Rear Sway Bar?

tdave502

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2008 Mazda 3 hatchback gt
Does anyone have any experience with rear sway bars? Im really wanting to get one but I'm on the fence about it. Im looking at the Racing beat one but haven't heard anything good or bad about them? Suggestions on different brands? Anyone have this mod done already? Does it truly help or not? Just looking for some suggestions!
 
Helps alot, If you can see if you can find a mazdaspeed 3 Rear sway bar. it will be fairly cheap and will be better then your stock rear sway. then if you want you can upgrade to a racing beat or corksport.
 
I'm waiting on a used MS3 bar to show up in the mail for my 2007 right now.

Do note that the MS3 sway bar's end link hole is 12mm rather than 10mm for the standard 3. You either need to make a spacer with a 12mm outer/10mm inner (mcmaster carr) and press it into the hole to make up the difference, or you need MS3 end links. Also, the bar is 26mm rather than 20mm, so the stock bushings will most likely need to be replaced with 26mm bushings(which isn't a bad idea on an older car anyway.)
 
How much are the ms3 rear sways? Because I know racing beat as theres for about 160$ which isn't too bad.
 
I have a JBR bar on my MS3 that I've been quite happy with, but the Racing Beat bar looks like a good deal. I'd prefer something adjustable, but it may not be worth $30 to you. I also like that the sway bar brackets JBR provides have zerk fittings for easy re-greasing, which is nice with poly bushings.
 
Poly bushings can be louder and wear faster than OEM. I grease mine through the zerk fittings when I rotate my tires to help keep the random noises to a minimum. I probably need to pull them off and clean them up next time I'm under the car.
 
Like I said, I'm happy with my JBR, but I'd be hard pressed to say that it'll be better than the Racing Beat for a street-driven car, and it's $30 more. AFAIK, all the aftermarket bars come with poly bushings which, IMO, will need to be greased periodically. With the zerk fittings and a grease gun, it takes 30 seconds. You don't need to jack up the car or anything. If you want a no-maintenance setup, an OEM MS3 bar with OEM rubber bushings is probably the best. You can get one new from Onlinemazdaparts for $147. You'll need the bar, 2 brackets and 2 bushings and either the endlinks or spacers. You could probably pick up a used bar for less, but you'd still want new bushings etc.

I'd say that unless you can find a cheap, used MS3 bar in good condition locally, get the Racing Beat. You can pick up brackets with zerk fittings for a few bucks now or later, if you decide it's something you want.
 
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