just more tuner Bling?

[F3BZ]

these swaybar lateral locks make sense in my mind but i wonder if there is enough movement in the bushing to where they would be effective. Whiteline seems to be a respectable suspension co.

http://www.autoanything.com/suspension-systems/65A6666A0A0.aspx

[sketchman]

Don't know whether they work or not, but they're just split shaft collars. You could get the same thing from mcmaster.com for probably much less.

[Advancedynamix]

The way the Festiva suspension is held together, it doesn't really allow the bar to walk from side to side.

[Movin]

They wouldn't work at all front to rear but could work to lock everything in the center. In other words if you put them at the lower control arm to lock down caster change they would slip but used at the sway bar mount bushings could hold the bar in the center. Cool looking!

[F3BZ]

i'm speculating that if the bar was moving laterally enough to matter you'd see a thin shiny band near the bushing shoulder where the paint or rust was being worn off due to swaybar movement. also these locks would butt against the shoulder of the rubber bushing and not the bracket. the rubber shoulder would have a little crush before lateral movement was truly stopped. there might be less or no shoulder crush if you were using poly bushings. i still think you'd need enormous side forces for these to contribute anything measurable or perceptible . looks cool but i'm voting BLING.

[sketchman]

I must update this.

The stock design might not allow any movement, but if you put in urethane bushings with the universal shells, it CAN move laterally. Mine is doing it now with new control arms and brand new urethane bushings all around. It can't get any tighter up front. It's moving enough that I will find a cheaper solution than buying those bling-y things to do the same job, but I do need a solution.

[drddan]

Don't know whether they work or not, but they're just split shaft collars. You could get the same thing from mcmaster.com for probably much less.

I agree! These collars can be found at several places, including McMaster-Carr and Grainger

Extra security for aftermarket bushings, high performance mods, and autocross, where high pressure side loads are exerted on the suspension?

[Advancedynamix]

The way the Festiva suspension is held together, it doesn't really allow the bar to walk from side to side.

I have to correct myself here. I think Dragonhealer has had issues with the bar moving with the universal aftermarket poly sway bar bushings/mounts. He complained about torque steer and brake steer issues. Maybe he will jump on and explain this better.

[sketchman]

^Yep, I have the same issues with just a B6-ME swap.

I can see by the grease smears that it's moving a good 3/16" in both directions.

EDIT: Solution. I bought 2, but you could be extra cheap and probably get away with just 1 and welding 1/2 of it on both inner edges of the bushings.

But even 2 is just $10 shipped.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261430052941

[SWRT]

I drive slow, but I guess i'll be checking my sway bars out on
my car here soon. Either way, nice find sketchman

[Dragonhealer]

Hummm, Yes,
By design, the suspension is compliant laterally by stretching the rubbers (center and end bar mounts, as well as control rod inners). Lateral bar movement was first caused in both Rosie and Trashwagon when the trans cooler lines leaked and caused the center LH bar mount to perish, the RH mount alone not being enough to prevent the bar from moving.
Both cars got aftermarket mounts and Wow, lots of throttle steer and brake steer!
This pic is on Rosie, aftermarket mounts with no lateral control. You can see how far the bar moves.

2015-07-08_09-27-05_555.jpg

So I got some shaft collars from my local hardware store (they are 1/2 the price at McMaster Carr, about 5 bucks) and found the bar has too many curves to get two proper mounting points!
I tried an experiment on trashwagon, welding a washer butted squarely to the inside LH mount and fitting a shaft collar to the other side.

2015-07-08_09-28-20_329.jpg

2015-07-08_09-28-34_165.jpg

This works, but my driving style puts enough lateral load on the bar to bend the mounts!
Next try is to add 1/4 inch thick rubber washers between the abutments and the mounts, but as Trashwagon got totaled, I'll be trying this on Rosie.
As you can see, Mazda went through some trouble to build a system both simple and reliable that works extraordinarily well !

[sketchman]

I thought about reinforcing the new shells with some metal welded in but didn't. Might rethink that now.

So really we'd need to convert to bearings up front or use the OEM shaped ones that I'm not sure are available for the Festiva size sway bar. That's too bad.

[Dragonhealer]

So really we'd need to convert to bearings up front or use the OEM shaped ones that I'm not sure are available for the Festiva size sway bar. That's too bad.

I know what you mean.
Anyone with good bar to chassis rubbers should take good care of them!
Charlie, what did you end up with on Tweek?

[sketchman]

Ahh, they do exist. Just take a while to get here, and are more expensive than the universal ones.

spf1478-22k

[fastivaca]

Ahh, they do exist. Just take a while to get here, and are more expensive than the universal ones.

spf1478-22k

Those are the very ones I have waiting to go on my project car. As sketchman said, they do take a lot of time to arrive but hopefully they will do the trick.

Ian