Write-Up: Front/Rear (Addco) Stabilizer/Sway Bar Installation

I'll copy this here in case you didn't see my post from above.

You ever gave the Red Mark to my reply...... I'll just say that
when I joined this site I didn't expect someone to spoonfeed me
information.
I spent month's reading and taking notes before I even
made a post and most of my posts by then was to help people with what I
learned.

I'm sorry if I forget the P/N's of the damn Sway Bars.
But I repeat, if you look through the thread they are here. What is the
problem with that.

Larry, I'm not giving anyone a hard time nor do I have an attitude. Read the words.

What is the red Mark? And I know attitude when I see it.

I enjoyed this mod so much I ordered another set for Melissa`s white riv. After driving both rivs back to back for the last few months, this mod makes a significant difference in handling. Even Melissa can easily tell the difference and prefers the suspension on the green riv. I would say it's definitely an underrated upgrade.
But first, I need to subtly slip on just the STB on her car to see if she'll notice a difference...

^^^ I agree. I knew there was some difference, but I didn't realize the full potential until I autocrossed last summer. The car doesn't roll as much, and the handling seems more nimble when you change directions.

Absolutely fantastic handling mod for the price. You can take corners soooo much faster. Car is wayyyy more stable too.....love it.

(I know I've said this once before...deal with it )

Since I got a second set of addco bars to add to Melissa's Riv, I figured this would be a good time to get some photos and share a few observations.

The Addco Kit:



Addco finally got it right. Without prompting, the new rear bar came with OEM GM orange bushings, and the front bar came with mounting plates, which are now powdercoated black.

Addco 1.25" Front bar vs 28mm Stock bar.



You can see the front bar is considerably larger and the bends are just slightly different. That might explain why it's a bit easier to put the new one in than taking the stocker out.
Stock front 28mm bushing vs Addco 32mm bushing. Note the much larger bar diameter. This picture clearly shows the special shape of the stock bushing, which explains why you need the mounting plates.


Stock 17mm Rear bar vs 7/8" Addco bar





you can see the addco bar is much beefier than the stock bar. The point is driven home even further when you compare the stock 17mm bushing to the 22mm STS Orange bushing:


Moving the bars around, I noticed how ridiculously light the stock bars were. I could also hear debris rattling around in the front stock bar. You can see where this is going right ?


And since this is a riviera site, note the green and white riv in the background:


That's right, both stock riviera bars are hollow. I had been trying unsuccessfully to sell my stock bars on kijiji (equivalent of craigslist) unsuccessfully so in an effort to learn more about the riv and to clear out the garage, I decided to take a 4" grinder with a cutoff wheel to them. I then measured the wall thickness of the stock bars. The front bar has a 5mm wall thickness and the rear bar has a 3mm wall thickness! That being said, I can certify that BOTH addco bars are completely solid. We can now accurately calculate how much stiffer the addco bars are over the stock bar:

You'll recall the stiffness of a bar is proportional to the 4th power of its diameter. Therefore:

1. The solid 1.25" (31.75mm) addco bar is 99.4% stiffer than the hollow 28mm bar; and
2. The solid 7/8" (22.2mm) addco bar is 254.2% stiffer than the hollow 17mm bar

Thanks for posting the pictures Jason. The Addco bars are definitely on my to do list. Can I ask where you got them from? Did you order direct from Addco, or from Never Enough Auto Accessories on E Bay? Addco part numbers 2018 and 2015, correct?

I bought them from never enough auto. You can`t buy direct from Addco. Yes, those are the correct p/ns

Brad still runs Never Enough. Since a LOT of people have joined since 06, it might be worth it to try to get 5-10 people on board to see if he'll run another group buy.

Thank you so much Jason for all the info you've posted on this, and overall for making these bars a possibility in the first place. One of my favorite mods! And I've been wanting for someone to cut their OEM bars cut for a long time!

(+)(+)(+)(+)

Jason wrote:

I bought them from never enough auto. You can`t buy direct from Addco. Yes, those are the correct p/ns

Brad still runs Never Enough. Since a LOT of people have joined since 06, it might be worth it to try to get 5-10 people on board to see if he'll run another group buy.

I contacted Brad at Never Enough. I asked him how many orders we would need for another group buy. Anyone else interested?

Im interested.

me also. If it fits the 95. Though if it doesn't I can afford to get it anyway for the 98.

Count me in...definitely interested if it fits a '95

OK, Brad said we need 10 orders. So far, we have 4.

Oh this is not good...





I cannot get this bar to line up! It looks like the mounts for the bushings on the frame are square to each-other and this bar is definitely not. I tried wrestling it in but it's too far off and the bushings are not nearly forgiving enough for this variation. Did I get a defect sway bar or what??

Must be defective. For the bar to pivot correctly, both portions in the bushings should be on the same axis. I'd return it.

just elongate the hole that has the bolt going through it in the pic. elongate it cross wise and to the right of the bolt head in the pic. that should line things up. i dont see how this would negatively affect the bars function.

robotennis61 wrote:

just elongate the hole that has the bolt going through it in the pic. elongate it cross wise and to the right of the bolt head in the pic. that should line things up. i dont see how this would negatively affect the bars function.

I thought about that but like AA said above, I'm pretty sure that's not how the bar is supposed to work. It's supposed to have a perfectly straight axis to rotate on.





BTW, those of you who are using ES greasable bushings, what kind of grease are you using?

i have been using the mobil 1 red synthetic grease. its high temp and made for suspension parts.

be careful with the ES zerk fittings, the threads on mine did not want to hold on the bracket.

Count me in for a front bar (2018), how much are we saving with a group buy?

Codith, "normally" sway bar installations are finalized with the weight on the car. Place the bar in the approximate location and see if you can get the bushing clamps into position without tightening the bolts down. Even though you have the greaseable bushings, grease them all around on the inside before installation.

Line up the endlinks and install them "loosely". Put the weight on the car and tighten down all the bolts. On the riviera it might not be possible to reach the bracket bolts with the weight on the suspension. I don't remember.

Yes, it's inconvenient but that is the correct way of doing it according to every bar manufacturer I've used (hotchkis, BMR, Hellwig & Addco). That being said, there have been out of plane addco bars, but I don't think there were any that bent in that direction. If you lay the bar flat on the ground, are both arms on the same plane ?

The swaybars fit the 95 model year.

Yes, I want to get in on this. Both front & rear bars and, if there is any advantage, better (firmer) bushings.

Jamax wrote:

Yes, I want to get in on this. Both front & rear bars and, if there is any advantage, better (firmer) bushings.

That makes 5 1/2. Think we need 10 orders, and I'm not sure how much we are saving. If we get 10 orders, I can ask Brad what the price will be.

Jamax wrote:

if there is any advantage, better (firmer) bushings.

I would say harder bushings are, to some extent required, to get the full advantage of the beefier bar. They are supplied with the kit.

Jason wrote:

Codith, "normally" sway bar installations are finalized with the weight on the car. Place the bar in the approximate location and see if you can get the bushing clamps into position without tightening the bolts down. Even though you have the greaseable bushings, grease them all around on the inside before installation.

Line up the endlinks and install them "loosely". Put the weight on the car and tighten down all the bolts. On the riviera it might not be possible to reach the bracket bolts with the weight on the suspension. I don't remember.

Yes, it's inconvenient but that is the correct way of doing it according to every bar manufacturer I've used (hotchkis, BMR, Hellwig & Addco). That being said, there have been out of plane addco bars, but I don't think there were any that bent in that direction. If you lay the bar flat on the ground, are both arms on the same plane ?

I have the new cradle sitting on the floor so I have a full view of whats happening. I don't even have the control arms put on right now to observe the connection of the links. The problem is the same no matter how far up or down I position the sway bar while trying to line up these brackets. It looks like the axis on the bar is actually off.

I'm also noticing that the bends that start just outside of the contact area between the bushings and the sway bar are really close to the bushing - like the bands are starting too early in. If I center the bar, the bend is slightly in the region of the bushings, which is making matters worse for getting it clamped. Is that how all your bars are too? It's hard to tell if that's ok or not because of the angle problem at the same time.