Stevo

i dont know much about cars and what not . i was just curious as to what either of these do, is it worth it to purchase them, how hard of an install and which ones are the "best".

cawpin

Strut bars go across the top of the strut tower. They are just another brace for the chassis. I've never put one on but they supposedly do a very good job of stiffening the car. Sway bars connect the right and left wheels. When you go into a turn the outside wheel gets loaded pushing the wheel into the wheel well and you get body lean. A sway bar reduces this tendency. It pulls the inside wheel up into the wheel well when the outside wheel moves up. It keeps the car flatter through turns.

From what I've read the Eibach sway bars are good but a little pricey. The other one people seem to like is from Progress. I can't remember what strut bars people prefer. Just do a search and you'll find them.

Stevo

Thanks man.

zomghax

Eibach never got around to making sway bars for the Cobalt. Every vendor just still has them listed because... I don't know why. Progress is the only option for a rear sway bar.

Stevo

So is it worth it to get both or one or the other?

g5mike

Stut bars are pretty good, but on my last car I noticed the rear sway bar had more of an impact

Stevo

Ok thanks

mjbroeker

I just got the progress rear sway bar and it does make a noticable difference. It was only 149. at Turbotech and installed in 10 min. Very easy. Well worth it IMO.

zomghax

Turbotechracing kicks so much ass, even the ass that they kick kicks ass

mjbroeker

agreed

Stevo

How hard was the strut bar, injen and ingalls to put in? Im looking into getting those too.

tonio5555

DC Sports strut bar is an easy 15 minute install. All I used was a jack and a wrench.

mjbroeker

Strut bar and ingalls were easy 15 minute installs. The injen wasent hard but it was a little time consuming removing all of the popcorn things around the wheel well and getting a good fitment without pushing on the bumper. Do a search on injen and it will explain it better. I also believe there are "how to's" on each of the items.

Stevo

Hey, thanks everyone.

LandonElf

Yea seriously, ingalls torque dampener MAY take you 15 minutes. And ten of those minutes will be trying to find the right socket.

Injen CAI no longer have fitment problems, just make sure to disconnect your battery before installing it or you will have a CEL (check engine light) like me.

Also, when installing the Injen, make sure you place the jack in the correct spot, i misplaced mine by about 1 inch (experienced but got in a hurry) and my floor began to cave. And i had a big hump in my floorboard for a few weeks.

Its nothing that a small metal sledge hammer cant fix, but its quite unnerving when your car starts falling down and your under it......

xspyder85x

isnt the jack that are cars come with designed to go right on the frame, there is a slot in the frame that fits into the jack/

LandonElf

Yea, i was using a camaro jack that was in my garage. I didn't place it far enough under the car. It was lined up with the little arrows on the sideskirts, but apparently just not deep enough. It was like a heat index of 115+ ( i live in GA) so obviously i wanted to get it done quickly....

I was wiggling the tire and walking it off the studds when the jack failure occured. It was crazy, the caliper was actually like 2 inches from the ground. Fortunently no structural or wiring damage happened, and i wasn't directly under the car.

But in retrospect, i really wasn't that far off of the correct point, i was seriously suprised at how much of the underbody is just thin alluminum. Heck, when i jack up either of my camaro's, i placed it pretty much anywhere.

cawpin

If it was a Camaro jack it should fit the same as ours do, slip over the body lip. Also, I'm pretty sure our cars don't have aluminum floors.

zomghax

I've never even taken the stock jack out of the trunk. Always just use a hydraulic jack on the frame and jackstands. Really want to get some ramps though...

LandonElf

Okay thin metal or whatever, its irrelevant. Whatever its made of, it failed. It was a 1983 Camaro jack.