Review: Steeda front and rear sway bars, Steeda tower brace and Eibach lowering springs installed

[FlatSpot]

I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains where I have tons of great windy roads with fast switch backs. After driving my 25' ST stock for a couple of months, I figured it was time to work on the suspension. Reason: The SUV felt tall and top heavy when trying to take the turns at an accelerated speed. I never really felt confident taking them at the suggested speed limit. So, I installed the Eibach lowering springs, Steeda's front and rear sway bars along with the Steeda links, and the Steeda tower brace and here is my review.

Knowing what I know now, would I do it again?

Steeda Tower Brace: This is a no brainer. The stamped steel Ford put on this car is a joke (in my opinion). Its thin, it bends easily, and I think they put it on for aesthetics only. On the other hand, the Steeda tower brace is no joke. High quality, easy to install and looks great. The car feels better in the turns for sure. Would I buy it again? Yes

Steeda Front Sway Bar and Links: After seeing the stock (OEM) sway bar in person during the install, I'm not sure I really gained much with the Steeda sway bar. Both are very thick and heavy. The car does feel a bit tighter in the steering, but probably not enough to justify the price of the links and sway bar and labor (if paying someone else). Would I buy it again? Probably not. I would save the money and put it towards something else.

Steeda Rear Sway Bar: Yes, Yes, Yes! No comparison between stock sway bar and Steeda's. It was a night and day difference. The rear of the car felt planted and firm. I used the middle settings to start off with and I don't think I need to be more aggressive as it gives me all the confidence for the rear in the corners. Would I do it again? Hell, Yes!

Eibach Lowering Springs: Wow, this SUV turned into a station wagon after installing these. It lowered the car at least 1.5" and changed the looks drastically. The car feels amazing in the turns, well planted, and looks sharp. However, I sort of miss the SUV feel of sitting just a little higher. The ride is OEM quality as it goes over bumps with grace. I haven't towed anything yet, so I can't comment about that. Would I do it again? Yes and No. I think I would go with a different brand that lowers it maybe only .75 - 1". Shortly after install, I saw Steeda announce they have a lowering spring kit that I think would be ideal. Lower the car perhaps 1" to get the benefits of feeling planted while cornering, but without losing the SUV feel. If I could do it over without spending another fortune, I would go with the Steeda springs instead.

 

[UNBROKEN]

I agree with most of your assessment. I’ve been saying a front bar isn’t needed ever since I installed one of the very early Afe front bars. Anyone that does should set it at its softest setting…IRS cars just don’t need a lot of front bar.
As for the rear bar…set in on the firmest setting. IRS cars like a lot of rear bar.
None of the adjustable links are necessary. I’ve broken multiple adjustable front links now and one adjustable rear link. OEM is fine.
The strut bar I disagree with you. If you look at how the car is built and then under the cowl where you’ll find the large, tubular bars that triangulate the strut towers and cowl you’ll see where the real work is done and why the oem bar, and all the aftermarket bars, are cosmetic only. I’ve ran my favorite roads at max effort with and without a strut tower bar installed, there’s no discernible difference either way. It’s been discussed ad nauseam here if you get bored and feel like searching out some good reading on the subject.
Your next mod that’ll give you immediately noticeable results are the FenFab rear subframe bushing brace kit followed by their stiffer toe links.

 

[FlatSpot]

@UNBROKEN, I wish I had read your reviews about the front sway bar before hand and saved myself hundreds of dollars. As far as the strut brace, I feel that the $200 plus easy installation made a difference in the way the front-end handles. It's a relatively cheap upgrade, easy installation, esthetically pleasing to look at under the hood and noticeable better handling, so that's why I recommend it.

 

[Ldstang50]

I agree with most of your assessment. I’ve been saying a front bar isn’t needed ever since I installed one of the very early Afe front bars. Anyone that does should set it at its softest setting…IRS cars just don’t need a lot of front bar.
As for the rear bar…set in on the firmest setting. IRS cars like a lot of rear bar.
None of the adjustable links are necessary. I’ve broken multiple adjustable front links now and one adjustable rear link. OEM is fine.
The strut bar I disagree with you. If you look at how the car is built and then under the cowl where you’ll find the large, tubular bars that triangulate the strut towers and cowl you’ll see where the real work is done and why the oem bar, and all the aftermarket bars, are cosmetic only. I’ve ran my favorite roads at max effort with and without a strut tower bar installed, there’s no discernible difference either way. It’s been discussed ad nauseam here if you get bored and feel like searching out some good reading on the subject.
Your next mod that’ll give you immediately noticeable results are the FenFab rear subframe bushing brace kit followed by their stiffer toe links.

I've spent the better part of the last 15yrs setting up suspensions on track cars and race cars: Fox bodies Evos, 350z, E36, E46, all generation Miatas, all with IRS and varying levels of hp save for the Fox. The Z and BMWs benefited MASSIVELY from a bigger front bar.

Sway bars play near zero roll in car handling on corner entry. Their main purpose is to control where the weight is transfered mid-corner and help the shocks transition from compression to rebound or vice versa on corner exit. Front bars transfer weight to the rear and rear bars transfer weight to the front. You'll see cars running a big bar lift the inside front tire. It's transfering the weight and grip that tire would have to the rear. Civics and other FWD, and some AWD cars, run big rear bars to transfer weight to the front

These are passenger cars first and as such are designed to understeer. Understeer is safer for the everyday driver vs oversteer. Running a bigger rear bar gives the front tires more mid-corner grip thus allowing it to track better in your intended travel

As far as strut tower, agree with you 100%. Back in the day when cars were made with weaker metals, chassis bracing was needed to keep the car from twisting in half. My first trackday in my Foxbody, the plastic around the shifter and radio popped off and glove compartment popped open in the first turn thanks to the chassis twisting. Scared the crap out of me.

On this car, an aftermarket strut bar wouldn't be needed until you put R-comps and crazy spring rates on. Even then, the stock strut bar is likely enough. And I doubt there are many of us that are driving our cars this hard

 

[bbbart]

I've spent the better part of the last 15yrs setting up suspensions on track cars and race cars: Fox bodies Evos, 350z, E36, E46, all generation Miatas, all with IRS and varying levels of hp save for the Fox. The Z and BMWs benefited MASSIVELY from a bigger front bar.

Sway bars play near zero roll in car handling on corner entry. Their main purpose is to control where the weight is transfered mid-corner and help the shocks transition from compression to rebound or vice versa on corner exit. Front bars transfer weight to the rear and rear bars transfer weight to the front. You'll see cars running a big bar lift the inside front tire. It's transfering the weight and grip that tire would have to the rear. Civics and other FWD, and some AWD cars, run big rear bars to transfer weight to the front

These are passenger cars first and as such are designed to understeer. Understeer is safer for the everyday driver vs oversteer. Running a bigger rear bar gives the front tires more mid-corner grip thus allowing it to track better in your intended travel

As far as strut tower, agree with you 100%. Back in the day when cars were made with weaker metals, chassis bracing was needed to keep the car from twisting in half. My first trackday in my Foxbody, the plastic around the shifter and radio popped off and glove compartment popped open in the first turn thanks to the chassis twisting. Scared the crap out of me.

On this car, an aftermarket strut bar wouldn't be needed until you put R-comps and crazy spring rates on. Even then, the stock strut bar is likely enough. And I doubt there are many of us that are driving our cars this hard

That's great info, thanks. Would running a stiffer front sway bar benefit an explorer with air suspension on sticky tires?

I have a lot of nose dive and body roll during the initial turn-in on a hard corner and would like to lower that as much as possible while keeping the air suspension setup.

I was hoping to use R compound tires to increase cornering grip but I am being told it's a massive underutilization of grip potential because of my air suspension setup. Can a good compromise be reached for reducing body roll by running a stiffer front sway bar?

Full disclosure, these are all the suspension modifications already installed:

Airlift 3P Air suspension
Front + rear sway bars and end-links
Rear vertical links
Rear adjustable toe links
Subframe bushings
Strut brace

 

[Ldstang50]

I’ll be honest, I know near zero about air suspensions.

From what I can guess, to raise the car, you increase pressure in the bags, which by nature, would “stiffen” the bag. In essence, raising the car, increases the spring rate. Lowering the car is the opposite

A front bar would increase understeer in the car. Remember, a sway bar adds grip to the OPPOSITE axle. These cars naturally understeer, so you’d want to do most of everything to add grip to the front, not decrease it

Running r-comps would be crazy with this car…something I would do if I was up north and this wasn’t the family DD

R comps change the whole game. Everything would need to be stiffened at this point. You’re gonna go from a 600tw tire, to something less than 180 and has much more rubber touching the road. I don’t see why you couldn’t run bags, but in the conversation of springs, shocks and sway bars,…Springs would likely be a crazy rate, something beyond daily comfortability. Your bags would (I think) hugely decrease the benefits of r-comps. They likely can’t get stiff enough to support the added grip

For setup, I’d lower the car to decrease center of gravity. To increase turn-in, I’d give the car a bit more rake, add toe-out in the rear, decrease rear rebound, but still run a heavy enough front spring to not bury the nose. I’d likely add something to adjust camber in the front to ensure the maximum contant patch.

To answer your question about the front sway bar with r-comps, I’d absolutely add a front bar to decrease rollover, but I’d also run a much bigger/stiffer rear bar to offset the front.

 

[bbbart]

I’ll be honest, I know near zero about air suspensions.

From what I can guess, to raise the car, you increase pressure in the bags, which by nature, would “stiffen” the bag. In essence, raising the car, increases the spring rate. Lowering the car is the opposite

A front bar would increase understeer in the car. Remember, a sway bar adds grip to the OPPOSITE axle. These cars naturally understeer, so you’d want to do most of everything to add grip to the front, not decrease it

Running r-comps would be crazy with this car…something I would do if I was up north and this wasn’t the family DD

R comps change the whole game. Everything would need to be stiffened at this point. You’re gonna go from a 600tw tire, to something less than 180 and has much more rubber touching the road. I don’t see why you couldn’t run bags, but in the conversation of springs, shocks and sway bars,…Springs would likely be a crazy rate, something beyond daily comfortability. Your bags would (I think) hugely decrease the benefits of r-comps. They likely can’t get stiff enough to support the added grip

For setup, I’d lower the car to decrease center of gravity. To increase turn-in, I’d give the car a bit more rake, add toe-out in the rear, decrease rear rebound, but still run a heavy enough front spring to not bury the nose. I’d likely add something to adjust camber in the front to ensure the maximum contant patch.

To answer your question about the front sway bar with r-comps, I’d absolutely add a front bar to decrease rollover, but I’d also run a much bigger/stiffer rear bar to offset the front.

Thank you very much for the explanation. I will have to do a deep dive on the characteristics of airlift suspension vs coilovers to see if it's worth it to completely switch over.

Many YouTube videos fiercely defend airlift as a track-capable suspension but in a body-roll prone platform like mine, I believe it's weakness of not being able to rebound quickly is very much exacerbated. My Lexus with air suspension feels a lot more planted.

Adding rake is a very promising idea I haven't considered, seems like it would be perfect to improve the handling without using a functional front splitter. The front has a tendency to lift at high speed.

Rear toe-out seems like something I would look into after adding a front splitter and or increasing rake, the car felt pretty twitchy at high speed already so the front would have to be glued to the road before messing with rear toe out imo

The suspension has very little rear rebound right now and that's a nice characteristic for sure, the rear wheels stay planted and put the power down very effectively every time.

Developing an understanding of the differences without having a lot of experience with coilovers is tough.

 

[Ldstang50]

And vice versa: I know little about air suspension, but a decent amount in spring/shock/sway bar/etc.

Adding a front splitter should reduce lift, but be weary of aero balance

Agree on rebound w/air suspension. Could you add air under compression to assist with rebound? The tough part would be managing it. That’s if you want rebound….

These cars might benefit from lack of rebound based on suspension geometry. Some suspensions can add camber and/or toe in compression

Many moons ago when I autocrossed, a local guy was winning Nationals in a Dodge Neon. In his class, you could only change shocks and one sway bar. He ran a crazy low compression and rebound. The car gained tons of camber in compression. After a run, you could actively see the car raising back up. It was wild

Do one change at a time.

If you add a front lip, you might not need as much rebound.

Trying different settings can be fun, and frustrating at the same time

If you were local, I’d love to link-up and talk shop

 

[bbbart]

And vice versa: I know little about air suspension, but a decent amount in spring/shock/sway bar/etc.

Adding a front splitter should reduce lift, but be weary of aero balance

Agree on rebound w/air suspension. Could you add air under compression to assist with rebound? The tough part would be managing it. That’s if you want rebound….

These cars might benefit from lack of rebound based on suspension geometry. Some suspensions can add camber and/or toe in compression

Many moons ago when I autocrossed, a local guy was winning Nationals in a Dodge Neon. In his class, you could only change shocks and one sway bar. He ran a crazy low compression and rebound. The car gained tons of camber in compression. After a run, you could actively see the car raising back up. It was wild

Do one change at a time.

If you add a front lip, you might not need as much rebound.

Trying different settings can be fun, and frustrating at the same time

If you were local, I’d love to link-up and talk shop

I'll be in Miami from tomorrow till April 7 for work. It would be awesome to link up sometime. I'll dm closer to the day if things are looking smooth by the end of the week, I'm planning on renting a car for the last day so I should be able to drive up to you.

After going over this for a good 20 minutes with Don from RSA, I'm starting to believe that it will never be possible to corner close to the potential of coilovers with air suspension, only in a straight line. He strongly emphasized that the air suspension will ensure this explorer will always be slow around a track. With coilovers it will behave completely different.

But, the front end lift at high speed is downright dangerous so it's a significant safety precaution with the current power potential. Functional front splitter is an absolute necessity and adding a sturdy rear spoiler is easy. Many existing rear spoilers look functional.

Thanks for the advice on aero balance, I'll make sure not to do all the aero at once to understand the changes better. Underbody paneling should be easy to do by cutting my own plastic panels and using some JB Weld. Taking it off for service would be a hassle though.