Make your own stabilizer bars?

Post by **phat78ta** » 19 Jul 2011, 20:53

Has anyone here made/ know someone who has made, their own stabilizer bars for the front/rear? I have a wagon, so to me the rears look simple to fab, just a couple of angle brackets and a straight piece of square stock. The fronts would be more complicated, and lots of angle cuts. Would it be worth it to try or are they cheap enough to not mess with? I like making my own stuff just to say i did it. lol....

Post by **vjaneczko** » 19 Jul 2011, 22:11

I picked up a OBX front strut bar for 65 bucks shipped off of e-bay. Seems like a great deal IMO...

claymore · Post by **claymore** » 20 Jul 2011, 00:23

phat78ta wrote:Has anyone here made/ know someone who has made, their own stabilizer bars for the front/rear? I have a wagon, so to me the rears look simple to fab, just a couple of angle brackets and a straight piece of square stock. The fronts would be more complicated, and lots of angle cuts. Would it be worth it to try or are they cheap enough to not mess with? I like making my own stuff just to say i did it. lol....

Think your self lucky, this is a UK spec front brace.

Post by **phat78ta** » 20 Jul 2011, 13:08

That actually looks quite stout. I like the bump out for the right hand drive master cylinder.
I havent seen the OBX ones, but ill keep a look out for them.

Post by **vjaneczko** » 20 Jul 2011, 19:29

Here's the OBX I got:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBX-Fron ... 2312569bb6

And here it is installed:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 30#p184130

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 21 Jul 2011, 16:21

I've got the same OBX brace as Vjaneczko listed there. Was around $50 or $60. I guess it does something, nothing mind blowingly noticeable. I got a much more noticeable improvement with new struts, strut mount bearings, spring seats, and swaybar end links. I drove it with just those upgrades (all needed replaced) for around a month before adding the strut tower brace. I had read a lot of raving reviews about them, and I was pretty underwhelmed. Only time I REALLY notice the brace is in a tight parking spot.

YMMV

- Lee

Post by **vjaneczko** » 21 Jul 2011, 17:51

I got the brace after replacing all my suspension parts, and really noticed an improvement when I'm hitting a corner at a higher then normal speed. I can imagine that if I had gotten the brace installed with the original suspension, I wouldn't have noticed a thing.

Post by **phat78ta** » 21 Jul 2011, 20:33

I have Koni yellows up front, so it holds pretty well in the corners. I am looking for a bit more stiffness in the front for understeer control, and stiffness in the back to keep the rear from feeling like it wants to step out all the time. I probbably need new shocks, and I am going to cut 1/2 -3/4 of a coil off the springs in the rear both for stiffness and for looks.

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 25 Jul 2011, 14:12

To counteract understeer, you want more stiffness in the back, and less in the front (to an extent). Stiffening up the rear, either with stiffer springs, or with a larger swaybar (effectively the same thing - the swaybar will maintain a better ride quality though) will cause the rear end to want to come around more. If you have Koni Yellows in front, and blown shocks in the rear, the handling is going to be really sketchy.

A strut bar is only worthwhile once you've done everything else, suspension-wise. I have the OMP brace, which I chose because it is extremely stiff, as it mounts at all 3 strut bolts, and has no hinge on one side at all. Installed correctly (ie. no drilling the mounting holes out!) it makes a huge difference in chassis stiffness - so much so that it's probably too much for many people in their daily driver.

Post by **phat78ta** » 25 Jul 2011, 18:34

do you have a link to where you bought it? i want one that has that style of mounting, with no hinge. my front end is good, but I do need new shocks in the rear. Probably going to get the Koni yellow rear shocks. Does anyone have a link to a US based site or ebay link to a US seller for a rear stabilizer? the only ones I can find are from some place in Malaysia. 28 day ship time.....