I am planning on what i want to do to my car next spring and i am thinking of getting wider tires and wheels as well as a turbo tech racing rear sway bar. My question is that will the car act funny with the stock LS suspension with the sway bar? I do not plan on getting aftermarket springs but i may if the car needs them. What do you guys think i should do.

Oh yeah i have a 2007 ls.

 

i have a 2007 LT.......same suspension as u.....i put on the bar about a month ago......u feel it as soon as u back out the driveway.......def tightens the rear up nicely but i also have 16" not 15" rims with a set of toyo proxies 4 (tires make such a diff, no wheel slippage at high speeds even before the sway bar.........i say do it and go wit TTR

 

If you dont want to go much lower, but want a much more firm ride, get the eibach prokit. PM us if you get the pro kit and the TTR sway bar on the same order we will get you a discount. BTW the TTR sway bars are $20 off this weekend (ends tonight)

 

i got my bar and just ordered my brothers for his HHR........thanks guys for everything and aaron thanks for the email about the CAI too make sure i wasnt ordering the wrong one.........best customer service ive had when it came to my car

 

Not a problem, it is easier to communicate now, than for you to get a wrong part. It makes more head aces for the both of us

 

are sportlines hard to install? how much more performance gain would result from getting them with the sway bar?

 

I would say for as much as you gain with a sway bar you will gain with springs.

Springs take around 2 hours to install. Any local shop can put them in.

Sportlines will offer a larger drop (about an inch more) Prokit doesnt drop quite as much...

 

umm...aaron...what are you talking about....sportlines are the lowest drop for the cobalts except for coilovers

get eibach pro kit...its the less agressive drop

 

We were refering to the Eibach line only, stating the sportlines have a larger drop than the pro kit.

The pro kit however has a higher "spring rate" than the sportlines, making the pro kit more firm.

 

????

 

Ha ha, opps, I fixed that, notice the next line we did state "pro kit", I was thinking faster than I could type...

 

lawl, its all good...i didnt get to the next line...i saw the if you want a not so aggressive drop then use the sportlines...kinda a wtf moment lol

 

has anyone ever done any testing comparing no sway bar to sway bar? If anyone could give any info as simple as "i could take this corner at 35 and now i can take it at 45." that would be great!

 

the difference with and without the sway is consistency in the corner. base cobalts tend to be unpredictable when pushed, sometimes they oversteer and sometimes they understeer going around the same corner at the same speed. the sway brings the rear under control so you can take the corner to fit your driving style.

 

I know exactly what your talking about. I usually experience heavy understeer in the last 2/3 of the turn but those are turns i take everyday. I recently took a new turn kinda fast and had oversteer for the first time which kinda scared me.

 

well if your on the ls suspension you should at least go with the SS springs

 

i would love to get new springs for my car but right now im in school and i dont have a lot of time and money for upgrades for the balt. I figured that tires and a sway bar would be an easy upgrade to do one weekend. Also i don't know if i want to put alot into this car because it is just an ls. I am considering saving for a used ss or a 4th gen camaro.

 

If oversteer scares you, you may want to seriosuly rethink the TTR rear sway bar, especially without springs and without a larger front sway bar.

The TTR bar (even the Progress bar, just to a lesser degree)on a stock FE1 car is the definition of oversteer when it comes to Cobalts.

The TTR rear bar on a stock FE1(LS/LT) car dramatically increases the stiffness in the rear of the car(thats why everyone says you can feel it as soon as you drive the car out of your drive way) This extra stiffness tends to make the Cobalt oversteer(more correctly snap oversteer, meaning its fine until its not), which is not good on the street(as you found out) Most importantly is that since the Coby is fwd and due to the suspension design it gets another very special type of handling characteristic, its called "trailing throttle oversteer" This is basically means that if the car is oversteering, when you let go of the gas it actually oversteers MORE, it doesnt correct itself......To get trailing throttle oversteer in control you need to either have room to ride out the oversteer, or get back ON the gas....neither of these scenarios are safe or effective on public roads.

So to answer your question: Yes a large rear sway bar will make your otherwise stock car handle funny.

I'd highly recommend upgrading to the Eibach Pro-Kit or SS/SC springs as your first suspension mod. Followed later by a FRONT sway bar, and THEN a rear sway bar. It will still make your car a little tailhappy, but it wont have the tendency to snap oversteer like it will on a stock car.

Springs FTW.

This only partially true....the main 2 reasons stock Cobalts have unpredictable handling(imo) is due to the absolute crap tires they have from the factory, and because they have very little caster(Ive seen new cars with as little as 2degrees caster)

Cobalts understeer, unless you hit a mid corner bump or in some other way unload the rear tires, only then will a stock Cobalt oversteer. The sway bar makes a stock Cobalt much more consistantly oversteer, leading many people to believe it cures the wonky handling, when in fact it doesnt, it just makes it nearly impossible for the car to understeer, so all you notice is the oversteer events. A bad thing?? I think so, but many others dont. No matter what your thoughts on a loose car are there is no debating the fact that a simple bolt on sway bar(any brand) isnt goin to cure the things a stock LS/LT suffers from

 

wow! thats a lot of info. Oversteer itself doesn't scare me it is just the fact that i wasn't expecting it. When you say the car oversteers does this happen after you push it father past the limits of stock or a little after the stock setup would start to understeer. I am not looking to make this into a full on project, i would just like to make the car a little sportier to drive. I am also going to put new tires and wheels on the balt to increase traction. Most likely Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position tires in 205/55ZR16.

 

Quality tires will make a big improvement in the way the car drives.

In everyday driving you wont notice the oversteer, you will notice that the rear of the car is stiffer though. is it too stiff? thats up to you. but it is very noticeable. Something to keep in mind is that "better handling" and "stiffer" arent necessarily the same thing.

When you will notice the oversteer is if you drive very aggressively, autox, or on bumpy/uneven turns. That turn that you oversteered in the other day....if you had just the TTR rear bar there is pretty good chance that it woulda done more than scare you.

None of this may apply to you, you may really want a massive sway bar and nothing is gonna stop you, you may be a drifter a heart and this is music to your ears, you may be a rockstar wheelman and you dont care because you can drive anything.

If you absolutely must have a rear sway bar, and its gonna be your only suspension mod, I would highly recommend looking into the Progress 22mm bar.(you can even still buy it from TTR if theyre who you like to deal with) Not only is it a little less expensive which is good for your budget, its much less stiff, meaning it wont have as severe an affect on your handling

Just as a reference the TTR bar is 1" and the Progress bar is 7/8", doesnt sound like a great deal, but the TTR bar is roughly 1.7 times stiffer! Thats a lot. Both companies make pretty bars, make up your own mind now that youve got a few more facts.

Cheers!

 

Some very helpful advice

 

H&R Preformance Springs
TTR Rear Sway Bar
SS/SC Front Sway Bar

Equals handles likes a pro haha...

 

Thanks for all the help guys!

I think now i am going to start saving my pennies for some spring as well. I will be sure to do a write up on my upgrades once i get them.

 

Currently driving a 07 LS 4dr on progress springs and a progress rear bar and I can tell you its a great setup. I had just the bar on for 2 auto-x events and I must say TTR is right, if you have no idea how to control these cars in oversteer then you might want to rethink just getting the bar. At least find a used set of SS/SC springs and go from there. I happen to like the oversteer and with my racing background know how to handle it so its not a problem for me; especially since I went from the drifting world to the auto-x, time attack world.

 

Um, it wasnt TTR.....it was me. TTR hasnt ever said that to my knowledge.