My buddy has a 04 wrx

he wants an opinion of whats best for the subie.. the options are;

1. whiteline front swaybar only
2. whiteline rear swaybar only
3. whiteline front and back swaybars
4. cobb front only
5. cobb rear swaybar only
6. cobb both swaybars

 

You might as well do everything at one time. Sways and endlinks.

 

just front or just rear or both?

 

Some people say you should do both at the same time. I think that you should do one at a time. It is a preference thing. Work with one at a time and make necessary adjustments as you go along.

Rear would probably be easier to do, because you don't have to remove the front subframe piece.

 

I say go Ballz Out and do both at once. I've heard good things about both companies. I'm going to have GST install Whiteline (front and rear) when I get sway bars. I just drove in a buddy's '07 STi over the weekend on the roads up to Mt. Tam and the sway bars felt great!! Whatever your buddy does, he'll definitely feel a difference in the handling, especially if he does springs as well.

 

Both companies are known for quality bars. Cobb make hollow bars while the WL are solid.

I personally have WL 24mm rear w/ kartboy spherical endlinks and Cobb 25.4mm front sways using stock front endlinks and love them. I installed the the rears first and noticed a HUGE improvement. The car felt amazingly grounded and the front bar added to that feeling. If you have the funds, i don't see why you wouldn't do both but if not, just do the rears first. Remember, the rears will need new endlinks since the stock wrx endlinks are pretty much plastic.

 

whiteline FTW. If you wait for a sale you can get them for $150 each.

Rear makes the biggest difference, but both (as long as you have good tires) is amazing.

 

do not upgrade the sway bar without the endlinks on the rear..

stock the rear endlinks are plastic and the rear sway is metal.
so upgrading the sway means bending the plastic endlinks even more.
so upgrade the endlinks.. then the sway, or just do both.

 

what is he gonna do with the car and what springs/shocks will he be running? That will determine how big a bar he needs to run.

 

It depend on what you are doing. If you plan on using it for track days, I would suggest starting with the whiteline front bar. Our cars have a tendency to act like bulldozers in corners. After you have built up some more money, go with the whiteline rear with endlinks and hd mounts. Overall, your car will feel like a different beast.

 

either companies are good, but i say do rear first, then fronts. just so you can feel the difference between having the rears to having rears/fronts....my .02

 

Fixed...
Seriously, a rear bar 20-22mm is sufficient for most. It doesn't seems as though you are a track hound, as you would have had it figured out already. A mild bar in the rear will take out some most of that understeer and encourage the rear to rotate. Now if your intentions are to drive it hard and you understand the physics of driving at high speed. 22-24 front and a 24-26 rear is a nice setup. It really flattens the body roll. With proper weight transfer, traction and turn in are dramatically improved.

 

i think he's gonna have stock springs. should he get new stiffer ones?

thanks for all the input, greatly appreciated

 

With stock springs and struts larger sway bars may have a tendency to snap back to center. A strut wit ha bit more dampening is in order.

 

just do it all. but i will echo the recommendation that end links should be changed with sway bars.

as far as manufacturers go, its all pretty much the same. they all differ by design, so the installation differs (eg. perrin vs cusco), but the outcome in performance is all the same. a bar is a bar, and its stiffer than stock so fuggit and just get whatever one is cheaper.