I ordered some Bridgestone Potenza RE 950’s from Tirerack.com
They are supposed to be a high perf. all season tire. Unfortunatly they are going on my stock 14" rims so I was wondering if it is even worth it to get a rear sway bar for my car without any other suspension mods? Prior to these upcoming tires, I was using hardcore winter tires that lasted for only 30,000km then I burnt them out at the track. thanks
i love my potenza tires. I’ve had a set of performance all season ones, and now a set of high performance tires. I’ve liked both sets. Of course i like the performance ones a lot better.
First i had 195-60-14 RE930’s. They were good all weather tires. MUCH better than my stock michelins in both the wet and dry. My current tires are 195-55-15 RE710’s, which they no longer make. However by looking at www.tirerack.com it looks to me that the RE730 is the same basic tread pattern and judging by the specs probably about the same performance wise. I LOVE these tires.
if i were you i’d buy the sway bar from this guy: http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=63
its $80 for the ST rear bar. Not too bad of a deal. Definitely good enough where i’d suggest that you jump on it, even if it means waiting a little longer for springs/shocks.
Thanks for supporting me on the Potenzas, I hope they’re not too focused on perf. tho because I do have to trek through 12" deep snow here. How is the durability on the tires?
I wasn’t sure if the sway bar made more diff. then the springs and shocks but now I do. thanks. Just to make really sure, the sway bars are the bars that mount on top of the shock mounts and are easy to install right? Are different brands of sway bars really much different from each other. ex:Suspension Techniques vs. APC ?
i never drove my potenzas in the snow. but they were great in the rain. Mine didnt last all that long cause i was a newbie and really screwed up my alignment (bad toe settings are BAD!!!). So i burned them pretty quick, but i think that its a pretty good street compound. Probably not as hard as something you’d find on a rental car, but not sticky like performance tires.
sway bars are NOT the bars that go up above and connect the strut towers. Those are “Strut tower bars”. Sway bars go underneath the car. The rear is EXTREMELY easy to install, the front is easy but takes some extra time and effort.
oh, and just so you know. Strut tower bars do almost nothing for handling. you are much better off spending your money on; sticky tires, sway bars, springs/coilovers, and shocks first. After all that is done then you can worry about strut tower bars and a lower tie bar.
k thanks