sway bar, more than "handles better"

Sometimes you may have to make a sudden maneuver as to avoid something, a pothole, glass on the road, you name it. Usually when that happens, the car rolls in a way that feels quite unsafe. Usually the inner rear wheel (with respect to the direction you're turning) loses traction and you start to hear screeching.

With the sway bar, when you make a sudden turn, the body roll is greatly reduced and since the weight is redistributed to the rear inner wheel, the speed at which you start to hear screeching increases. The car simply feels like it's more under control in these situations. So, theoretically, if you don't change your driving patterns, you're less likely to lose control with this mod.

I have a few turns that I like to "push" on my way to work and the improvement is obvious to me. I can take those turns faster, without screeching and without the car rolling so much that you think the wheel is going to come off the ground.

I don't know if my explanation is good enough, the article that CtrlAltDefeat posted says is so much better and that's all there is to it.

[Liu997]

So the TRD sway bar is exactly the same thing but in red?

[tomato]

Originally Posted by fmicle

Okay, so I'm going to try to write a more detailed review of the sway bar, more than "handles better" ...

... I don't know if my explanation is good enough, the article that CtrlAltDefeat posted says is so much better and that's all there is to it.

Thanks, appreciate it very much. You know some stuff gets lost in translation with me sometimes

Sounds like an inexpensive but effective mod (not that I'm complaining about the way my car takes turns)

Has anyone realized NOTICEABLE improvement in handling in cross-winds after installing the rear bar?

[minired5stby]

I just bought the 19mm one today from Garm @ the Micro meet and waiting for my Tokico's to come in so I can put them both on at the same time. Hopefully I will have that done by next weekend and I will let you know. I will definately do some serious road testing, oh yeah.

[minired5stby]

I finally installed the sway bar yesterday with my Tokico Blues and all I can say is damn. I mean wean I road tested, it was way more stable than it was before on the handling and the sway bar itself man it felt like I was on rails when I would take turns real hard. But the wheels stayed planted to the ground and squeeled just a little bit but it was awsome.

[cali yaris]

Yes!

[chongopants]

I just got the 23mm, I love it, also got DF210, all pics up on yarishouston.com soon!

[Hershey]

Thinking about having a rear sway bar installed. How much does it weigh?

[minired5stby]

Its not that heavy maybe between 10-15lbs

[Hershey]

we can order a rear sway bar at TOYO dealer and have it installed for $212 . This includes part and labor . We also have a coupon from dealer to make it less than $200 total . THANKS .

[fmicle]

Garm's 19 mm Ultra Racing sway bar goes for $135 and the install is trivial... You shouldn't be paying more than $150 for this... or even more than $135 if you ask me

[CtrlAltDefeat]

The install of my sway bar was the easiest mod I've done...

[r3b3l]

I wanted to add a few things I came across while installing the ultra 19mm on my '10 yaris.

Tools needed

1) 14mm socket and 14mm wrench
The factory nut has grooves on the flat side to grip the metal on which it will hold so when you place your sway bar on do not tighten from the nut side, tighten the bolt side while holding the nut with a 14 mm wrench as shown.



The supplied hardware is 11/16in nuts and bolts there may be a metric wrench that fits tighter but I did not have one and I had zero slippage with an 11/32in wrench and socket.



2) Im not sure if it is the same on all models but on the '10 model there is a curved piece on the shock mount (shown in red).



When you install the front bolts on the sway bar youll need to use a jack to flush the sway bar into place so the back bolts will lign up



I hope this is what its supposed to look like when done as I didnt see any other way it could fit.

[lowsushi]

A bit off topic but, would i need to completly remove the sway bar to install new springs or just loosen the front nuts and remove the rear?

[cali yaris]

r3b3l, thanks for the notes.

That's a 17mm bolt and nut that comes with it. All Yaris have that curve at the bottom of the shock perch/bracket. The sway bar is shaped to match.

If you do the front bolts first, you can leverage the bar into place to line up the shock bolts. I have also found that you only need to undo the shock bolts until they are just flush, not all the way out.

[cali yaris]

lowsushi, that sounds reasonable, although it's another few minutes to just take it off so it's not in your way at all.

[lowsushi]

yeah I know, just wanted to make it easier. dont think I will get around to installing my lowered shocks this week anyway with this rain. My garage just soaks up the water. I can hardly keep it up with out putting weights on the otherside to balance it out. Up to 40lbs now. I would hate for a weight to fall on the Yaris.