Beefing up stock suspension...

[Wolfman AK907]

Just keep in mind, as I know this from experience...when you stiffen up the body rigidity of this car the rear end likes to get loose around turns on unpredictable surfaces. I'm on snow and ice 9 months out of the year here and I know...If you don't have that problem then go for it. I'm gonna have to just deal with it though, because I have to put a rear brace back in when I take the back seat out as it is part of the body bracing.

[rojodiablo]

Im not to worried about the snow since I live in the desert haha so i think it would be good!

[byron84]

I just ordered the Ultra Racing rear strut bar .. Can't wait!

[subachad]

Thought I would chime in. For the money, that is an incredibly good mod. This assumes you have a means of making it. The parts are only about $15 to make the brace. As for strength as mentioned before you need to look at what the bar is designed to do. It needs to keep the control arms located and while you can easily bend it back or even rip it by hitting a rock on the road, it does work to keep the control arms located and therefore the front tires better planted. I picked up 10mph in a specific cloverleaf with this mod. Also, if I do hit something, a tough bar would cause damage to the control arms or frame of the car, where this will just rip the aluminum end plates and scare the crap out of me. This bar is only about 2.5" off the bar. While its marked up, its still the original piece.

The front swaybar on an 04-05 is 17mm, 06+ is supposedly 18mm. This is about a 33% difference in stiffness.

[serega12]

The front swaybar on an 04-05 is 17mm, 06+ is supposedly 18mm. This is about a 33% difference in stiffness.

That's correct. I had a chance to measure mine (my car was made in second half of 06 when they went up in size) and my sway bar is 18mm thick. Also, an interesting fact, as per my local dealer they did go back to 17mm bar in 08 (and that's also true since I got to measure it on my dad's 08 Aveo5)

I just ordered the Ultra Racing rear strut bar .. Can't wait!

The strut bar that goes in your cargo area? i already installed that and it does make a difference. Now I'm waiting for the 19mm rear sway bar too (and that's supposed to make even more difference). Already have both front strut bar and the bottom 4 pt brace installed, they also help out a lot.

[byron84]

The strut bar that goes in your cargo area? i already installed that and it does make a difference. Now I'm waiting for the 19mm rear sway bar too (and that's supposed to make even more difference). Already have both front strut bar and the bottom 4 pt brace installed, they also help out a lot.

Yep, I think we're on the same page : http://ultraracing.ca/?q=content/ultra- ... swift-2002

The rear 19 you're waiting for goes underneath? It's gonna have one stiff ass.. :P

[serega12]

The strut bar that goes in your cargo area? i already installed that and it does make a difference. Now I'm waiting for the 19mm rear sway bar too (and that's supposed to make even more difference). Already have both front strut bar and the bottom 4 pt brace installed, they also help out a lot.

Yep, I think we're on the same page : http://ultraracing.ca/?q=content/ultra- ... swift-2002

The rear 19 you're waiting for goes underneath? It's gonna have one stiff ass.. :P

Yup. That's what I'm looking for though... I already have a stiffer front with the stock 18mm sway bar, top 2 point strut bar, and bottom 4 point brace... now the rear is almost done... I noticed a little bit of difference after installing the upper bar (I had to bend the locking wire/bracket for the left rear seat) up for it to lock back in place again, I think it bent when the bar has pushed the sides apart.

[byron84]

Hmm.. is that basically the only place it can be mounted?

[serega12]

Where else would you want to mount a rear upper strut brace except for the rear upper part of the car? It happens to be right behind the seats... I think you could also mount it on another bolt on the same bracket, but that's about it, and it would be further into the cargo area thus reducing the usable space... The way mine sits is literally on top of the sub box. It clears it perfectly, so I'm happy with where it's at.

[byron84]

lol ... yes yes, good point
today I took a drive for no particular reason for about 2 hours. I averaged 8.5L/100KM of all city driving and not too soft either. I guess that's not too bad, that's over 27MPG. I am soo anxious to get this strut bar. argh.