I was just wondering what exactly the strut bars and the anti roll bars actually do. I know they make everything stiffer, but is there anything else to them?

 

They do two completely different things. A strut tower bar helps to stiffen the overall frame in the front end. It's purely static, and simply helps reduce body flex.

Anti roll bars connect the wheels suspension together from one side to the other. If one wheels suspension is compressed, an anti roll bar tranfers that movement to the other side of the car, causes that wheel to compress as well, and vise versa. It keeps the car level in turns.

 

awesome thanks Halfcent

 

One last thing you need to know about anti roll bars, if you get to big of a bar in the rear on a FWD car and to small of a front bar your car will want to tail out alot and make it vary hard to control at the limit.
As far as I know the only anti roll bar kit out for the cobalt is the eiboc kit and that should be a vary well balanced kit and tail out should not be a problem.

Both of these parts will increas steering feel and respons as well.

Enjoy them when you get them.

Later

 

Oh I will, and one more question. I was also planning on putting this on my wifes car for basic safety issues. among other things of course. Bu safety I dont mean serious safety but she will be hauling the kids in her car and I want as little body roll as possible.

 

??? They're not there for safety, they're there for performance. Daily driving, you're really not going to notice much difference. The strut tower brace makes a minimal difference anyway, and actually daily driving the biggest difference you notice with it is an increase in torque steer. The anti-roll kit is mostly for performance handling through turns. Basically if she's going fast enough that body roll is a safety issue when cornering, she's driving way too fast to have kids in the car. Also it's going to change the way the vehicle feels if she has to make any evasive maneuvers...if you do decide to put an anti-roll kit on her car, take her out and make sure she gets a feel for the handling of the car in sharp turns so that she can anticipate what the car is going to do, don't just slap em on there either without telling her or without letting her feel em out for herself.

 

An anti roll kit on the wifes car is a bad idea man. This is more for a driver that has the skills to recover a car from a slide. The anti roll kit will make the car more stable at speed but will also make it harder to recover should you make a mistake with it. It is not needed or recomended for Kiddy transport dutty.
The strut bar is not needed ether. It will have 0 afect on safty and is more for the driver looking to get every last bit if grip and feal that they can.
Botom line is there great for a car that is going to be driven hard by a skilled driver.
Not so good for mommys car though.

Later

 

Ok I guess I had a misunderstanding as to what the anti roll kit did. I knew it was for body roll but to me that is improving safety. But maybe I am a blind man on the sun. Who knows.