I bought the Hotchkiss sway bars and have the car jacked up as I just changed the diff oil. I was about to start unbolting the rear end links prior to removing the rear sway and decided to take a quick look at the instructions (I'm an engineer, not generally required ) and I see they are showing removing the rear tunnel brace and dropping the exhaust pipes.

My question is whether it is possible to do this without removing the exhaust pipes? Can the bar be rotated and wiggled out without doing this? I wasn't planning this much effort for today... I assumed it would be similar to my BMW (yes I guess I'm an @ss for this).

 

I think you only need to drop the mufflers and you should be able to wiggle it into place.

 

Ok. The front went on quick. Just need to torque the six bolts and I'll start on the rear.

 

i dropped the rear exhaust section. it was quick and easy so it shouldn't slow you down much. the eibach installation manual also shows that. added ~5 minutes to the rear install, but surely saved time on the bar re+re.

 

Yeah, I found there were clamps between the mufflers and the pipes. I removed those and the the exhaust hanger brackets for the mid pipes and it let the pipes drop enough for me to R&R the rear bar. Overall pretty easy install.

I set the rear bar to the middle holes. For the little bit of driving I have done so far I am pretty happy with them. The back end does not seem to drift around corners nearly as easy as before... Now I need to find a 3oz mini tube of the silicone grease for a small grease gun to give them a through lubing. I only got one small sample pack of grease with the sways for my install and had to spread it out...

 

Good to know you don't need to remove any bolts. My exhaust bolts are so corroded that they are disintegrating. Couldn't put a socket on them if i wanted to

 

That is one benefit of So Cal weather. I never have issues with getting nuts and bolts off the car. Hit it with an air ratchet or impact wrench and they come right off...

 

How do you know someone's an engineer?

Dont worry, they'll tell you. lol

 

Yeah, around here its hit it with a chisel, drill and tap. They use a ton of road salt

 

Yep. Been there, done that. I grew up just outside of Chicago and went to college in Northern Michigan. There is a reason I live in San Diego now.

Love the new sway bars. They definitely improved the high speed cornering and hold the rear end. I am not sure if it was draining the diff and putting in Redline 75-90w or the sways, but the rear end hooks up much better now too. I have been bitching about the (new) Yoko Advan Sport A/S tires on the car drifting around every corner since I bought it in June, but now they are holding pretty well.

 

I'm sure it was the swaybar and not the gear oil. They made a huge difference in my last car. I'm probably gonna swap the rear sway in my X in the near future.

 

For the record I was able to replace my rear w/o having to remove anything except the bar itself.

 

Wow! How? I unbolted mine and tried every which way, or so I thought. Ultimately, I just dropped the mufflers at the hangers and pulled it out.

 

I didn't touch my exhaust when doing the rear bar (sedan). Was able to maneuver the bar into place just by rotating it in a certain way. Exhaust out of the way would make the job easier.

 

So I did disconnect the pipe (see photos below). Did this about four years ago. I also recommend the Hotchkis sway bar bracket upgrade with grease fittings, these have definitely paid off and make it easy to properly re-grease when necessary.



Hotchkis vs. Stock


Disconnect for installation.


Ends with grease fittings =).


Another successful install.

Wow four years went by fast, my hairline was much better then =).