Question about aspire sway bar?

[gothguydante]

Well i did the aspire sway bar swap and well i haven't done the aspire break swap in the front yet... it seems too stiff kinda like a car that has power stearing and it went out... also my front end is misaligned but when i had the festy bar in it didn't feel like this... but i don't want to get an alignment till i swap out the front breaks... so is the aspire bar only meant to be swapped if you did the breaks or something...

[MONSOON]

There are one or 2 whove put the Aspire sway bar in without doing the swap.

Found one of the posts about it.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13214

[Festy46]

You better have put on the Aspire LCA's

Are the strut mount bolt holes (center to center) measuring from the left side to the right side, wider on the Aspire than on the Festiva? i.e. are the shock towers farther apart?

[jasonpaulbauer]

You better have put on the Aspire LCA's at the very least if not it is going to royally mess up your alignment no matter who you take it to to try and fix it. The Aspire's bar is wider than the Festiva thus going to make your alignment off even with the LCA's but will allow for some more negative camber. -Kyle

NO.... the stock Festiva LCA's are the right ones to have even with the aspire sway bar.... the aspire sway bar IS NOT wider!

[CharlieZ]

There are one or 2 whove put the Aspire sway bar in without doing the swap.

Found one of the posts about it.
http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=13214

collin3388's post on the referenced link differs with jaspnpaulbaur on the width being the same.

Any actual measurement figures?

[FB71]

IIRC, Skeeter didn't have a width issue, either...

[FestYboy]

only reason for having the aspire LCAs is having the XR2 brake swap, otherwise, everything else just bolts in with no other changes (i.e. aspire swap, aspire swaybar, g and f series transmissions... etc.)

[gothguydante]

but it's crazy stiff what could be the problem..

[FestYboy]

is there any way to post pics of your install? could it be possible that you bound the strut mounts? are you sure the rack is still good? unbolt both tie rod ends, and try the steering wheel...

[Hot_Wheels]

i heard there was a diffrence between auto and manual sway bar i got a sway bar but i cant rember what car it came off, i plan to be bolting all the aspire stuff up with in the up coming month. i know will (elcamino1) bolted his sway bar up with his stock festiva suspension and says its a world of a diffrence

[jasonpaulbauer]

but it's crazy stiff what could be the problem..

Are your tires or tie rods rubbing the body anywhere?

[gothguydante]

nope... not that i know it's still the stock tires... tho i did bend a lca a wile back and i replaced it... so i don't know and for the rack and stuff well i don't really know about that... so i couldn't tell you....

[jasonpaulbauer]

Right... but the new sway bar could have pushed the tire into the body if its bent for some reason..... Or if the car was in an accident and the old bar was bent and the new one is not.... it could cause issues as well.....

I know this because the festiva I put the aspire bar on had these issues originally that I had to fix.

[skeeters_keeper]

you put on a fatter sway bar, and your upset its stiffer..... 0.o

what were you expecting from a bigger swaybar? LOL

I have a post with pics of the aspire bar vrs the festiva bar, and they are exactly the same width. do NOT us the aspire LCA's (i also have pics of the aspire vs festiva LCA's) because you will end up poping the axle out of the trany.


I have the aspire bar, i've heard some folks say that the auto aspire bars are slightly larger than the manual ones, but i'm not sure and i don't remember which bar i have (i pulled it out of a junk pile, not the car itself). The only issue i ran into when doing the swap was that the aspire swaybar contacted my front trany mount, i believe because the rad core support is still pushed back about 1/4" from my accident. I still got the bar in, it just took a bit of heaving, lol. it does make a ton of difference, and if you are running stock suspension (not just brakes, i'm talking mostly strings struts tires) it probobly feels like too stiff just because the rest of your suspension can't handle it. With the brake swap, coilovers, and aspire front bar, i love it!

[gothguydante]

well the old bar wasn't bent well it was but it wasn't damaged bent it was just held into place it went right back to it's shape as soon as i took it out but anyways i understand it should be stiffer but think about driving a car with power stearing now remove all the fluid then drive... and well as of suspension i don't believe i have a stock shocks and struts.. cause when i took them out they were to clean if you know what the stock brand look like or are then tell me so i can confirm this but i do believe they have been replace but not with high performance ones... just mediocre ones...