Progress rear sway bar installed

[cohocarl]

The nice U.P.S. man dropped off my Progress rear sway bar this afternoon.Very easy install. Just remove one bolt/nut at each end, remove stock bar, slip this one in and re-tighten the bolts/nuts. (They are VERY tight)I took it for about a 5 mile ride tonight and it does seem to have "tightened" it up. I was unhappy with how the Vibe "wandered" on the X-way, needing steering corrections quite often to keep it going straight. This seems to have cured this "wandering", but I'll know more tomorrow when I take it to work and get a few more miles on it.See Ya,Carl

[mu_ohio]

Where did you find this at?

[old man winter]

Coho,I see you keep the uc clean, did you not go fishing with the Vibe?. Do they have paved roads to the holes down there? Whats up. If I take any auto in the bush around Sudbury I would have to spend $20 at the car wash to blow the mud off.

[cohocarl]

quote:Where did you find this at? http://www.optauto.com has them. See: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=189We had a rather windy day here in mid-Michigan and it seems to not be tossed around quite as much as it did before. It seems to track straighter, not needing as much attention to keep it going where you want it to go. A rear bar alone won't turn it into a new Z06 Vette, but I'd say it's a worthwhile mod.Maybe I can get with rasermon some weekend when we both have some time so he can take it for a drive to get another opinion on it.I'd really like for someone to bring out some decent struts! (at a decent price)See Ya,Carl

[cohocarl]

quote:Coho,I see you keep the uc clean, did you not go fishing with the Vibe?. Do they have paved roads to the holes down there? Whats up. If I take any auto in the bush around Sudbury I would have to spend $20 at the car wash to blow the mud off.Actually where we went over on the Little Manistee River is down a "two track" about a 1/4 mile off of a gravel road. There's some good size ruts in it that would be pretty muddy if we would have received any rain this summer, but it was pretty dry. The uc did get a pretty good dusting off from the weeds though. We stopped on our way home to get some refreshments and we had been dragging some decent sized ferns that got closed in the rear passanger door. Between mandatory o.t. at work & a 1 year old, I'm finding free time to go fishing at all very scarce. I do have two days of vacation left to burn before the end of the year, and we're thinking of heading over to see if we can't land a steelhead or brown towards the middle of November. I think you'd find fishing down here a joke. You should see Tippy Dam on a weekend when the salmon are in. Some year I'll make it up there to CA to do some wading.

[old man winter]

I hear ya man......... job, kids, and Marital responsibilities aka (you are going where?) keep me out of the bush most of the time. I even gave up the F-150 4X4 and I have not been moose hunting in five years. This week I just cry on the phone when my buddies call me to brag about thier kills............and all the meat they got. I got to go wet a line before the snow comes

[NSimkins]

The Progress Rear Sway Bar is also now available (in stock) from Performance Tuning.$105.95 USD without shipping.http://www.ptuning.com/html/search-resu ... =PT62.2150

[Lorin]

If it were only some color other than light blue! It reminds me of Crest toothpaste!

[NSimkins]

quote:Very easy install. Just remove one bolt/nut at each end, remove stock bar, slip this one in and re-tighten the bolts/nuts. (They are VERY tight)Just installed my Progress Rear Sway Bar this morning. Easy install.. those bolts are a (removed) though!As cohocarl said, it did tighten up the ride.. I noticed it most going higher speeds, but taking corners at low/moderate speed (back roads) was nice. A definate improvement.I'm not going to post a pic, being cohocarl's is an exact duplicate of my setup.

[cohocarl]

quote:A definate improvement.Yes, but now I want a front bar too! And some struts... and...

[NSimkins]

I saw you reference this post in another thread and wanted to add a little more on the improvements this bar provided me (in my opinion). I noticed that I can obviously take corners alot easier (less sway, hence sway bar ), over dips, less bounce over. Even larger bumps in the road that I take everyday was hardly as noticable as the vehicle didn't seem to travel as far as the result of the bump as it used to.I would definately recommend this mod (fairly cheap as well) to everyone. (AWD people excluded at this time .. your day hopefully will arrive soon.. but be happy you have independent rear susp's )

[Lorin]

"I wan-der as I wan-der out un-der the skyyyy"..... Sorry, had a little Christmas spirit popping up there.....

[Space_Cowboy]

does anyone know if this bar is usable for the GT as well as the base model? Do you need to get your alignment checked after this install?

[valjean]

I'm pretty sure the GT uses the same bar as the base. Don't know about the alignment though.Mine just came in today and I'm going to install it as soon as I figure out how to get those bolts out. Anybody have any tips?

[cohocarl]

quote:Don't know about the alignment though.No re-alignment needed.quote:Mine just came in today and I'm going to install it as soon as I figure out how to get those bolts out. Anybody have any tips?I used a 1/2 rachet with a long, heavy pipe shoved on the end as a "cheater bar" so I could get more leverage. Those things are VERY TIGHT! When you get the new one in, re-torque to 150 lbs. I've read some posts on the matrixowners.com forum that some have replaced their rear bar and is now making creaking noises. I'd be willing to bet they didn't tighten the bolts back down enough and it's shifting on the mounting bolts.

[valjean]

Thanks. I'll have to try that tonight.Now should I try to unscrew the nut or the bolt? I'm thinking the nut but it looks like it's harder to get at.

[cohocarl]

If I remember right, I put a large crescent wrench on the Bolt head, but turned the nut off. I don't remember if the bolt will turn when loosening up the nut or not. But yes, you would want to try and keep the Bolt stationary and turn off the Nut.

[Space_Cowboy]

I know this thread was pretty old, but I was just wondering if everyone STILL likes their sway bar? Also, does anyone know how much thicker than the factory OEM sway bar this is? Just curious how much I should expect to gain from this.Thanks.

[Geo]

I'm actually wondering the same: How do you all like this mod?I'm looking for stuff to help tighten up the ride, w/o lowering the car or changing shocks/springs.

[NSimkins]

quote:I know this thread was pretty old, but I was just wondering if everyone STILL likes their sway bar? Also, does anyone know how much thicker than the factory OEM sway bar this is?Yes, I still like my Progress rear sway bar.. I've had it installed for a couple months now. Really makes a difference that I noticed personally.. keeps the rear planted on the road in turns and over bumps.As far as thickness differences, I'm not sure, but you can tell the Progress is thicker and a little heavier than the stock bar.

[Space_Cowboy]

What do you guys think of just getting the rear sway bar? Do you feel like you need to tighten up the front end once you've done the rear? Is there still the little bit of understeer in the front? or does the rear help? I have a strut brace, do you think that would help up front?

[Raven]

I installed a rear Progress bar on Sunday morning and I love it. I recently put the pressure in my Falken FK451's up to 35psi. With these two changes and my Tein S-techs the car is handling really well and the ride quality is still pretty good too.

[SWiRv]

Did you guys have to jack up the car and put the Vibe on stands or can you just unbolt the old sway bar and bolt on the new one? I know this may be a bit trivial, but I think the new sway bars from Progress aren't mint green in colour anymore -- looks like a gun metal colour.

[cohocarl]

You can change the bar without jacking it up, but you don't have a lot of room. I did mine, and also re-tightened mine without jacking it up.

[Raven]

I put mine up on ramps and yes the bars are gunmetal grey now but hey, they give you a sticker!

[polaris1000]

I love my Progress sway bar. I can sure notice a difference when taking a corner hard or on a circle off ramp. This is a great mod for all Vibe owners.I've had mine on for 3 months now and have not had any problems...

[MadBill]

The Progress bar is 22 mm diameter; stock is 18. The stiffness is proportional to the 4th power of the diameter, so the Progress bar is more than twice as stiff as stock.

[polaris1000]

Here is a picture of the Progress Sway next to the factory.Sorry picture is not that clear, but I wanted to get out and try some corners before it got to dark

Attached files

[AKLGT]

so it helps stiffen that back end eh? cool! nothing like having a tight (removed)! ha ha ha!

[MadBill]

Time for an Intervention, folks! Hope's been reading too many of Drunken's posts...

[AKLGT]

no i have not. lol but i just couldn't resist!

[ZubenElGenubi]

Just installed my Progress rear sway bar today (2004 Base w/ ABS) and have some more information for you all who might be interested in this modification.1) Raise the rear of the car on ramps for access. I recommend this over jack stands, as you have to use a lot of torque both loosening and tightening the nuts.2) The nut/bolt assembly on each end is 19mm and you'll want to loosen the nut on the top, rather than the bolt on the bottom.3) If you have ABS, there is a 10mm machine screw (next to the top nut) which mounts an elevated hose clamp. Remove this screw and move the hose out of the way to access the 19mm nut. (See image below)4) Two words: "Liquid Wrench" ---------------Total time for this modification is about 30 minutes.The attached pic is a 3-d image of the right side of the sway bar assembly. Just cross you eyes and make the bright screwhead in the center converge (this is the 10mm screw you want to remove). You can see the 19mm nut behind the metal hose clamp.

Attached files

[ZubenElGenubi]

Here's another pic showing the original (top) and Progress (bottom) rear sway bars.

Attached files

[zionzr2]

is there an option for the AWD models that have indepentant rear suspension?

[DavidPIL]

Hi Zuben, et al...I got my Progress Rear Sway bar today and took a look under the car to see the bolts and what it will take to remove em. I really don't see how the nuts can be turned without half of the things under the car getting in the way. Doesn't seem like a lot of clearance for anything longer than maybe a 1 foot long leverage bar on a small socket wrench.I was a bit concerned about this so I went to get my 19mm socket from Auto Zone and Liquid Wrench as well. Looked one more time knowing that if I didn't figure it out, I was stuck with a useless piece of metal.When looking closely, I noticed I could see the wheel well easily next to the nut. I then look through my wheel well and there is the nut, right there. If I take off the wheels, I have perfect clearance for the nuts and bolts. So, my question here is, if I jack up the car, remove the rear wheels and then lower it onto cinder blocks (on or near the side jack points) will this work? Had anyone tried anything similar to this method? It just looks so easy this way and so cramped the other way. Any insight to this?Dave

[ZubenElGenubi]

DavidPIL, there was enough clearance for me. All I did was roll the rear of the car up on ramps (about 9" high) and use a thick PVC pipe over my socket wrench to give me a little more leverage (and a thicker grip). The nuts were tight, but eventually worked loose. I switched to a shorter, ratchet wrench once they got going. I had no clearance problems at all. I'd look at ramps again; it'll be faster and more stable than cinder blocks for sure.

[DavidPIL]

Hiya...Ok, don't hate me but I still didn't have a lot of room with my torque wrench to get to the nut and turn it easily. I decided to jack up the car, remove the wheels then get to the nuts from there. I placed jack stands under the rear wishbone? where it attached just in front of the back wheel. Anywho, didn't really need it. The jack itself was plenty stable enough. The clearance with the wheel removed was plenty to be able to get good leverage on the torque wrench without causing the car to move much at all.The install was EXTREMELY EASY this way. Used a spray Liquid Wrench with a PTFE Lube. Don't know how good that did though. Both nuts turned relatively easily with a bit of leverage (pvc pipe). The driver's side bolt was very cruddy and starting to show rust. The passenger side was fine.Maybe 45 minutes total to do the work. 20 to jack up the rear and remove the wheels, 25 to remove the bar and put the new one in. (had to clean the one bolt and install the decal in this time as well).Haven't tested it out much yet but I did drive around a bit and took some turns hard. I don't notice much yet though for some reason over bumps and turns, the rear seems heavier? Not in a sluggish way but more like its more secure to the road. Don't know if it's worth it yet but it was easy enough to do andgave me some quality time wrking on MY car on my own, which is always cool to do.Thanks for the previous posts on hos to do this and the pics and all. Gave me the confidence to do this myself Dave

[StephenC]