Addco sway bars /w big brakes....?

[Hearsesrock427]

Been looking around for quick and easy ways to make my '89 handle better in the meantime before she goes to Scotts for big brakes and other fun stuff. Sway bars came to mind immediately.

So I looked on Summit Racing and found some Addco sway bars. Rears are 1 inch for both '89 and '93 Grand Marqs. But the front sway bars go from 1 1/8 for the '89 to 1 1/4 for the '93. '93 front bar is slightly beefier. There are visual differences between the '89 and '93 units too.

Is there any advantage to running the '93 bars instead of the '89 bars?

I ask becuase I just want to buy the '89 bars and throw em' on. But if there's some big gain from the '93 bars, I'll gladly just buy them and then have Scott throw them on later when he does the big brakes and whatnot.

[sly]

93 bar won't line up right on a box and may bang frame.

[lincolnlarry]

I had the Addco rear bar and ended up putting a stock PI rear one in. The way the Addco mounted wasn't ideal. The bar plus the launching stress caused the trailing arms to deform and flatten. The stock one adds to the rigidity of the trailing arms also. Just food for thought.

[87gtVIC]

I have the addco front bar. It is a bit wide and tires rub it a bit at full lock. Click my signature picture to find the exact part I am using. I do really like it though

[turbo2256b]

I believe with the big brake swap you can use the 01ish front sway bar or the 89ish.

[gadget73]

The later front bars connect more solidly than the old style bars. I've driven an 88 Towncar with a stock 00ish PI bar on the front, and it handled extremely flat even with stock springs. I have a 1 3/16" wagon bar on mine, and I think the late PI bar of similar size did a better job. if you've never had a close look under there, the stock box front bar mounts with something that looks like this:



Changing them to poly helps, but honestly the poly gets hard and then deforms permanantly after a while. Moog makes a pretty neat looking end link that I'd like to try out sometime. Looks a lot beefier than the standad rig. The poly bushings on the frame brackets seem to work out better. The rubber deforms and makes the bar somewhat less effective.

The later style endlinks look like this:



No rubber to deform or flex. Its a ball and socket type joint, basically a miniature tie rod end. It bolts to the top of the spindle, just under the ball joint.

[Hearsesrock427]

Cool. You guys actually answered my next question of what alternatives I should seek out. I'll tell Scott that I want '98+ bars. They're better built, last longer, don't rub, and work better. He'll know the specifics, as well as what it'll cost. They'll be part of the big brake upgrade.

Thanks for your help everyone!

[pantera77]

I've ran them both, and the 98-02 Addco is way better then the factory 98-02 PI bar.
It just rubs on full lock with 255's out front.

The Addco also uses the old school links which I prefer. In fact a few 92+ people have converted to the old style links (since the hole for it is present in the control arm all they way to 02). They don't seem to wear out as quick as the ball and socket type.

The best bolt in factory rear bar is the stock box PI bar. The box Addco bar mounts in a pretty ugly manner and isn't any better. You could run an aero rear bar if you swapped in an aero rear axle (or welded the bushing mounting brackets on yours), but you would also have to weld in plates for the end links.

I like the box PI rear bar. You bolt it in and forget about it, nothing to wear out on it.