reasons NOT to modify

[josebrwn]

I was talking to a mechanic friend about lowering and installing an anti-sway bar kit. She told me not to do it because 1) lowering will change the drive train geometry, and 2) sway bars will change driving characteristics on rough surfaces (pot holes, ruts, bumps, etc.).

 

What are the trade-offs with either lowering or installing a sway bar kit?

[detjoe]

do a search.

much research has been done when designing these systems and I dont think she is correct. Search belltech, swaybars and you will find some good reports on the oppsite of what she said. There is a limit on drop and how stiff the bars can be but inside those limits you should be fine.

[r8rs4lf]

I was talking to a mechanic friend about lowering and installing an anti-sway bar kit. She told me not to do it because 1) lowering will change the drive train geometry, and 2) sway bars will change driving characteristics on rough surfaces (pot holes, ruts, bumps, etc.).

 

What are the trade-offs with either lowering or installing a sway bar kit?

 

Your freind is right. Lowering and adding sway bars does change things quite a bit IMO. Since I lowered mine, the ride is very different especially in the front. I had to lower the front a little more by turning the torsion bars along with the spindles to get the stance I want and it does not ride the same as before. Since I have air bags in the rear, I could raise the rear a little and do the same in the front, but then it wouldn't be as low as it is now and I wouldn't like it. Also, in the rear, since it's dropped, the pinion angle is off. That can be corrected with shims, but I believe Mr. P.'s angle was of something like 8*. That's alot to be corrected.

 

As for sway bars, they definately make the ride a little stiffer. For instance, when going over a hole on one side, I can feel the stiffness and I hate it. The trade off there is when doing a long sweeping fast turn, it handles very good, but how many of those are you going to do?

 

There is a trade off just like everything in life. It's just a matter of how much you will put up with.

[Quik]

if you want a stock ride. stay stock. if you want performance you have to give up some confort

[brobradh77]

As for sway bars, they definately make the ride a little stiffer. For instance, when going over a hole on one side, I can feel the stiffness and I hate it. The trade off there is when doing a long sweeping fast turn, it handles very good, but how many of those are you going to do?

 

That has always been my confusion as to why people add sway bars. If you wanted a G machine you should not have bought a truck. These trucks are made to go fast straight they are not indy cars. IMO you just don't get enough out of them for the money. From what I have heard you don't get any noticable enough performance over stock to justify buying them.

Edited May 26, 2007 by brobradh77 (see edit history)

[rivierakid55]

i agree with both quik and r8rsflf

Edited May 26, 2007 by rivierakid (see edit history)

[misterp]

It all depends on what you want, and what you use in your vehicle. There's a hundred ways to modify a suspension and some are horrible, some are fantastic. Gotta be educated...

 

The job of the suspension is to keep the rubber on the road, period. Any change which makes for more grip with the road is a notable suspension improvement; any change which lessens tire contact with the road is a safety problem.

 

Hate to argue with your friend, but as a general rule sway bars ALWAYS are an improvement, and never add any harshness to normal vehicle ride because they are only loaded while cornering; going down the road the vehicle feels the same. OTOH changing springs or shocks will greatly modify road feel. The reason to install a sway bar kit is to prevent body lean and in turn prevent the edge of the tire lifting off the pavement; specifically the Hotchkis kit I recommend because even in normal driving the truck "tracks" through the corner better, the understeer is almost completely eliminated and you don't have to continue "feeding" more steering wheel into the corner to keep the truck between the lines. Anything you can do to remove understeer is A Good Thing.

 

Lowering - now here I agree with your friend, that's a topic which is a whole bag of snakes. In the front of the truck you can use aftermarket control arms (DJM Calmax kit), aftermarket steering knuckles (spindles), or reclock the torsion bar spring using lowering keys - each of these methods will affect front-end geometry greatly. So far experience has shown the 2" drop spindle to be a good compromise, it won't improve handling but it won't hurt it either. The DJM kit when installed completely (both upper & lower control arms) is reported to give superior suspension geometry, your front-end guy will love you. Using lowering keys, the biggest issue with that method is that you change the ride height of the frame from the "center" of spring travel to the upper-bound of spring travel, meaning you have less compression distance; this is not a big issue if your truck is strictly an on-asphalt vehicle.

 

More front lowering gotchas: lowering on an AWD/4WD vehicle does not change the front driveline angles, it does however dramatically change the half-shaft/CV-joint angles but in the case of my AWD SS it actually improved things. All trucks will have a radically changed tie-rod angle, and this will incur bump-steer; most people just live with the situation but the better drop shops will correct the tie-rod and make sure that it is parallel to the ground while the truck is at rest (as it should be). Tire clearance with wider than stock rims or rims with more offset will be at risk for rubbing.

 

Rear lowering - anything you do to the rear of the truck will change pinion angle. However in a truck a lot of pinion angle change is tolerated and the 2" rear drop shackles are tolerated well. A big NO-NO are the custom front leaf-spring perches (McGaughy's), it will TOTALLY foul up your rear driveline angles to the point where both rear pinion shims are needed as well as lowering the engine and trans to get the front u-joint angle of the driveline correct; also the custom front perch will drastically change the instant center of your truck and the nose will want to lift more during launch - this is actually a good thing in a 2WD drag truck but death on a AWD/4WD drag truck as the front wheels become unloaded. AWD trucks using the McGaughy's kits typically loose a tenth in the 1/4-mile for these reasons.

 

Mr. P.

[2006SilverSS]

Nice post Mr. P. I can't really comment on lowering the truck as I haven't done that, but I fully agree that the swaybars ARE worth it. So far I only have the front upgraded (just have to put the rear in) and it has helped tremendously in the front with body roll/lean. For the most part you can't feel much of a difference just driving down the road, it's taking an on-ramp or some other turn where they come into play and make them worth it.

 

To each his own on what they do to their truck, but in my opinion the sways are well worth the money. I keep wondering why I didn't do them sooner.

Edited May 27, 2007 by 2006SilverSS (see edit history)

[chpspecial]

I recently rode in an SSS with out sway bars (basically stock) and its a huge difference from mine. The first thing I noticed is how much our trucks sway stock. Sway bars is a must in my oppinion.

[misterp]

...I fully agree that the swaybars ARE worth it. ...

Herb Adams was a huge believer in sway bars, his philosophy was to use just enough spring to hold the vehicle off the ground at speed, then sway bar the hell out of it.

 

Mr. P.

[heavydigger]

if you want to lower ur truck dont expect it to hit bumps and shit the more you take out of the suspension the worse it gets

[pnblwzd]

I don't think these trucks ride particularly great stock to begin with, especially on certain freeways (think Pogo stick), so for me lowering it was not much of a sacrafice in comfort.

 

Sway bars make a huge difference, and keep the body flat going through curves instead of plowing through them. I can't believe GM doesn't put any swaybar in the rear from the factory on these pickups, but does on the Tahoe and other SUV's.

[heavydigger]

whats the price for these swaybars and are they limited by lowered suspension?

Edited May 30, 2007 by heavydigger (see edit history)

[montanass]

...These trucks are made to go fast straight they are not indy cars. IMO you just don't get enough out of them for the money. From what I have heard you don't get any noticable enough performance over stock to justify buying them.

 

I disagree... If the SS were meant to go fast in a straight line and do only that, it would have a regular Silverado stance, and AWD would not have been an option and all would have come with 2 wheel peel and 4.10's. I believe the SS is a driver's truck, and is meant for all types of driving, be it through twisty corners, in the 1/4 and 1/8 mile or hauling a load, that is why AWD and the lowered stance were equipped on the truck.

 

Just my $0.02

[2006SilverSS]

whats the price for these swaybars and are they limited by lowered suspension?

The pice depends on when you get them, if you get in on a Group Buy your price is much better, but normal they are around $500 for the Hotchkis set. If you have a lowered truck just make sure you get the correct kit.