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Mopar suspension and sway bars or options

7.1K views 67 replies 9 participants last post by  Wally N Beaver  
#1 ·
Hi I'm considering these products for my 09 R/T seems to be decently priced


And for shocks and struts. I seen these for a good price but no info on drop. Is this the srt8 set up perhaps?


Does anyone have experience with these? I would like to lower this car somewhat, not crazy but 1 to 1.5" would be ideal especially the front. Is it me or is the 09-10 R/T's way higher in the front than almost any other year of R/T? Strangely my insurance calls my R/T a dodge/Ram, maybe due to the truck struts up front?

Will camber be an issue?

Or should I just get coil overs scrap the sway bar idea and put all that money into a set of B.C or peddars or whatever?

For suspension my 2 big gripes about this car is the front wheel gap and body roll. I really miss my 14' SRT8 and I find myself wondering if I should just trade in considering these upgrades, the 6.4 manifold, tuner, CAI and 3:73 or Wavetrac 3:55 I'm planning. I think the price investment is almost the same.
 
#2 ·
The roll bar kit is Solid 32mm Front, Solid 19mm Rear. Eibach has a kit that is 35mm Front Tubular | 19mm Rear Tubular and are 2 way adjustable for $560 USD, AND I found this low price


The Super Track Pack kit is good and that seems a good price. The sway bar kit as well

The STP kit would lower you about 1/2" if your R/T didn't come with STP from the factory

A Guy
 
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#4 ·
I don't know there was only 1 setup on SRT8 cars

A Guy
 
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#6 ·
Just installed 35mm Eibach Bar myself. Have yet to get chance to really test it out. Lucky being a Pursuit already had a 20mm rear bar.

View attachment 1104074
Nice! That is lucky as I've watched a few videos on the rear bar, I think I'll do it when (if) I swap the diff to a getrag. Looks like alot of disassembly to get in there at it.
 
#9 ·
Yep, it is. Not like the ole days

Waste of time

And cash

I removed front and rear sway bars from my shaker

Drives the same

Frame it tub it


Referring to mopar parts or sway bars, suspension in general. Either way that's good to know as I really don't want to waste time on it if its not a drastic difference. Minimal difference is not worth it to me.
 
#14 ·
No

I took the big fat (and hollow for even more torsional strength) front and rear sway bars off my $45k scat pack and threw them in the trash

After doing so I sorta expected an increase in body roll. Never happened. I could tell no difference. Maybe with slicks all the way around on a road coarse someone could tell but I can’t tell any difference

scat bars vs no bars

car is very stable and flat either way

therefore, I believe you are wasting your money
 
#15 ·
Can somebody clarify the STP and how those sway bars compare to other options?

No offense to anybody but I don’t understand how it would be physically possible for the car to handle the same without sway bars. I haven’t looked yet, but I assume it’s a direct connection between the body and either the spindle or LCA.
 
#16 ·
Don’t trip you just got here. There’s no way you can offend me. There are people that have been here and trying for a year rofl

Sounds like you’re having a huge issue with body roll huh?

Let’s see a pic of that Mr hanky’s G meter

ps - my car has $150 to the house tires on it. Thx @Cuda340

Image


Half of a G is a lot when you weigh 5000 pounds lol

Those meters are about as reliable as anyone that shelled out $500 for swaybar is : )

Yer welcome
 
#17 ·
Don’t trip you just got here. There’s no way you can offend me. There are people that have been here and trying for a year rofl

Sounds like you’re having a huge issue with body roll huh?

Let’s see a pic of that Mr hanky’s G meter

ps - my car has $150 to the house tires on it. Thx @Cuda340
View attachment 1104175

Half of a G is a lot when you weigh 5000 pounds lol

Those meters are about as reliable as anyone that shelled out $500 for swaybar is : )

Yer welcome
Well…

A) I’ve never in my life seen anybody reference an app, or Gs, in a discussion about sway bars.

B) What makes you say I’m having huge body roll issues?
 
#19 ·
I think you just answered my question and proved my point at the same time

without even trying to : )
I’m not sure what your point is.

Are you saying there is something unique about this platform that causes them to not need sway bars?

Why do the police cars have larger rear sway bars?

Every other platform I’ve ever dealt with has relied heavily on sway bars for handling. Everything from full-size trucks, to mid-sized SUVs and sedans, to my Audi.
 
#26 ·
Every major racing, road track, autocross, mountain driving person has always looked into bigger better sway bars to tune the car to their style. Stiffer up front to counter oversteer, stiffer in rear to promote oversteer. Simple as that.


Want drag racing advice, maybe listen to the guy.


But for curvy roads I suggest listen to rest of the folks who do more than just go in a straight line. I am sure @stevewhite didn't remove his swaybars and claimed made no difference. In fact, considering they professionally road race his advice would be perfectly golden on what would be nice.
 
#27 ·
the platform is ancient but even so it's VERY sub-standard even by then-current expectations. In order the following needs to be fixed:

  • IRS bushing (lockouts/replacement)
  • Diff bushing (lockouts or replacement)
  • Adjustable camber front A-arms
  • Adjustable rear arms to allow changes to camber and toe.

The shocks of the lesser trims are poorly damped. I'm not sure if the Bilstein replacements are valved properly or to Dodge's garbage specs. There may be a difference between OE-spec and aftermarket Bilstein SKU - I don't know.

The $1000-1500 coil-over kits (D2, BC, IFV, Megan, Peddlers, Rev9 etc) should not be used as-is. Consider them a loose collection of parts that you take to your favorite suspension pro and have them ripped apart and re-valved correctly and replace the springs with the correct rates. I'm not a fan of KW either. You generally do NOT want 1"+ drop unless the car rides much too high to begin with - Mopar fixed that in the '17+ I believe. Most of the cheap stuff the min drop is 1" . You will need to make internal changes or longer tubes to get the necessary length and still maintain top-out.

If you're in any way serious, you should consult Wesley Motorsports Double Adjustable Coilover Shocks

Hmm, I guess RideTech is back?

I would also do as much bracing as possible, both front and rear.
The car drives like a bowl of jell-o so you have to tighten up the structure so it doesn't deform so much.
 
#32 ·
If you are taking a cheap suspension kit to a shop for custom work, you might as well just buy a more expensive suspension kit.

I really like my Bilstein shocks so far. That’s probably the only part of the suspension that I am content with.

Sway bars, coil springs, strut tower braces, and subframe braces would all be needed to make the car handle okay.

Personally, I’m not sure if I will lower my car or add stiffer springs. It really annoys me to have to worry about scraping the ground constantly. It’s the same deal with my police Tahoe. Part of me wants to lower it and get rid of the wheel well gap, but it’s a daily driver and work vehicle. I think the OEM police springs are sufficient as far as performance, and the car sits at a nice comfortable height.

On this platform I wonder how the pursuit springs would compare to SRT or STP.

bars are not the answer. Well, not the first answer. Far too often 60's muscle guys reach for bars because that's the only knob they know. Fix the rest of the car, and then consider adding a FRONT bar if you still need more. Rear bar should be absolutely LAST thing to do and carefully at that.
Can you elaborate on why this car doesn’t need more rear bar? Does the car oversteer?

Also what does SPWB stand for?
 
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#43 ·
First of all, this is not a 5000 lb car.

It is very true that much of the aftermarket is just marketing BS. Let me offer an example from another platform:

On the Audi B5 and C5 platforms (think early 2000s A4 and A6, respectively), you can buy a front and rear sway bar package from Hotchkis or whoever. They advertise the package as being a big handling upgrade.

But, if you ask people who have a lot of laps under their belt, they’ll tell you that upgrading the front sway bar is not just ineffective but actually hurts handling by creating massive understeer. The absolute best combination is a stock front bar paired with the biggest rear bar that you can get your hands on. Keep in mind that Audi uses a unique drivetrain that places the engine ahead of the front axle, so they notoriously understeer by nature.

As far as the Challenger, I still haven’t turned traction control off yet. So, I can’t say I’ve been to the limit of the tire yet.

agreed. But people do silly things with the wrong tool, all the time. I'm hardly expecting Camaro behavior, but there's no wrong in making it better. I own all three so it's fun to experiment and compare and contrast.
I rented a 2011 or so Camaro and was disappointed. I thought the interior was cramped and the handling was awkward. Full disclosure… It was a V6 base model, so, I can’t really compare that to STP or SRT stuff.
 
#57 ·
those are stock springs - it has that "tall" wheel gap

here's my '09 R/T when it arrived at dealer with the huge wheel gaps
Image


this was after I installed 2" lowering springs (Eibach Sportlines)
Image


those are the 18" wheels that were around '08 - '11, 20" wheels were extra cost option (the "chrome clads"
 
#52 ·
So what about the eibach prodamper struts?

With mopar stage 1 springs? The more photos I see of the eibach pro springs they look too low to me.

The mopar STP in my original post I'd rather avoid if I'll barely see 1/2" lower.

I guess anything I do will be an improvement over what's on there stock being an 09.