Wow, what a huge difference a rear swaybar makes on our WRXs. Just upgraded it this weekend and didn't get to fully drive it till this morning. Huge difference in rotation and turn-in. It's almost like a different car. Also having an alignment minimizing the rear camber and 0 toe all around seemed to also help alot. But I'm still amazed.

Is upgrading the front sways worth it for the extra 2-6mm in diameter?

Thanks Sep for hooking me up with the used Cusco rear swaybar.

 

Yes. Upgraded rear sway is so nice. That's the first mod I did on the wagon.. completely different character - especially in the dirt which changed understeer into perfectly controllable lift-off oversteer.

 

An upgraded front sway bar is an incremental improvement, but still well worth it. You won't feel it as much as the rear sway, but it still significantly changes the characteristic of your car. Basically you'll get much less body roll on turn-in and the car as a whole feels much more planted in corners. I think it's a very worthwhile mod, especially if you plan on doing any track days.

 

going from the stock 17mm to the OEM '02-'03 20mm bar on my '05 wagon was awesome, got better with new tires and an alignment with camber bolts in the rear. handles superbly better.

 

I love my Cusco Rear for RallyX and AutoX, rotates like RWD until you hit the gas.
i can put bald 205s on my car and drift into every corner! so fun, my 225s not so much

But stiffest setting rounding a 90 mph asphalt to concrete commuter onramp not the best idea...or downhill cloverleafs

I still want to get a front one

 

I'm hoping to find the cusco RSB under the tree in a week I think the RSB plus now having a manual tranny will help a lot in Rally-X

did you upgrade endlinks too?

 

my previous owner took endlinks out and replaced them with stock for some reason. feels good to me tho

 

drtofu nailed it. Completely controllable lift-off oversteer on loose surfaces. I only upgraded to an STi sway/mounts on my FXT, but it's night and day over the stock bit.

-Brian

 

I hope you get one 2; upgrade that should have come stock from the factory. This RSB was my x-mas gift from the wife; well one of them, still have stocking stuffers and hopefully other stuff.

This one came with some generic metal endlinks but it didn't fit w/o slack on the bottom brackets of my WRX, so I just went with the stock 04 endlinks; which I read are better than 02-03. I think the endlinks that came with this RSB are for a 2.5RS. So if anybody wants to buy them, let me know I'll let them go for cheap.



I had a few more ?s:

1) I noticed that over vs under is now very controllable with the throttle. I went with alot less camber on the rear with camber bolts and it seemed to push more (was also dependant on tire pressue- 31F/29R was just right [felt like current characteristics with RSB], but anything off like 1-3psi would make it push more) with a 1/2 ratio vs the front. However, after the RSB it was perfect. Should I have gone with a -1.5 front, -0.7 rear camber setting with 0 toe?

2) If I get a front sway bar, how badly will it affect the throttle controlled response for over vs under? I was looking to get a 22mm front.

3) Since the rear is adj. will going 24mm rear vs 22mm front offset this upgrade to the front?

 

i have 225's -1.5 in the rear and i really have to trail brake hard to get it loose...it is a finer break away line (i'm assuming) than it would be if i had 0 neutral camber in the rear where i think it would break away easier and more predictably.

but my 205's break away super smoothly equal to how much brake i give, like spinout on command.

others Q's i have no clue, i want a FSB

 

I was surprised to learn that WRX autocrossers often have very stiff front sways and they want their cars nimble for tight twisty corners. But.. that's a very specific application since they rarely get above 60mph and they're always on smooth surfaces. That setup might not work well in the real world.