Addco Rear Sway Bar And Daizen Sway Bar Bushings Installed

LSPaul · July 29, 2013

I've been wanting to do some handling and suspension upgrades to my LS400 since I bought the car, having come to the LS from sportier-handling sedans over the years (mostly Saabs, but also some BMW seat time). Since the air suspension on my car went out last fall, I switched to Strutmasters (the springs are a nice compromise, the supplied rear shocks, utter junk), then switched the rear strut inserts to KYB GR-2s, which work nicely. Still, I was getting tired of the car listing around curves.

In the last few weeks, I bought the Daizen poly sway bar bushing kit from TM Engineering (ordered online), and a new Addco rear bar (off eBay from an Addco dealer; note that Addco makes the bars to spec, and usually doesn't stock, so it's made to order and shipped directly from the factory). As others have noted in the past on this and other forums, both make a difference in handling. So, I figured that the combo of the poly bushings and new sway bar would be a good combo. I installed both kits this evening in the driveway.

The install on the front bushings was very easy, and the rear bar job itself was pretty straightforward (it helped to drop one of the rear mufflers, and I undid the hangers on the other rear muffler).

The challenge I ran into with the sway bar swap is that the new poly bushings supplied were too short (about 1/4") for the original sway bar bushing brackets, and the new brackets with the Addco kit didn't fit the body correctly, either. Since I still had the pair of new poly bushings from the Daizen kit, I ended up drilling/grinding the holes larger (*much* larger diameter (and significantly heavier) compared to the original air sus spec sway bar) with a Dremel tool so the bushings would fit the new rear bar and the original brackets.

I buttoned everything back up and took it for a quick spin tonight on a handful of very twisty county roads near home... Wow--what a difference the combo makes! Turn-in on curves and interstate on-ramps felt much quicker, body roll is markedly reduced, and I was able to go into curves at higher speeds, plus could feel a slight and pleasant trace of tail rotation when I lifted off the throttle. All in all, this combo is a relatively inexpensive (under $200 total) way to make an early LS much more enjoyable to drive.

Paul