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Hardrace Rear Stabilizer Bar On 3rd Gen - Anyone Tried One?
Still ironing out the little things that bother me about the 2014 RX350 F-Sport. One is the massive amount of body roll and ponderous handling compared to our other two SUVs: A 2002 Highlander & 2008 RX350. The Highlander is fantastic with its 26mm front sway bar (From a 2015 RX350) and a rear 22.2mm sway bar from Addco with some custom heavy duty brackets I made. That thing truly handles amazingly for an SUV, better than most cars I've driven. Very little body roll and just the right amount of oversteer when you need it - perfect. The 08 RX has the same larger 26mm front bar from a 3rd gen but still is on the stock 14mm toothpick out back. Even with the softer Sachs suspension I have on it, it still decimates the F-Sport in every category despite the understeer. It is also the comfiest car ride-wise we own by a long shot.
With that out of the way, the F-Sport's boaty handling is very mediocre & average for an SUV. Maybe decent for one that weighs 4500 lbs, but I know there is a lot of room for improvement. My latest attempt at putting the "Sport" back into F-Sport will be Hardrace's # 8983 25.4mm hollow 2-way adjustable rear sway bar. It'll be replacing the stock solid 21mm rear sway bar. 21mm might sound large, but on the RX's DWB rear suspension, the rear sway bar is control-arm-mounted so there is a far lower mechanical advantage compared to my 02 'Lander and 08 RX which have it mounted to struts via some tabs, so you need a far larger sway bar to achieve the same results. I'm hoping this bar stiffens up the rear some on the max stiffness setting. Should be fun to adjust the settings from stiff to soft depending on the conditions, and I think it should be a nice addition to the car.
I'll update this post when I get one, but in the meantime - has anyone tried it? If so, how did you like it?
I was hoping it would be solid too, but I suppose it’s our only option. Honda uses a hollow front sway bar from the factory on our Civic. But then that bar has to be about 3mm larger to produce the same effect. Also if a hollow bar gets serious rust it is more likely to crack and fail, although I’ve mainly heard of that being an issue on older GMs.
The material used and the adjustment holes will have to be relied on to provide the stiffness. Although knowing Hardrace’s reputation, I have no doubt it should be a good product.
Edit: This post gives me hope of someone on their Volvo XC60 going from a 21mm stock bar to a 25.4mm Hardrace!
I replaced the stock 16mm rear sway bar on my 2013 Subaru Outback 3.6R with a 21mm rear sway bar (and the associated new bushings and end links) intended for a Subaru WRX STI a couple of years ago. It was a perfect fit and greatly improved the stability, especially at highway speeds on very blustery days. Here's hoping that your sway bar mod will give you similar results. Keep us posted.
Sounds similar to my 02 Highlander, the 16mm to 22.2mm jump was an awesome improvement. It did force me to go to a 26mm up front though because it was a little too “tail happy” with the stock 23mm up front.
Sounds similar to my 02 Highlander, the 16mm to 22.2mm jump was an awesome improvement. It did force me to go to a 26mm up front though because it was a little too “tail happy” with the stock 23mm up front.
Did you ever go thru with the install? Curious to hear about the results.
I didn’t end up doing yet, not sure if I will either as my 08 RX350 is my “fun RX” to mess with as it is much nicer to drive. I mostly leave this 14 alone unless it needs something. If I ever find one for cheaper though I’ll pick one up.
10-26-22, 07:55 PM
Hardrace Rear Stabilizer Bar On 3rd Gen - Anyone Tried One?
