S2000 Sway bar

[Darren Cole]

Need to get a front Sway bar for my S2000 (2004 AP2). I have heard great things about the Gendron bar. Also, sounds like that is about the only one being made now that comptech stopped making them.

I saw on the website that there are several combinations of the bar you can get (solid and different wall thickness of hollow). Anyone know which combo is best for the AP2?
Thanks,
Darren

[Bob Beamesderfer]

A tubular bar is a nice legal way of cutting some weight in front of the wheels, which is desirable. Right, Marshall?

[John Prosser]

I run the Comptech and have been very happy with it.
As you mentioned it is no longer available new.
They are on ebay however.
JP

[Jason Uyeda]

Are you running street tires or race tires? On street tires you can get away with a tubular bar. On race tires you'll probably want a very big tubular or maybe a solid (yes, you don't gain much with a solid but a lot of the fast guys have been running them) unless you're in a CR at which point you may be able to get away with a stock bar.

It's somewhat driver specific, but the general trend will be towards a very big bar... Some rough numbers vs. an '04 front bar given near similar lever lengths (the Gendron does't have an adjustment with the same arm length as stock, the closes is ~.25" longer IIRC).

Gendron 1.25x.125 - +28.88%
CR - +30.58%
Mugen - +60.47%
Gendron 1.25x.188 - +66.12%
Gendron 1.25x.25 - +90%
Gendron 1.25 solid - +118.29%
Gendron 1.375x.25 - +167.19%

I believe the Saner is just a 1.25" solid, bent the same as stock so it'll be a touch stiffer than the Gendron at equal settings.

Also, I think most of the newer Gendron bars for the fast Stock guys are of the 1.375" variety, which is a 1.375" bar tapered down to 1.25" where the arms attach. Lighter and stiffer than the older 1.25" solids and you don't have to use the extreme adjustment holes which cause endlink bind.

[George Schilling]

Darren, this is probably all the bar you'll need. This is the bar on this years' AS National Championship car. It is not as stiff as mine or John's. However, unless you're going to go to R comps, or if you're not experiencing rear wheel lift, you are probably fine with the bar you have.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Parts-Ac ... 240%3A1318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FYI, I drove my car completely stock for over a year and was still able to be somewhat competitive locally. I had to make improvements to keep up with Ron's Tsumura's car.

And FYI, I have the gendron 1 3/8' hollow bar. It is the stiffest bar available commercially, though I don't think you'll ever need one that stiff. You'll pay and extra $150 for a 2 lb. weight reduction that was advertised as 6 lbs.

Edited to reflected the fact that Jason is the man when it comes to S2000 set-up.

[Jason Uyeda]

I should've added... If you're on street tires, I agree with George (and even if you're not, a 1.25 solid is probably good enough unless you're on trick shocks or trying to find that last tenth). The Gendron bars are good, but there's a lot of alignment issues that aren't necessarily worth dealing with.

If I were on street tires, I'd be on a Comptech, Saner or some other bar that has arms bent like the stock bar and is 1.25"x.25" or in that range.

[Robert Puertas]

Stay away from Saner.

George asked me to get him a Saner bar last year.

I called him up and ordered it and he said the new batch would be back from the powder coaters the next week and he'd send it immediately.

He charged my card - twice - and never shipped a bar.

He has never since returned a phone call, and I'm out the $500.

[George Schilling]

Kathy Teulie has had the same problem with Bill Gendron returning calls, but at least he didn't steal money. He usually returns my calls, but he still owes me some parts he said he'd send. For some unknown reason, S2000 sway bar suppliers don't seem to be very reliable.

Sorry to hear you got ripped off Robert.

[Greg Peng]

If the Saner bar is purchased through that eBay link, then it has to be in stock, right?

[Michael Palero]

If the Saner bar is purchased through that eBay link, then it has to be in stock, right?

Yeah, but only if you pay right away via paypal according to Jeff Shyu.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

You'll pay and extra $150 for a 2 lb. weight reduction that was advertised as 6 lbs.

Only a couple of pounds difference from a solid to a tubular? The Racing Beat tubular just about every CSP Miata has is half the weight or better than a solid aftermarket bar.

[Jason Uyeda]

You'll pay and extra $150 for a 2 lb. weight reduction that was advertised as 6 lbs.

Only a couple of pounds difference from a solid to a tubular? The Racing Beat tubular just about every CSP Miata has is half the weight or better than a solid aftermarket bar.

It's not same for same... 1.375"x.25" vs. 1.25 solid. Plus the entire length of the bar isn't 1.375" because of the taper.

I haven't weighed the 1.375" Gendron bar, but can tell you that a complete '04 FSB weighs 9.4lbs and a complete Gendron 1.25"x.188" wall bar weighs 14.4lbs...

[Kathy Teulie]

If you get the Grendon Bar, order many replacement parts for the attachments (end links, brackets bushings, and bolts). I have had these items break 4 times now. You need to periodically inpect them. Order them up front because he will not return phone calls and then you are stuck. We have changed to a McMaster end link since it is stronger and he won't call me back. The brackets has broken once, the end links has broken twice and the bolts have broken twice. The bushings are lost when the brackets break. Terry from San Diego has also had this problem.

The bar itself seems to be ok.

If you ever get extreme wheel lift at an event, that is what is probably the problem. It also feels like your clutch or transmission is going out. It took us awhile to figure out what was wrong the first time it broke.

Kathy

[George Schilling]

You'll pay and extra $150 for a 2 lb. weight reduction that was advertised as 6 lbs.

Only a couple of pounds difference from a solid to a tubular? The Racing Beat tubular just about every CSP Miata has is half the weight or better than a solid aftermarket bar.

It's not same for same... 1.375"x.25" vs. 1.25 solid. Plus the entire length of the bar isn't 1.375" because of the taper.

I haven't weighed the 1.375" Gendron bar, but can tell you that a complete '04 FSB weighs 9.4lbs and a complete Gendron 1.25"x.188" wall bar weighs 14.4lbs...

I'm not sure of the exact weigh of the Gendron bars, but I do know the difference between the two. At one time I had both in my hands and was able to compare the difference in weigh using a pretty accurate bathroom scale, + or - .5 lb. I did this by weighing myself several times holding each bar. The result was the 1.375 tubular was 2 lbs lighter than the 1.25 solid bar. So far I have used only the longest setting on the 1.375" bar. At nats, I had to replace the bushings as shifting of the bar had displaced them. Supposedly, Bill has a fix for this, but he has yet to send it to me. In fact, I'm going to call right now to see if he answers.

[Jeff Cawthorne]

If you plan on running on street tires, run the CR front sway bar. Go to sanleandrohonda.com and order it online, it was around $110 delivered, make sure to get the matching frame bushing for the larger bar. I run this bar with the Dunlop Star Spec's (225 front and 255 rear) on my 2007 S2000.

I made the sway bar change and tire change for the last 3 races of the season (2008) here in San Diego, and ran in AS open. Let's just say, it is a very fast combo ;)

[Pete Loney]

FYI, for my car, I tried my 32 mm solid bar with street tires. Ended up wih corner exit power push.

On the other hand, with R Comps. It was freaking awesome.

I run a 25 mm front bar on soft for my street tire setup.

DO S2K's see the same thing?

Seeing the post about the CR bar/street tire combo comment made me think of this.

[Jason Uyeda]

FYI, for my car, I tried my 32 mm solid bar with street tires. Ended up wih corner exit power push.

On the other hand, with R Comps. It was freaking awesome.

I run a 25 mm front bar on soft for my street tire setup.

DO S2K's see the same thing?

Seeing the post about the CR bar/street tire combo comment made me think of this.

An S2k isn't AWD and has a propensity to lift the inside rear wheel while at the same time having a rear diff that doesn't work when one wheel is unloaded... It's a matter of running enough front bar to compensate for the Torsen while at the same time finding a way to "deal" with the issues caused by the big front bar... It's tire, driver and course dependent.

[Darren Cole]

With street tires it sounds like the options are sanar as long as you go through ebay and pay right away or the CR bar.

From Jason's post, he said the CR is about 30% stiffer and the Sanar (maybe 118% - i'm not sure which gendron he was comparing too). This seems like a pretty significant difference. Anyone else have experience with the CR bar?

[George Schilling]

With street tires it sounds like the options are sanar as long as you go through ebay and pay right away or the CR bar.

From Jason's post, he said the CR is about 30% stiffer and the Sanar (maybe 118% - i'm not sure which gendron he was comparing too). This seems like a pretty significant difference. Anyone else have experience with the CR bar?

Darren, you can rely on Jeff Cawthorne's testimony regarding the CR bar. He's a wonderful driver and understands the fine points. And as they say on the TV show, The Price is Right.