While researching information for a rear swaybar purchase I read a number of posts that described installation problems and other concerns. Thanks to those who shared their experiences, I approached the installation with some degree of caution and things went well. With that in mind I thought I would share my experience as well.
Concern: I had read some comments about Protege5Online having long delivery times and that customer service was slipping.
Outcome: I paid for my order last Wednesday night via PayPal. The bar arrived Thurday evening. That was even after a long holiday weekend. No complaints here. Thanks Mitch.
Concern: End link bolts are hard to remove. Tales of trashed bolts, dremel tools and trips to Autozone. One post even described brass nuts. (Yikes!)
Outcome: I first attackend these with a box end wrench. There is a lot of flex in the bar and link, and nothing would budge. Time for a bigger tool. At this point I took off the wheels for better access and used a 6 point socket with a breaker bar. A slow steady pull did the trick. Do not use an open ended wrench for these nuts. They will be trashed. By the way, these looked like cad plated steel to me. Not brass.
Concern: The bolts supplied with the kit are difficult to thread into the aluminum mounting block. There was even one report of a broken bolt.
Outcome: Again no problem here. The bolts threaded in very smoothly with no extra effort. Maybe AWR has improved their fabrication process.
The only problem that I did encounter was the end link bolt would not go into the swaybar mounting hole. That 3/8" bolt was not going to go through that 3/8" hole. I guess it had one too many coats of paint.
I reamed the holes with a 25/64" bit and voila, problem solved.
Overall I am very pleased. The kit included a one page instruction sheet with a sketch depicitng the proper orientation for the bar. Everything was clear.
The acid test happens this Sunday when I autocross this car for the second time. Last month was fun but the car had a serious push in the higher speed sweepers which was hurting my exit speeds. This should be a step in the right direction. (drive)
Concern: I had read some comments about Protege5Online having long delivery times and that customer service was slipping.
Outcome: I paid for my order last Wednesday night via PayPal. The bar arrived Thurday evening. That was even after a long holiday weekend. No complaints here. Thanks Mitch.
Concern: End link bolts are hard to remove. Tales of trashed bolts, dremel tools and trips to Autozone. One post even described brass nuts. (Yikes!)
Outcome: I first attackend these with a box end wrench. There is a lot of flex in the bar and link, and nothing would budge. Time for a bigger tool. At this point I took off the wheels for better access and used a 6 point socket with a breaker bar. A slow steady pull did the trick. Do not use an open ended wrench for these nuts. They will be trashed. By the way, these looked like cad plated steel to me. Not brass.
Concern: The bolts supplied with the kit are difficult to thread into the aluminum mounting block. There was even one report of a broken bolt.
Outcome: Again no problem here. The bolts threaded in very smoothly with no extra effort. Maybe AWR has improved their fabrication process.
The only problem that I did encounter was the end link bolt would not go into the swaybar mounting hole. That 3/8" bolt was not going to go through that 3/8" hole. I guess it had one too many coats of paint.
I reamed the holes with a 25/64" bit and voila, problem solved.Overall I am very pleased. The kit included a one page instruction sheet with a sketch depicitng the proper orientation for the bar. Everything was clear.
The acid test happens this Sunday when I autocross this car for the second time. Last month was fun but the car had a serious push in the higher speed sweepers which was hurting my exit speeds. This should be a step in the right direction. (drive)
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