Hey guys.. Quick question..

I'm throwing some lowering springs on my car soon.. I figured I'd throw on the FE5 front sway bar while I was at it since the front is a little hard to do.. But I was wondering: is the FE5 bar THAT much of an improvement over the FE3 one that I already have? I was told the rear bar will make a better improvement, but the FE5 front one is like 50 new from GM.. How about the rear one? Should I go FE5 or aftermarket? That one is alot easier to do, so I'm not worried about it as much..

Thanks!

 

Eh. Improvement may be slight. You've never really done anything with the car that would really make you regret not doing the front, IMO. If you did do any sort of competition, the FE5 front (at least on the SS/SC) still leaves room for improvement.

 

I had a stiff rear bar on my sportlined SS/NA and really, the front bar doesn't need to be touched IMO.

As long as it isn't the FE1 bar

 

I would do rear before front for sure. Its cheaper and easier and it also have much better handling characteristics then the front. I have even known people to take off the front sway bar for better turning and to prevent understeering

 

So should I use the FE5 rear or buy some other company? I'll just probably throw them both on at the same time for the biggest oomph..

 

Not on the Cobalts. One of the rare cars that could benefit from a larger front bar.

Go aftermarket for the rear.

 

Hmm. I'll probably just save up and go aftermarket for both.. No real urgency to do it up right now though.. Thanks!

 

You have to go aftermarket for the rear, the factory bar is part of the axle, and youve already got the same 22mm bar as the SS/SC, so youd need to get the SS/TC 24mm rear axle, youre looking at $1000

in the front the SS/SC bar would make a noticeable improvement, its over 1/3rd stiffer than the FE3 bar(The SS/TC bar is same size, but more expensive)

On the Cobalt youre probably more likely to notice that the front bar helps keep the car level(it offers a large portion of the roll stiffness) and youll likely notice that the rear bar does more to help the car turn as opposed to just fighting body roll(the rear springs are stiffer on a Balt than most any other FWD vehicle, and they are stiffer than front)

Obviously removing the front bar would help the car turn better, but since the springs are relatively soft youll get a likely undesirable amount of roll. This is why so many people go after the big rear aftermarket bars, it makes the car "feel" like its working better to them, since most people associate a soft front end with poor handling.

Its very personal and highly debateable what size bar is proper for the rear of a mainly street driven Balt, I am of the opinion that the 1" solid or larger bars are too much for the street, and really are more hardcore/sport than a true street friendly product and the the 1" and smaller hollow bars, and the small solid bars are much more suited to safe quick daily driving, as they offer a better balance. Some people think I am nuts and that the big bars are perfect for daily driving on any car, and dont have any undesirable affects. The smaller your front bar is, the samller a rear bar you need to avoid the (imo) undesirable handling traits of a very stiff rear.

 

another erudite post by Maven. Add to this that the rear sway bar mounted externally changes the roll center. How much depends on various issues like diameter, stiffness (beware of mild steel faux bars) and the condition of the rear twb pivot bushing. Best is a spherical joint ( Maven can you say another cross axis joint application?)

And consider that in 2005 Koni Cobalts ran sans front bar. In 06 the bar made it back on.
Best for you? FE5 front bar and this:

check with Josh at OTTP he is about to offer original style Time Attack bars for sale in 1..0 and 1.25 sizes...I think....

 

Yup.....I should have one, or maybe both of these bars within a week or so. A 1" hollow Time Attack stlye Street bar, and the actual Time Attack spec Hardcore bar. Pics and write up as always once Ive got 'em......if you want in, be sure to let Josh/Fast98 at OTTPerformance.com know you want one(or one of each )