Aftermarket Sway Bar Fitment Issues (Progress, Perrin, etc)

do not under any circumstances buy a progress sway bar for your 05 +legacy

 

front bar is a repackaged 02-05 wrx front sway bar with different mounting brackets and bushings

the brackets are slotted permitting the bar to moved for and aft

you must push the bar all the way forward or the bar will hit the control arm and (as i found out today) if you push it all the way forward and have the bar set to the softer of the two settings the bar rubs/grinds into the tie rod ends when turning

 

rear bar has a flaw in the design that it locates the mounting point 1" below the top of the bar (add another 3/4 of material where ther was none)..when the suspension is compressed the bar hits the upper control arm before the arm is stopped by the bump stop. this can be fixed with a $100 set of adjustable end links

 

now whats really scary is that there is a rumor that the perrin bar is an OEMed progress bar this is not the case fixed addressed later in the thread

 

pictures

http://www.kineteria.com/share/MVC02379.JPG

 

http://www.kineteria.com/share/MVC02381.JPG

 

http://www.kineteria.com/share/MVC02383.JPG

 

 

its actually much worse than i suspected at full lock the bar is tightly pressed against the steering rack

i solved the problem with the sawsall cutting off the front bracket

now at full lock there is 1/4 of an inch of space in between .. (i removed 1/2" of material

 

http://www.kineteria.com/share/MVC02385.JPG

 

if you have one of these check it immediately

you don't even need to jack it up just turn full lock

wow. guess i will take those off my list of mods.

Cusco = perfect

 

Keefe

I don't think the Perrin has any of the issues described above.

 

Although, my experience with Whiteline has definitely been a mixed bag so far.

I don't think the Perrin has any of the issues described above.

 

Although, my experience with Whiteline has definitely been a mixed bag so far.

I'm not sure if Seth will chime in, but it seems that the Perrin bars he got are not perfect either..

Man, this makes me wonder if I should have just gone with Cusco to being with. Better get on the horn with Sean stat!

I have had Perrin front & rear on now for about a month....no problems;)

I have had Perrin front & rear on now for about a month....no problems;)

 

 

you will ..squeek,squeek clunk. i've fiddle farted enough with it.

i replacing my rear with the jdm

I'm not sure if Seth will chime in, but it seems that the Perrin bars he got are not perfect either..

 

I am getting a clunk in the rear with my Perrin bar, but only when i have passengers. The vendor and Perrrin say there is no problem. Sorry.....no more Perrin on my car (or Alta on the MINI since they are the same company). They had the nerve to ask me to send pics to make sure the endlinks were installed correctly - ummm....it's impossible to do it wrong given the shape of the control arm they bolt to.

Did you guys use their brackets? The more I looked @ them the more I kept saying to myself.....do not put them on...I didn't;) Hopefully they will continue to perform as well as they currently are!

I put them on, but had horrible noise, so I took them off. Noise was less, but still there. Turns out the aftermarket endlinks were bad - very strange how they were six months old and went within a few days of putting the Perrin brackets on. I don't want to mess with the brackets again.

Ditto +1

 

 

 

Cusco = perfect

 

Keefe

jdm (plus lowered suspension) also = perfect

am getting a clunk in the rear with my Perrin bar, but only when i have passengers. The vendor and Perrrin say there is no problem

 

yup thats the proublem in the rear

mine was magnified due to being lower

 

check the very end (top) of the bar i betcha there is paint missing

Cusco = perfect

 

Keefe

 

 

Where might one find the cusco bars? How does Cusco front and rears with a strut bar sound?

Rallitek.com. Cheapest that I have seen them around, so that's where I ordered them..and Sean was kind enough to hook me up with cheaper shipping...but I bought stuff for 2 cars...so it worked out well.

Although, my experience with Whiteline has definitely been a mixed bag so far.

 

What problems have you had? I've had both front and rear adjustable on for a couple months now with no problems.

Short and sweet the rear bar seems really loose in the bushings allowing to slide left and right very easily. This allows a nice collision course with the left brake caliper's banjo bolt. Very unpleasant experience to say the least.

Patagonian GT: Thank you for your e-mails (starting this morning) about your concerns with our rear bar (not the Progress bar. My apologies for any thread jacking.) I am confused by your posts here compared to the e-mails I received. Is the problem solved (by removing the AVO links) and going back to stock? Or was the problem solved by something else? Please clarify to the community here as well to me. Like I mentioned in the e-mail and I will reiterate it here, photos can be extremely helpful in determining problems. As they say a photo is worth a thousand words. We want to help ASAP and speech and text can't get the job done as quickly. Also, the photo you sent was of the right side of the car and the e-mail stated an issue coming from the left side of the car. Which is it or was it? The photo does not show an interference.

 

Just as a general statement to this community. Your business is appreciated and valued. We want to help each and every one of you but you must contact us to get that service. An effort is continually made to try and keep un on the forums (this and others) but the most direct way is via e-mail or phone. If there is a problem and a re-design or something similar is required we can't do that if people don't tell us. As a blanket statement, "NONE OF OUR PRODUCTS SHOULD CLUNK, CLANG, BANG, SQUEEL, FART, OR OTHERWISE MAKE ANY UNJUST NOISE. If they do CALL or E-MAIL us so we can address it immediately."

 

Finally, in no way shape or form is our bar made by the Progress Group. Our products are made locally to us or within our building itself. Our apologies if this post is misplaced within this thread talking about Progress bars but because this moderator had directed us here we felt compelled to comment here. If another moderator wishes to move this post to another thread or link to the post elsewhere PLEASE feel free to do so. We value the opinions and concerns of this forum group and do not wish to disrespect them.

 

Thanks again!

 

Adam

PERRIN TECH DEPT.

tech@perrinperformance.com

503-643-4677 xt 203

http://www.perrinperformance.com

Thanks Adam - no worries about posting here. Since someone was lead to believe your bars were done by Progress, and my issues seemed similar, I thought I should post my issues here. Several other members have clunking noises with Perrin bars...the general consensus is something is amiss. Whether that is accurate or not remains to be seen.

 

My problem is the same with the AVO endlinks or stock endlinks installed. It makes no difference. I will go crawl back under my car for literally the tenth time and take some more pics for you. I'd like to have a noise free suspension....it hasn't been that way since I sold the JDM 20mm bar I had. I will take some pics, then put the stock bar back on. If the noise goes away, than the bar is the issue.

Crap box, I got the Progress front and rears when they came out. Saw that the front was the WRX one's and inquired about it and they told me that they are the same for both the WRX and LGT. Don't hear anything weired or clunking while driving, but gonna get under the car and check. crud

I figured it out. The bottom outside corner of the left mount is impacting the swingarm. The corner is flattened out (should be rounded like the other side - very obvious in the pic - I higlighted it to be clear) and the swingarm is gouged fairly well. Pics attached. I have a wagon by the way - not sure if there are any differences in clearances, but I wasn't aware of anything.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/PatagonianGT/pic2.jpg

 

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/PatagonianGT/pic1.jpg

looks like if I move it to the next hole, things should be fine, but that means I lose the adjustable feature of the bar. That's the whole reason I bought Perrins, as Cusco stopped making their adjustable bar.

updated first post

i would wager the proublem is here not there

http://www.kineteria.com/share/hedi.jpg

that was what I was thinking all along. About three inches from the end of the bar, I can feel some rough spots on the top edge (both sides), right where you describe. I won't be able to tell until I pull the bar off, but the place I noted in my pic is absolutely causing a problem. The corner is flattened....it should be a round corner and 90 degree faces.