I haven't written about the H&R sway bar mostly because of several changes I've made to the car and results may have been affected by them. What other changes? I widened the rear track of my car with 10mm spacers for one. I experimented with much higher air pressures than normal for the track. I raised the front and rear of my car. Plus the sway bar.
Now that I've prefaced with the above ….. the bar is STIFF! However, I haven't noticed a degradation in the ride on the street. The changes seem to have fixed the extreme looseness off the corners. The car feels good in higher speed corners and transitions. 60 mph and up. It pushes much more in the slow sections. 20 to 45 mph corners. Could be from the higher front tire pressures, I'll go back down my next time on the track. I was informed that a big bar was better with "soft" springs. My springs are, lets just say, on the stiff side. My track day was cut short by a tire that developed a huge bulge just as I was starting to push hard. The second session, with my street tires, my car lost power. Seems to be a boost leak. Anyway, the bar didn't get a full on "***** to the wall" test so general impressions are all I've got so far. Street manners are good. I place the bar in the worth it category.
Once my adjustable upper A-arms get here I'll start working on the low speed push.

Les

 

Haven't really looked into what suspension components are available for our cars given the fact that my car is setup to just be really low for aesthetic purposes. Hell, i'd beg to say that my car probably handles worse on my maxed out KW V2's (with the locking rings removed) than it did on the factory suspension. Anywho, I didn't even know that H&R made a fromt sway bar for our cars. I had an H&R rear sway bar on a Cobalt SS I owned many moons ago and I loved it.

While we are on the topic of suspension, what are your thoughts on the Weichers Sport front strut brace? Again, i'd be buying it primarily for looks - my engine bay isn't exactly exciting at the moment and i'd love to have a shiny strut brace to liven it up a bit....lol. But I still appreciate when my car can perform/handle better when I bolt something new onto it as well.

Chrysler Crossfire 3.2 6 Zyl. Front Strut Brace - Aluminum And Carbon Racingline GW137001C Only £303.53

Thanks for the review, it helped pass a few minutes of work for me today.

 

No opinion on it at all. I had a rear strut bar but it didn't do anything at all except get in the way. I imagine this one connects to the top of the shocks which means, it doesn't do anything but pretend. But hey, jewelry is for looks and not function …. right? The picture is a generic example so we don't even know if it's purdy or not.

Les

 

Lol fair enough. I've had a strut bar on nearly every car that I have owned. It, much like your basic wheels, intake, exhaust, suspension, slotted rotors, etc....makes the cut as one of those "might as well" mods that I always do to my cars. I'm guilty for wanting it mostly for visual appeal. Right now my engine bay looks bone stock with the exception of a Needswings CAI.

 

Did you install the h&r front and rear sway bar or just the front?
You say they are better with softer springs, so in your opinion would they be better with the stock springs?

 

I only bought and installed the front bar. It's 30mm while the stock front SRT bar is 25mm. Yes, I believe this bar would be amazing with stock springs or anything less than mine which are 1100lbs.

Les

 

Do you plan on getting the 20mm rear around $215?
With only the front does the rear feel to loose, with large front and stock rear sway bar?
Or does it help help pull the backend around?
I like harder sidewalls on front then rear.

 

I added the big front bar because the rear was too loose on the gas at corner exit. I believe I overshot a bit with my current setup but I like the stability at speed which is where the pucker factor is greatest. If this bar is too stiff I may buy some softer front springs instead of a rear bar. The front springs are $80 something each.

Les

 

What tires where you running to bulge the sidewall?
Front I guessing.

 

Passenger front 245/35/18 Hoosier R6. The belt most have shifted internally. It's happened to me before with other tires but this is a first with Hoosiers. Funny thing was I felt it when the passenger side was unloaded. The rest of the time it didn't vibrate or shake. If it had blown out bad things would have occurred.

Les

 

"While we are on the topic of suspension, what are your thoughts on the Weichers Sport front strut brace? Again, i'd be buying it primarily for looks"

You would be buying it for looks because in a Crossfire it would just a piece of metal that would add weight without any function. Strut bars work to stiffen the area between the strut towers on cars with struts because that's where all the upper loads from suspension are fed into the chassis. The spring, the shock share the strut top for load distribution of braking and cornering forces. On almost all strut cars the spring and shock are concentric and share the same load points.
On a Crossfire the spring, shock, cornering and braking load points each have a distinct load path as they do on any car with wishbone (front) or muti-link (rear) suspension. No cornering loads are fed into the chassis through the shocks in such setups, the shocks only deal with damping vertical suspension movements. All lateral cornering forces, and braking forces (on the front) are fed into the chassis only through the upper and lower suspension arms.

 

Does this exist for NA 3.2 Xfire???

DC Sports Upper Front Strut Bar

 

It would add weight and be just as function-less on any Crossfire

 

Glad it didn't.
Close call

 

Les, what size tires are you running with the 10 mm spacers? I don't race but I have 20 mm spacers with 275s, pretty well fills it up.

 

10 mm spacers with a fender roll. Remember that my rims have a 25mm offset so the 275's are tight even without the spacers.

Les

 

I'm interested.