Our sway bars are designed to greatly reduce body roll and provide a much more predictable handling characteristic without decreasing the ride quality. Our bars have been carefully balanced and when used as a system, understeer is a thing of the past. To allow the driver to cater the system to their tastes, the rear bar is adjustable which can provide more or less oversteer for given conditions.
What makes these bars unique is their hollow (tubular) construction which results in a much lighter and technically superior design compared to the lesser solid bar design. This is the very reason why you'll find tubular sway bars used on high-end performance vehicles and race cars. The tubular design is more expensive and more difficult to manufacturer but that should not be any excuse for not offering the best solution possible. From even a purely aesthetic point of view, the style of the thick, aggressive 25mm diameter sway bar easily visible from behind the car screams that you're serious about performance!!
The complete set pictured above is the first generation versions. The current versions of the front sway bars have bends from the bushing area outward to improve fitment and prevent banging and binding (see image with front bar next to shipping box).
Author
DomozitoLK VIP Member
Registered: April 2004 Location: Northern California Posts: 694
Review Date: Tue August 10, 2004
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $360.00
| Rating: 8
Pros:
Excellent product, works great, love hollow sways!
Cons:
Squeeky bushings. Long waits (backorder) from COBB to get them.
This is how the car should be equipped from the factory! Car feels way more solid and controllable through the curves. A great setup in conjunction with my strut brace set from GT-Spec.
I am used to German cars that come with much larger sway bars than the puny ones Subaru puts on their cars. The car doesn\'t feel skittish over the road anymore. The front bar is not adjustable but the rear has 3-postions. I am using the middle position and it feels balanced.
Rock solid and great handling to match the great power of the WRX. Well worth the 3.5 weeks to get them from COBB.
EDIT April 12, 2005: Just a long term update since I\'ve lived with them on my WRX for almost a year now. The bushings squeek a lot and have to be greased often to keep them quiet. It is by far worse on cold days first thing in the morning. Lessens as they heat up. If greased, I can keep them quiet for about a month or two. Warm days are fine and they don\'t squeek.
My car isn\'t lowered (still has the stock springs and shocks). With the extra cushion of the 195/55-16 tires, it was stiff but still supple...combo\'ed with the UK/JDM factory 17x7s on 215/45-17 Potenza S-03 tires, makes for a pretty stiff ride that feels every little bump and divet in the road. I\'m hoping going to a softer sidewall Pirelli PZero Nero M+S and an overall taller 225/45-17 will eleviate some of the kidney rattling (yes, I must be getting old).
I\'m still very happy with the sway bars. They do an excellent job of making the car corner very flat.
EDIT May 13, 2005: Finally couldn\'t take it any more and removed the front COBB 25mm bar and put the stock 20mm bar back on. And with the stock bushings and sway back on, no more strange noises or creaks. I am still running the rear 25mm bar. The ride is much more forgiving (on my body) with this setup. Also, there was a popping sound turning lock to lock the developed. I think it was binding on the endlinks up front. Now with the stock bar, there is a tiny bit of sway or diving up front, even with the Do-Luck frame brace and GT-Spec strut tower bar. I think a 21mm front bar with the COBB 25mm rear bar would be an ideal setup. I am currently searching for a used 21mm Cusco to try my theory out. If you have one for sale, email or PM me.
EDIT August 10, 2005: Found out about the revised versions of the sway bar and got an RMA from COBB to replace the front sway bar with the new version. Hopefully that will cure any issues I\'ve had with it.
------------------------------ Rob Thomas
2004 Subaru Impreza WRX
VIBEELEVEN VIP Member
Registered: October 2004 Location: Napa Posts: 4908
Review Date: Thu August 4, 2005
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
Pros:
3- way settings, hollow?, comes with heavy duty mounts, bushing mounting brackets have zerk fittings.
Cons:
Great looking bar, vastly reduced understeer and just flat out made the car handle better. Somebody told me that hotchkiss munufactures these bars cor cobb. I had one prerequisite when shopping for a rear swaybar, it had to have heavy duty mounts. Fitment is good and install is pretty easy. The only thing I might add is that you will need a long allen head extension on your rachet (I think it\'s a #6 ?!?1?) and I\'d use a little loctite on the endlink bolts, since mine loosened a little after about a month and started making a loud terrible sounding creeeeeaking, and then !SLAM! noise. Tightened the endlinks and no more scarey noises.
fenderstrat066 Registered User
Registered: December 2005 Location: Ellenville, Ny Posts: 236
Review Date: Sat July 8, 2006
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Great upgrade for the price, Flat feeling on cornering
Cons:
none
These sway bars are a great upgrade for your subaru, i have them on my 04'wrx and 05' legacy GT wagon and their great. If you plan to install them yourself its going to be some work but they fit perfect. If you buy these you will not be dissapointed....cobb knows what their doing....good product.
crewchief97 Registered User
Registered: August 2006 Location: Maryland Posts: 1
Review Date: Tue August 22, 2006
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Best first upgrade; totally re-invents the cars handling
Cons:
None
These bars were my first mod...could not be happier with the results after install...they totally minimize the amount of understeer and body roll on corner turn ins...installation was pretty straight forward, you do have to remove alot of components to install both the front and rear bars...rear bar was easier to install than the front...it took me about 2 1/2 hours to complete with jackstands and no air tools...I have had the bars on for about 10 months with none of the bushing issues that another user reported...once again it completely changes your driving experience with the WRX...buy immediately!!!
dankrouse Registered User
Registered: October 2003 Location: Indiana Posts: 19
Review Date: Mon September 11, 2006
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Drastically improved handling, Easy install, looks great too
Cons:
Squeeky, but not bad
I love these sway bars, I don't know if one bar is better than another, all they have to do is bend (or not bend) but the cobb bars look great and weigh less. Plus the mouting brackets for the rear bar are tough, and look cool too. Like crewcheif this was my first mod, for the money i think swaybars are the perfect start. HUGE improvment in handling, especially in my wagon. Installation was no problem, I used jackstands, some people recommend ramps to get the fitment right but i think you can do it either way. I did have to lift one wheel get the rear bar fitted, no biggie.
Right now it squeeks but i'm getting some more grease for the back. the zerk fittings are convinient. the supplied grease didn't work for me, it squeeked from day one. the front does not squeek though.
With any sway bar, get both the front and the back, it makes for a smooth centered turn and turn in.
Blk 91 gt Registered User
Registered: August 2006 Location: Pasadena Posts: 8
Review Date: Sun September 24, 2006
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Improved handling and corner exit speed. Reduced understeer
Cons:
Instructions were not perfectly accurate for the adjustable mounts and 06STI
I was really happy with these sway bars.
The install was not too bad, although it took a little longer then I thought. (3hr front and rear) I got the adjustable mounts with my sway bars. A problem I found is that the instructions don’t include any info about the adjustable mounts. The instructions just refer to the non adjustable type. The brace on the 06 Sti that covers the front sway bar was also different then indicated in the instructions. (Not a problem just something I noticed)
The adjustable mounts came in handy when getting everything lined up. I used the middle hole in the sway bar. (I also used Whiteline spherical bearing end links)
I didn’t have any problems with exhaust interference with the sway bars as mentioned on Cobbs web sight. Had I went with the softest setting the muffler may have contacted the sway bar. Had a chose the stiffest setting the passenger side mount may have needed to be modified so there would be no interference problems with the charcoal canister tubing. (This is assuming you are using the adjustable mounts to keep your end links level up and down.
The car really turns better. It seems to hold the road better and not understeer when accelerating out of a turn. The ride quality is the same as stock. I would have given these swaybars a 10 if the instructions were a little better for the adjustable mounts. I went with a 9
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