The Mistress has now become a SOLID 12 second
car. She definitely had the straight line acceleration down pat!
But what about the corners? The 2005 V6 coupes came with NO rear sway bar.
And in an attempt to get the car to launch better at the drag strip, we had
removed the front sway bar. Needless to say with no sway bars The
Mistress was not real agile in the turns! While the car drove okay on
the streets and was fine for normal driving, it really was pretty hard to
push The Mistress through the corners... The amount of body roll was
incredible...
So I decided it was time to do something about The Mistress's handling.
Enter Hellwig Products
(www.hellwigproducts.com).
Hellwig manufactures load and sway control products. I called Hellwig
and ordered a set of adjustable sway bars for both the front and back.
Before I knew it there were a couple of boxes on my porch! I loaded
them in the trunk and headed off to MRT for the install...
The install was very straight forward. The instructions were clear.
The bars had a very nice finish... and they are SOLID! All the
necessary parts were included. There were even extra pieces for V6
cars that don't have a stock rear sway bar! When buying a rear
sway bar make sure it's a complete kit! The Hellwig rear sway bar is
that! 100% complete!
So here are some pictures of the bars and the install... |
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New vs Stock
You can see the difference! |
The front sway bar bolted in.
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The new bar attaches to the stock links |
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The New Rear Sway Bar
Since I have a 2005 V6 Coupe I don't have a stock rear bar to compare to! |
Some assembly required.
We had to put the bushing into the included links. We found a bench
vise worked perfectly! |
Rear link installed |
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The kit includes a bracket that is installed underneath the shock. Don't
worry the bolt isn't tightened yet. |
All together!
Here you can see how everything looks bolted together! |
The install is finished!!! |
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So with the install done it was time to try
things out! Unfortunately the parking lot was wet... but what the
heck! Do some impromptu slaloming in the parking and I was stunned!
The difference was incredible! The Mistress was making some very hard
cuts with very very little body roll! And this was with the sway bars
on the "lightest" setting!
To see for yourself, check out this little video clip!
Click Here For Video
On the way home I pushed the Mistress through some tight entrance/exit
ramps... WOW! The Hellwig sway bars have really transformed The
Mistress! The Mistress is well on here way to becoming more well
rounded performer!Bottom line.... The Hellwigs are great looking, good
instructions, 100% complete kits and deliver great performance! Once we get
a chance to really dial them in and find the best setting for these bars, I
suspect they'll perform even better!! |
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