The Potato

A few days ago I ordered a GT 35mm front sway bar and a GT rear sway bar off of newtakeoff.com.

The front sway bar is a bit thicker (iirc the v6 one is 31.5mm in diameter) than the stock v6 one that I had and installing it was very simple. You don't need any nuts or bolts for it because you reuse the ones on your car. It's connected in only 4 places and it took me about 20 minutes to take off and replace with a thicker GT one. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures since you can't really see it unless the car is jacked up.

Up next is the rear sway bar. Newtakeoff doesn't supply any mounting hardware, but a quick trip to Home Depot solved that problem . Like the front sway bar, it is connected in 4 places. The bolts inside the wheel that you have to bolt up were a bit of a pain to get to, but overall, it went in in about an hour (including the trips to Home Depot). It squeaked like crazy when I first installed it, but the noise is gradually dying down now. But the noise doesn't bother me anyways.

Here are some pictures of the rear sway bar (taken really fast):




The car now feels more "in control" throughout the corners. The bars cut down on the understeer I had with the car, so I can now dive into the corners faster and more confidently than before. One thing I notice though, is that the car feels much heavier in turns. It does not feel like a light-weight car at all. For instance, I notice myself fighting with the steering wheel to keep turning. I also notice that there is a lot of nose dive when braking. That can, of course, be fixed by upgrading the springs, shocks, and struts.

Overall this was a pretty easy and straightforward install that anyone who can turn a wrench can do. I recommend using a pair of ramps or a jacks in this installation, as you will be underneath the car.

Noodle23

help me out here dude, what did you use to mount the sway bar that you got from home depot i didn't get the mounting hardware and couldn't figure it out how to do so i bought stealership bolts

atldave

I agree about the difference in handling. This is one of the very best and most cost-effective mods I did on my car. It's much more planted on the road and stays flat in turns. I notice this most on high speed curves, such as circular off ramps. The steering did seem to firm up a bit, but I don't see any change in braking. The biggest problem on the install was changing out to poly bushings. Those things were a bear to get on there!

The Potato

I just used regular old bolts and nuts.

2x M12 55mm (max) bolts - they can be a few mm shorter, but be careful
4x M10 25mm (max) bolts - ""

Make sure to get self-locking nuts also. I had no idea what the torque specs they were supposed to have, so I just turned them as much as I could and made them as tight as I can.

So far these have caused no problems (ie the sway bar falling off the car while driving XD). There was major squeakage and bangage during the first few days of driving with the sway bar, but that seems to have settled down now. If it really bothers you, you could always lube them up.

157dB

The GT is 34mm OEM.
Did ya put the poly bushings in there?
Its like night and day inbetween the OEM
complient rubber bushings and a good set
of polys.
And polys on the rear panhard bar ForTheWin...

Stealership bolts are the only way to go.
No cheap hardware from lowskies for me...
$39.92 but it looks all OEM and its cheap insurance at 120mph....

ODDYSEY

Nice write up Potato.. sways bars and bushings do make a difference. Easy mod to do also!

157dB

I dont think this counts as a write-up
Nuke as it is lacking in so many ways...
Even the pics are out of focus and
none of the front 'cus it required jacking up to take them....'
This just aint no write-up...
Just the lack of use of poly bushings is just wrong....

Sancho805

what was also missed was the grade of bolts used. hopefully the OP didnt purchase the cheapest bolts that fit. i came across a diagram from Ford parts & service and found the exact bolts needed. then i went to the local hardware store and purchased the matching grade, size. brackets had to be purchased from Ford and poly bushings are recommended as they improve handling even more. either way, sway vs no-sway is a BIG difference so kudos on your new upgrade Potato.

157dB

If it worth doing, its worth doing right in my opinion.

OneTimeUseFastners...

ODDYSEY

It is a write up, of his mods, and his experience. It isn't a tutorial or how-to. Keep it on subject please.