Some of my "Life Lessons" have been learned the hard way, like, NEVER be the first to buy the first of any doohicky. Whether it's sporting goods, tools, cars, car parts, let other people buy it first. If it generates a good reputation, THEN I'll buy it.
Well I'm glad that I didn't wait to buy the Progress Technology Anti-SwayBar. It does exactly what they said it would, was easy to install, was priced TOO LOW compared to competitive anti-sway bars for other vehicles, they shipped it 3 weeks EARLY based on their original ship date of 8 weeks, and there is no downside!
Usually, when you change something in a car's design, you may gain what you bought the mod to give you, but you also wind up with some other unexpected thing that you have to accept. Like more noise with performance exhaust, more noise with high flow intakes, and harsher ride
and more road noise with suspension mods.
Not with this bar! Perfect design, no annoying side effects, easy people to deal with. I will look for any and all new products for my Fit that may come in the future from Progress. Like the coilover suspension that they are working on now.
Real nice write up by manxman. Changing the title of the post a bit and making it a sticky.
Thanks a lot,Claymore.
For non-USDM Fits that only have two holes in the spring perches, you could make a paper template of the bolt hole locations once you get your Progress bar. Mark and drill the extra hole through the perch on each side and you should be OK. The resistance against the normal flexing of the axle beam that this bar provides is very high, so I think that three bolts would be necessary.
My only request is to post larger pictures next time!
Sorry pingpop-
Every time I use imageshack.us to post photos, they change the way that you manipulate the images. If you click on the thumbnail photos in the write-up, it will link you to imageshack where the larger photo appears. I hope that makes things more clear for you.
Got my bar today! Very nice. Gotta wait till the weekend to install it though. No time. Jealous of all you guys that have it on. Must be nice in the twisties
How can this product work? It is not tied to the body in any way. The only purpose it would serve is to stiffen the actual rear axle in relation to itself, which should not even be noticable. This is not a sway bar but rather just another strut tower brace. I was really hoping for more, sorry.
How can this product work? It is not tied to the body in any way. The only purpose it would serve is to stiffen the actual rear axle in relation to itself, which should not even be noticable. This is not a sway bar but rather just another strut tower brace. I was really hoping for more, sorry.
Got my bar today! Very nice. Gotta wait till the weekend to install it though. No time. Jealous of all you guys that have it on. Must be nice in the twisties
Peace.
Better not---
Read Doorjam's post- it can't work!
Seriously, congratulations. You'll be very happy once it's installed.
ohhh damnit i better call and see if i can return it
Anywayz he/she is intitled to his/her opinion but obviously it does work and i am looking forward to putting it on. Wanted to get it painted VBP but money is spent elsewhere.
Sorry, I am not calling anyone a liar. Dont get me wrong, I am almost ready to buy one based purely on your reviews. However, I have to be sceptical of its actual results. I am a mechanical engineer that used to race a mustang in open track events. Can anybody actually explain what this design does. No other sway bar is similar including the version prototyped by AJ-racing. Maybe I dont see some parts in pics, is it mounted somewhere else to the car with bushings???
Sorry, I am not calling anyone a liar. Dont get me wrong, I am almost ready to buy one based purely on your reviews. However, I have to be sceptical of its actual results. I am a mechanical engineer that used to race a mustang in open track events. Can anybody actually explain what this design does. No other sway bar is similar including the version prototyped by AJ-racing. Maybe I dont see some parts in pics, is it mounted somewhere else to the car with bushings???
DOORJAM-
I am also a mechanical engineer, who used to race a '66 Sunbeam Tiger. I jokingly called myself and castro a liar- we are not lying.
The flex beam rear axle allows the rear wheels to go up and down supported by the springs. By adding this extra torsion bar, the INDEPENDENT motion of one wheel or the other is restricted. Both wheels can go up and down SIMULTANEOUSLY, like over a speed bump or a dip, without restriction, but body roll causing one spring to be compressed by gravity and centrifugal force on the outside of a curve is now restricted by spring tension of the added bar. You get the same effect as with a pillow block and end link mounted sway bar that you are, and I used to be, used to, with Detroit designs of 20 or 30 or 50 years ago. Made by people like Adco and Helwig.
I was pulling your femur with my replies to you and leonine. You weren't calling anybody anything, but it did not seem as if you read all of the posts in the thread, or understood what you did read. No insult intended here. I and others were also a little doubtful about this thing being effective. IT IS!
I'm not being paid a cent by Progress Tech. BUY IT- YOU'LL LOVE IT.
Dave
Last edited by manxman; 03-19-2007 at 10:04 PM.
Reason: add comment
They SHOULD be paying you, heheh. I am definitely getting one of these sway bars when I get my Fit back.
I'm getting new springs, too. Could I change the springs at the same time I do the bar? Or is it bad to change two things at the same time?
Though it save time to do both at the same ...time, as a programmer, I think it would be bad to change two things at once. When you go to change code, you try to do one thing at a time, so that if something goes wrong, you know what did it.
__________________ Fit of Doom Mods:
Vogtland Springs
Progress Rear anti-sway bar
Gloss Black Interior trim
They SHOULD be paying you, heheh. I am definitely getting one of these sway bars when I get my Fit back.
I'm getting new springs, too. Could I change the springs at the same time I do the bar? Or is it bad to change two things at the same time?
Though it save time to do both at the same ...time, as a programmer, I think it would be bad to change two things at once. When you go to change code, you try to do one thing at a time, so that if something goes wrong, you know what did it.
Changing springs is no big deal, but if you know from other reviews exactly what to expect from your springs, adding the bar at the same time will have absolutely NO bad effects. The bar doesn't affect how the springs work, and vice versa. The bar only affects spring behavior in hard turns by limiting compression on the outside spring.
I hope that you get your Fit back SOON and in excellent condition.
i would get the progress coils since they were designed to work together and track proven to work together. I would not buy anything from Megan but that's just me.
Just installed the Progress bar today and went out on a test drive on the Dragon.(I only live 20 min away)
If you only do one mod to your car this is the one! What a difference it makes. (mine is stock suspension wise)
Handling is much improved with alot less front tire scrub. All that walloing is gone, and high speed turns are like the car is in rails.
Great job Progress!!!
I can only hope Koni gets their shocks out for this car soon, my car does not race but I like a confident suspension for the road.
I have found that stock springs with stiff (adj.)shocks provide a great handling car with a comfortable ride.
Just thought I'd share my setup for those who don't want their car "slammed" but want great handling.
I was hoping to find i coilover setup that will allow me to keep it as close to stock height as possible.
So far it is either Mugen or Tein. Don't want to slam it. I heard once you go past a certain point it changes the center of gravity and handling will suffer without getting roll center adjusters.
Just want as stiff of a ride as possible without having to worry about speedbumps or getting it on ramps to change the oil.
Props to Progress!!!!!!!
Linear Mode
