In my opinon not on a HHR, I believe the rear sway bar should tie the body to the rear axle. The so called rear sway-bar for the HHR is more of a stiffner then a sway-bar, just my worth.

Al

 

I would say that it works better than any other sway bar I have installed on previous vehicles I have owned. That alone qualifies it to be called a sway bar. I'm guessing you don't own one?

If you do install one, you will certainly change your tune!

 

Mike, you're correct when saying I don't own one, I'm not saying it doesn't work but I wouldn't call it a sway-bar either. What difference is there between the sway-bar and a cross brace that some people have installed, seems like both keep the rear axle ( not sure what it really called on the HHR ) from flexing as much.

 

Well I haven't bought one yet but have installed many over the years, the idea isn't to tie the body to the chassis, it's to tie the motion of one wheel to the one on the opposite side. We may be talking symantics here. It probably should be called an anti roll bar instead of an anti sway bar. It's job isn't really to stop swaying, but instead it's to keep the tires on the ground controlling body roll, anti swaying is just a by product of this action (or reaction). In early cars they did have an anti sway bar that tied the body to the chassis and yes it did prevent body to chassis swaying, but it did nothing for tying the opposite ends of an axle together. You also have to realize that the earlier car's had a live axle (solid from end to end) and most car's today have either a torsion bar (semi-independent) or true independent suspension and are tied into the chassis via a link system.

 

There's no torsion bar at the rear ( none that I can see anyways ) and we know it's doesn't have independent rear suspension so wouldn't it be called a rigid suspension? Do you think the sway-bar has any advantage over a cross brace?

 

Ahhh yeah, the rear suspension of the HHR is a torsion beam, it's the long channel bar with holes in it that goes between one lower control arm to the other

 

A true sway bar is really an anti roll bar. Keeps the body from "rolling over" (leaning in a corner) on the wheels.

 

Yes, it looks like the way the sway bar is designed/mounted it reduces some of the flex in the torsion beam then. Probably a little harsher ride but better cornering, seems like a small trade off.

 

Yes... the torsion beam does seem to have some flex as it's a piece of (90*) angle iron. I can only imagine a thicker 'anti-sway bar' would minimize this deflection and, seeing that I don't have one... can't speak first hand for a harsher ride, but tying the rear wheels together tigher (via a larger sway-bar) would DEFINITELY result in a more responsive rear-end.

Ever notice that most anti-sway bars, whether attached to the axle alone or axle to frame, only vary by 1/4" (max) in diameter??? Overall, the relatively small increments in (O.D.) tube size make a big difference in handling- even on heavier vehicles !

Small trade off or not- I guess some people are after that. IMO- lowering really removed a LOT of rear-end drift when driving at speed (on a windy day or on the x-way). I'm sure the sway-bar w/o lowering would have the same affect?...?...
Either way... it's all good.

 

Hey Everyone
I have been following the discussion on anti-sway/ anti-roll bars and I will just throw in my I believe SCOOT hit the nail on the head in the above quote.

I made two trips to northern Ontario this summer from Charlotte. We loaded the HHR down the same for each trip, 3 adults, Irish Setter and a fully loaded roof rack. I can't really lower my HHR because this is how we use it as a family vehicle.

On the first trip I did not have an anti-sway/anti-roll bar, and because of the top heavy load the body did seem to roll some. It still took the load quite well and it was not ridding down in the back, but I did notice movement and sway.

On the second trip at the end of July, I had installed one of the Progress Tech Anti-Sway Bars that I bought from Mike @ SoCal http://www.socalhhrs.com/socalhhrshome.html and IMO I could immediately feel a big difference. The HHR body roll was reduced and it just seemed more responsive. I was very happy I did it and it was very easy to install as mentioned in other threads. If you can't or do not want to lower your HHR the Anti-Sway Bar is a very worthwhile mod. The HHR is my wife's daily driver and she really didn't feel any real difference in the quality of the ride.

I know we have had this discussion in other threads earlier in the year but we have a lot of new members with new HHRs so I just thought I would throw my experience in. I included a pict of the HHR loaded down.