Sway Bars-opinions

[NHCharger]

Buying new bars for the 68. Leaning towards Hellwig. They have a street performer/pro touring, 1 3/8" tubular, front for $236.00. Rear bar is 1 3/8" for $250.00
Have heard mixed reviews on Addco's. Their front bar is only 1 1/8", rear is 7/8", probably why their so much cheaper.
The Hotchkis are nice but I'd be shelling out $650.00 for both.

Any input good or bad welcome.

[cdr]

i got the 1 3/8 front bar hellwig,it is on the car,but as you know i have not driven it yet. i will get their adjustable rear bar when i can.

[68X426]

I have the Hellwig front bar on my Road Runner. Works great for years. 

[bill440rt]

I've got the Hotchkis bars on my '69. VERY happy with them. Greaseable end links and bushings, too. 
No comparison to Addco, IMHO.

[MSRacing89]

Can't beat the quality and price from Hellwig.  Don't get caught up on the greasable poly mounts....more of gimmick then anything.  You can always by those separate later if you feel it necessary.

[1974dodgecharger]

Can't beat the quality and price from Hellwig.  Don't get caught up on the greasable poly mounts....more of gimmick then anything.  You can always by those separate later if you feel it necessary.

Ms is that your car? The same one in popular hot ridding article awhile back? Man I love your setup I want to copy your wheel setup.....

[bill440rt]

Brian if price is a factor keep in mind I didn't pay nearly that much for my Hotchkis bars. They cost me about what you quoted for those Hellwig's. This is going back some years, though.

MS your car is stunning. 

[HPP]

Buying new bars for the 68. Leaning towards Hellwig. They have a street performer/pro touring, 1 3/8" tubular, front for $236.00. Rear bar is 1 3/8" for $250.00
Have heard mixed reviews on Addco's. Their front bar is only 1 1/8", rear is 7/8", probably why their so much cheaper.
The Hotchkis are nice but I'd be shelling out $650.00 for both.

Any input good or bad welcome.

When comparing sizes, like above, keep in mind that solid vs tubular as well as the mounting position of the bars, particularly rear bars, influence the actual rate they apply to the car. A 1 3/8 tubular bar with a .120 thick wall may have a similar rate to a 1 1/8 solid bar. Same with a 1 3/8 tubular rear compared to a 7/8 solid. Additionally, I've seen rear bars that mount so far inward towards the centerline of the car that their effective rate was nearly half of the produced rate. A good example of this would be one I looked at on a E body where the factory 3/4 bar produce nearly the same applied rate as a 1" bar simply because of the mounting method.

In any case, Stepping up the size of the front bar will certainly help with cornering and body roll. In this case, look for one that has the mounting methods you prefer and a price you are comfortable with. There are cheaper bars out there in big sizes that mount up kinda hokey.

Out back, its a bit different. If you have stepped up spring rates, such as SS springs, you may not even want to run a rear bar because the additional roll resistance will make the rear want to come around on you once you add the sway bar. To offset this, you may need to change to bigger t-bars up front or an even bigger sway bar in the front, to balance it all out. In any case, this is where having the ability to adjust resistance of the rear bar can be a big benefit.

The challenge is thinking of the sway bars from a package perspective and how they interact with each other plus the current T-bars and leaf springs. Simply throwing big sway bars on a a car is like putting a big duration cam in an engine. it might work great, it might suck wind. There certainly are other factors that influence how effective they are.

[MSRacing89]

Can't beat the quality and price from Hellwig.  Don't get caught up on the greasable poly mounts....more of gimmick then anything.  You can always by those separate later if you feel it necessary.

Ms is that your car? The same one in popular hot ridding article awhile back? Man I love your setup I want to copy your wheel setup.....

That is my car.  Thanks for the props!

[MSRacing89]

Buying new bars for the 68. Leaning towards Hellwig. They have a street performer/pro touring, 1 3/8" tubular, front for $236.00. Rear bar is 1 3/8" for $250.00
Have heard mixed reviews on Addco's. Their front bar is only 1 1/8", rear is 7/8", probably why their so much cheaper.
The Hotchkis are nice but I'd be shelling out $650.00 for both.

Any input good or bad welcome.

Talking with Hotchkis and Hellwig in the past, the effective rate on the '68 1 3/8" bar is less then 200 lbs/in.  Actually closer to 160 lbs/in.  The E-body hollow 1¼" bar, due to the shorter arm, is more efective. Around 360 lb/in.  But it is inboard of the strut arm so that is even questionable.

What I am getting at is, unless you are going to really test the suspension as a whole package, stay away from the rear bar for now.  Run some moderate TB's up front (1.06) and an 1 3/8" bar  and have fun. 

We run a rear bar, but I run big bars, double adjustable shocks, etc.

[1974dodgecharger]

Brian if price is a factor keep in mind I didn't pay nearly that much for my Hotchkis bars. They cost me about what you quoted for those Hellwig's. This is going back some years, though.

MS your car is stunning. 

I agree depending on where you guy sometimes you can email a seller on ebay that sells hotchkis stuff and sell it so much cheaper like I can get a torsion bar for 320 shipped from them vs others 370 to 390 price and they didnt advertise it and had to ask about it.  They drop ship also straight from hotchkis in Cali to me.