skyavonee

I searched but didn't find a recent thread on these guys.

If your Z has the adjustable Hotchkis sway bars:
- What is your general overall opinion of them?
- Which setting is your rear bar set to, and how is the balance?
- Does your car see any track time or serious canyon carving styled driving?

CHJ In Virginia

I have run the Hotchkiss sways for about 4 years now. Originally ran them with stock springs and Bilstein shocks which were a great street combination. Settled on the middle setting after trying all three at the track. Noticably stiffer than stock, but the car was dead on neutral in cornering with almost no body roll. Now run with LG coilovers and Pfadt poly bushings which are fantastic for the track but would be too stiff for most folks on the street. Use the same bar setting with this combination. The Hotchkiss bars IMHO are a good bang for the buck.

skyavonee

Great info.

When you say they're noticeably stiffer than stock, can you elaborate on that at all? I know everyone has their own personal tolerances, but would you be apprehensive to use them on a daily driven city car?

Last C5

I'm running the Hotchkiss sway, stock springs, and Bilsteins on my track car. They're set on the outside hole and the car is totally neutral with Toyo 888s.

Pfadt Racing

If you're looking at the Hotchkis bars you should look at our Johnny O'Connell bars as well!

Our Johnny O'Connell sway bar package include the bars, heavy duty metal endlinks, and polyurethane sway bar bushings... everything you're going to need to freshen up the entire sway bar system for your C5.

Not only are our bars stiffer than stock, but you also get a bar package designed to change the handling balance of the car from slight oversteer with the factory C5Z bars, to more neutral. The Johnny O'Connell bar package gets an aggressive front sway bar to help the car turn in well, as well as make the car easier to drive by bringing the balance of the car closer to neutral. During the development of our complete Johnny O'Connell package we noticed an immediate drop in lap times after installing just the bars with Johnny O'Connell behind the wheel of our C6Z development car. Here is a video we took during testing of that package.

Let me know if you have any questions! We really love the entire Johnny O'Connell package, and the sway bars are an integral part of that performance increase!

skyavonee

Yeah, I was thinking about them for a while. Compared to your Johnny O bars, the Hotchkis seem to be a little softer, and balanced a little more toward oversteer, both of which I think I want for my specific application. I'm sure you guys put out a great product, though.

CHJ In Virginia

Bars are stiffer than stock, limiting body roll a lot. In a normal driving situation with bumps (jounce and rebound - hitting a pot hole) they are not that much different from stock sways and very liveable. "Performance driving" is where you will really notice the difference. Use the Hotchkiss rubber mounts, not the poly ones, and they will be great for a DD situation. I drove mine for 2 years and 15K miles that way before making the additional mods.

vinceg

I been running the front bar only. I have the LG coilovers and I feel it is the right combo. I have the stock Z rear bar. I don't think you need any more than that. I have tryed a lot of combos and also have ran with the rear unhooked. I run hard on our runs and have just came home from a 5000 mile 15 state road trip. Best I have had on my Z for my driving style. Call them direct they are in Santa Fe Springs. Get your end links at a bearing suppler. Such as King Brg. 1/2 inch rod ends 0ne male one female. You only need to run one on one side and you can dial in your corner balance your car. Works great for all aroubd driving. If you are tracking then I would run both fronts.

bsalie99

I ran them as a set for a while, then I switched to a Strano front bar. I now thing the rear is too stiff for autox and an going back to a c5 Z06 rear

mph1972

I am running the stock springs and the Bilsteins with the hotchkis setup. My driving is mainly street, but I do go up to the mountains and like driving the tight turns at Tale of the Dargon and was curious what hole would you run in for mainly street driving with a few mountain drives through the year?

CHJ In Virginia

I personally like the middle setting for all around driving, my car was neutral. Try driving each setting for a while and see what YOU like best. It's only a 15 minute job to swap the connections from one hole on the bar to the other.

mph1972

That was my pan. I appreciate it. When making these adjustments, did it impact your alignment at all. I would not think so, but you guys deal with this a lot more than I have.

pcbunn

My Hotchkiss front and rear bars are way better than the stock '01Z's set up imho. I have the rear set in the middle but haven't tried anything else yet but might move it to the inside for a bit more roll stiffness. I thought they were a big improvement over oem.

CHJ In Virginia

No impact what so ever on the alignment, only on the roll stiffness of the car.

mph1972

Great and appreciate the information. Feels pretty good in the middle hole.

skyavonee

LiteraCola

Wait...there's a middle hole?

mph1972

Take a simple comment and turn it around.

acrace

How does the Hotchkis front bar wall thickness compare to the Addco front bar? I have a 32 mm Addco front bar, 1/4" wall thickness.

skyavonee

I finally had these sway bars installed yesterday with rubber bushings, and this morning I gave them a rigorous street test on some back canyon roads. Here are my impressions:

Overall, the steering just feels more precise, responsive, and confidence-inspiring. Body roll is noticeably decreased, and is virtually nonexistent for all but the most extreme of conditions. My biggest gripe with the stock suspension is the feeling of instability when quickly transitioning from a hard left to a hard right (or vice versa); with the upgraded sways this feeling is completely gone. When driving over bumps, this setup really doesn't feel any firmer than stock, making it great for a daily driver or other car that's frequently driven in the city. I attribute this behavior to the rubber bushings. For a track-only car, poly bushings may give a more optimal setup. The balance is definitely better than stock. I understand why they made the C5Z understeer from the factory, but I've always hated that behavior. The car feels much more neutral now.

That's about the best I can do now for a review. I won't be on track again until November, and I can only push the car so hard on public roads...

EDIT: btw, my rear bar is on the middle setting