Quote:
Originally Posted by 1fastsedan
I've been looking into getting some beefier sway bars for my 300. I've seen several different brands and was looking to hear about peoples different experiences with each. I heard the Hotchkis' were hollow and that the bushings often squeak because of the harder rubber, can anyone confirm or deny this? I also heard that the Eibach sways were solid, correct? I also saw a set from stsuspensions.com (which apparently is owned by KW now) that I don't know much about. Solid, hollow, good, bad? Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Hollow construction is outstanding, Adam. It makes the bars lighter, stronger, and more rigid. It's the perfect medium for high-performance anti-sways.
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Originally Posted by fatchance
...There was a huge difference in the cars handling once I installed them...
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As fatchance and DUBSTER have stated, they're highly effective and provide the driver a tremendous improvement over the stock bars.
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Originally Posted by joey
Something is squeaking on my car when I drive over speed bumps and I am guessing it is my Hotchkis sways. I am trying to find out if I can apply grease without loosing/uninstalling them. I also read that synthetic grease is supposed to be used. I am gonna call Hotchkis and find out.
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It's always possible that it's something else squeaking, joey. How long (months and miles) have you had them installed?
Two small tubes of non-lithium grease, a sufficient quantity for a complete installation and one refresh, were provided by Hotchkis as part of your kit, BTW.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joey
I called Hotchkis and they said to use non-lithium grease. I later found this buried in their website.
IMPORTANT:Be sure to grease the sway bar bushings at least once a year (15,000 miles) or whenever excessive noise occurs. Use a non-lithium grease to lubricate the bushings. Lithium grease can wash out with water and should not be used.
Synthetic grease likely has lithium, and is not recommended.
I had a Chrysler dealer install my sway bars and it is likely they used their own dealer grease, which is lithium based.
I called a couple of auto parts stores and none carry non-lithium grease.
It took a little research, but bicycle shops should use non-lithium grease.
I believe grease from Park Tool is carried by a number of bicycle shops and is non-lithium. I am going to call Park Tool tomorrow to verify it is non-lithium.
Park Tool Website
Hotchkis says a grease gun should be able to lube up the bushings without loosening/uninstalling the sway bars. Kragens has grease guns for around $10. |
It's unlikely that your dealer used any grease other than that provided by Hotchkis, so I'd consider them properly lubed.
I've got nearly 20,000 miles and a year of outstanding use from my Hotchkis bars, and no squeaks as of yet.
Likely it will require a special adapter on the end of the grease gun to get grease into the zerk fittings on the front bars. It's a tight fit. The special adapter, however, works only if one retained the stock zerk fittings. I followed a recommendation I'd seen and replaced the original zerks with some 90* zerk fittings, pre-install, and thus can't use the special adapter.
I'll not be not be lubing mine unless/until they squeak.
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Originally Posted by Chase300
Hotchkis has the potential to squeak because they use Polyurethane bushings...which have much less flex than OEM rubber bushings. Any performance suspension system or parts should use polyurethane bushings if possible, they are much better. Usually the grease is included, to apply during install. I've never had to reapply or regrease any of my polyurethane bushings i've used in other cars, but as said the good suspension companies will include zerk fittings to easily grease if needed as Hotchkis does.
Hollow bars are better for reduced weight...yet you can still increase the strength of the bar on a hole. Best of both.
From what I understand, the difference between Hotchkis and Eibach is in the size of the sway bars, with the Eibach using a larger rear sway than Hotchkis. If the sway bars are different in size and strength from one another, there's no doubt a Hotchkis car and Eibach car will handle differently from one another.
Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with Hotchkis, their reputation for developing performance handling suspension products is second to none.
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Good info, Chase.
The one point I would re-emphasize here is that the more costly hollow sways are much stiffer and much stronger than solid sways. Thus a smaller, hollow, Hotchkis rear sway may well be stiffer than a larger, several times heavier, Eibach bar.
Everyone can rest assured that they are every bit as stiff as the Hotchkis engineers determined is needed.
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