Hellwig Sway Bars - Front and Rear - Performance Review

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UTEngineer

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Removed the front & rear stock sway bars yesterday and installed a set of Hellwig’s aftermarket sway bars.

This easy install sway bar modification significantly improved the handling of our Expedition EL Limited.

Before this modification I truly hated driving our Expedition because it cornered like sh-t. (excessive body roll)

In fact, my lifted Duramax with 35 inch tires corners significantly better than our stock Expedition before this modification.

The only downside to this modification is the suspension feels slightly stiffer, which is noticeable when hitting potholes, bumps, or especially when crossing railroad tracks or going thru dips at an angle.

However, the slightly stiffer ride is minor compared to the significantly improved handling when cornering.

It will be interesting to see the reduction in wear of the outside treads on the front tires over time thanks to improved cornering capability.
 

GAINMOB

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yeah thats what i said years ago on a thread when i put eibach's anti-sway bars on...i highly suggest everyone do this mod
 

ExplorerTom

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Hmmm. My 2014 with the Bilstein 5100s seems to ride and corner just fine (for a full sized SUV).
 
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UTEngineer

UTEngineer

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Hmmm. My 2014 with the Bilstein 5100s seems to ride and corner just fine (for a full sized SUV).

The more aggressive you drive, especially in the corners, the more you notice the excessive sway control issues.

My wife is a fairly non-aggressive driver (compared to me), however, she does not always slow down enough for the stock sway control in the corners.

This is evident in the accelerated wear on the outside tread on the front tires, which forces me to rotate the tires more often in an effort to avoid accelerated tread wear issues.

My non-aggressive driver wife even commented that Expedition EL feels significantly different when cornering ... no more excessive lean.

I am also adding 8-ply tires on Friday (vs stock 4-ply passenger-rated tires - garbage) ... which will also make a big difference in cornering thanks to a stiffer sidewall and increased tire pressure.
 
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UTEngineer

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@UTEngineer, regarding the accelerated tread wear, have you checked the toe-in?

I had the Expedition's alignment checked when they put the new tires on last week.

The factory alignment was off (I know for sure my timid wife did not hit anything), but their printer was down to print me the before & after, will post this printout if / when I receive it later this week.

Because of this they did not charge me for the alignment, and I trust them after the fiasco we went through putting a lift on my truck (where they had to remove and replace two systems at no charge to get it right).
 
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