Protege5 rear Sway bar help????

MYFBPEX00

Member
ok fellow P5 owners who has a rear sway bar and if is there a notable difference? PLease let me knowsoon sinc eI plan on onrdering one from SRmotorsports on thursday or friday.


Thanks,

Rob:D
ProtegeRSway.JPG
 
All I can say is if you have the opportunity to purchase this, DO IT. The car handles beautifully with no other modifications. When I first installed it, it was on stock struts/springs, and I used the end setting. Once I got Racing Beat Springs, the effect was reduced a bit, but I think I just need to move the end links to the middle position. You'll need a medium/deep socket set to get the end links off without screwing up the nut too much (Grade 8 nut, 10mm, fine thread. Doesn't exist except at Mazda for 4 bucks). Other than that, I just backed my car out over the edge of the driveway (not as bad as it sounds, just the bumper was hanging out over the edge) and was able to install the whole thing that way. The hardest thing is to get the bushing bolts on and off (the crossmember and OEM sway bar are in the way)
 
i have the AWR 21mm sway bar, looks like this one, boy what a a ride! handles like a slot car! the AWR has adjustable end links to tune the ride.

good stuff!
 
bazooka joe said:
i have the AWR 21mm sway bar, looks like this one, boy what a a ride! handles like a slot car! the AWR has adjustable end links to tune the ride.

good stuff!


Where did you order yours from?
 
MYFBPEX00 said:
ok fellow P5 owners who has a rear sway bar and if is there a notable difference? PLease let me knowsoon sinc eI plan on onrdering one from SRmotorsports on thursday or friday.


Thanks,

Rob:D
ProtegeRSway.JPG




I had the same sway bar and yes, it was great. At first. Then the stock strut tab broke. The stock struts are not reinforced to handle the increased diameter of the new sway bar. You must buy either the ES struts or the mp3 struts. These struts have the reinfoced tab, and will you will have no problems. This is what I had to do. Hope this helps.

Oh, by the way if anyone want's to buy the awr 19 mm bar, let me know.
 
You had trouble with the 19mm on factory P5 struts? THe P5 struts are supposed to be the same as the ES struts in this application
 
MYFBPEX00 said:
You had trouble with the 19mm on factory P5 struts? THe P5 struts are supposed to be the same as the ES struts in this application

Yep. The strut tab broke clean off as I pulled into my driveway, leaving the sway bar dangling in the breeze. The p-5 is the only one, to the best of my memory, that does'nt have the reinforced strut tab. Go with the mp3 sway bars and struts if you can afford them. I have them and they are the greatest!
 
so what exactly does this do? reduce wheel hop? less skid around turns? less body roll? whats the difference between the 19m and the 21.5mm, and you you need to change anything else on the car to make it work or not break something else? thanks.
 
A lot less body roll in the rear (which is great for us wagons).

No clue what the difference between the 19 and 21 is.

You can go back to stock easily. (no permanent modifications required)
 
????

You guys have successfully confused me...again :confused:

I own a 2003 mp5 with no suspension mods. What exactly needs to be done to upgrade the rear strut bar? Is it suggested that all the struts are replaced with mp3s, or just the rear?

Thanks for any clarification
 
Re: ????

milmoejoe said:
You guys have successfully confused me...again :confused:

I own a 2003 mp5 with no suspension mods. What exactly needs to be done to upgrade the rear strut bar? Is it suggested that all the struts are replaced with mp3s, or just the rear?

Thanks for any clarification

Actually, our cars don't come with a "Rear Strut Bar" like you mentioned... I think you meant "Rear Sway Bar" like they are talking about above... ;)

At any rate, it is a very simple install, just a matter of a few nuts and bolts to install it. You would need to upgrade all your struts at once, since you don't want different dampening rates from the different strut settings.. I imagine your handling would suffer a whole lot having two different types in there at once.

The difference in the 19 and 21.5mm's would just be the stiffness of the bar itself, which translates into less suspension flex between opposites sides of the car ex: around a corner (i.e. body roll).
 
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