atldave

A couple of years ago I had the dealer install front and rear GT sway bars in my V6 'vert. The handling improved dramatically but my steering became much firmer. It takes more effort to turn the wheel. It feels something like driving a tractor. I didn't mind, but now I'm giving the car to my daughter and she complains about it. I'm wondering if the install wasn't done quite right or there's something that I can adjust. Thanks!

MoneyShot

I know this is a week old but have you found any possible leads? Has it been stiff since the install or did it get stiff recently? Is it while sitting still or moving? a sway bar just connects the wheels on one axle to single bar. The up and down movement to both wheels at the same time is not affected (for example a speed bump head on) but your independent wheel movement is. I have the same installed on my car and haven't noticed anything other than less body roll. Maybe if you were on a steep incline it would be stiff? Check things like tire pressure, power steering fluid and see if there any play in the wheel while it is off the ground.

atldave

Moneyshot,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I was away the whole week too and couldn't get online. Yeah, the firm steering is curious and I couldn't see a logical connection to the sway bar install. The sway bars are doing their job with much less roll. The car is full planted and steers like it is on rails now. It's just very firm. At the same time I put on GT 17 rims and tires, but that shouldn't make such a big difference. Maybe i need to talk to the dealer about this. If anyone else has any theories I'd love to hear it.

Dave

Rubrignitz

Basically, you have swaybar 'endlinks' (the silver rod) connecting the bar ends (blue) to your struts. If those endlink joints are bad, binding or installed incorrectly I could see where it would affect the steering.

conor1148

I agree. I just recently installed a shelby gt front sway bar and it made my steering feel really weird. It was very hard to steer at low speed, but on the highway it was just really firm like if i tried to change lanes.

Is this what you're experiencing? To fix it, I just removed the whole front sway bar and bushings + endlinks. the links seemed fine so I don't think they were the problem in my case. but when I reinstalled the bar I made sure I didnt torque down the front bushings until the car was on level ground. make sure the sway bar is centered aswell. That's all I did and it fixed my problems. Also made it much quieter up front.

atldave

Thank you to you and Conor for the messages. I'll try this!

157dB

Its a co winky dink at best.
Sways should not effect the feel of the steering.
You had a 31.5mm sway on there as a V6.
The bigger 34mm GT front sway should make no difference
to the feel of the steering. The end links would
have to be frozen tight to effect steering. And the
noise associated with frozen tight end links would
be unbearable as the suspension moved thru its arc.
I would suggest getting the steering pump pressure tested.
http://iihs.net/fsm/?dir=128&viewfil...g%20System.pdf

Tightening at ride height is the best way to add suspension components.

Norm Peterson

I'm wondering if there's any crosstalk between steering and the stabilizer bar via the strut's caster and SAI.


Norm

157dB

If he increased his scrub radius, this would increase steering effort.
I lowered my rear and it increased the OEM caster just a tad in the good way.
But my pinion angle suffered as well...