Sway Bars Vs. Tower Bars - United Bimmer Community

**Numark318i** · 02-09-2006, 09:18 PM

Ok so i want to up my suspension. Funny how i say this after that track day but i have been planning it for a while. Im making good money at the moment so...yea. either way for the front and back ill be paying around 500 dollars.
What brand shoudl i go?
Which ones are going to make more of a difference?

What im looking for is obviously better handling.
so tips anyone?

**Spieluhr** · 02-09-2006, 09:59 PM

by tower bars I am going to assume you mean strut bars, that go over the strut towers in the engine bay and trunk. From what I have read, sway bars will make more of a difference in your car's rigidity, and control as compared to strut bars.

**xsperf** · 02-09-2006, 10:05 PM

you can have both, right? and i thought our cars already come with sway bars(stock)

**Numark318i** · 02-09-2006, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xsperf

you can have both, right? and i thought our cars already come with sway bars(stock)

yea. they do come with Sway bars. But they have rubber bushings and weak Metal bars.

Yea i mean strut bars.

back to Top Gear.

**Dudesky** · 02-10-2006, 03:16 AM

The biggest difference you can make is larger diameter sway bars and polyurethane bushings. The strut bar can enhance your suspension, but IMO it shouldn't come first. Have a look at this kit from Turner:

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html...ODUCT_ID=52010

Also, I see from your mods list that you have aftermarket shocks and struts. What about springs? A fresh set or shorter, stiffer set will also make a world of difference

**dinan540** · 02-10-2006, 09:12 AM

You could get the e30 M3 sway bars which would be thicker than your stock sway bars and supplement with bushings or brackets. I'm not sure if you could put the E36 M3 sway bars on your car. I just bought a pair of used sway bars from a E39 M5 instead of going with an aftermarket brand.

**Numark318i** · 02-10-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinan540

You could get the e30 M3 sway bars which would be thicker than your stock sway bars and supplement with bushings or brackets. I'm not sure if you could put the E36 M3 sway bars on your car. I just bought a pair of used sway bars from a E39 M5 instead of going with an aftermarket brand.

you know this morning i thought about that. I guess since someone brought it up i could research that. Although the Tuner bars are only 310 dollars or so.
Only thing about the E30 M# sway bars is that i got a 4 door and i dont know if it would make a difference.

So im definately going with sway bars. Tuner Motorsports a good name for BMW performance parts? Im not up my on performance names.

as for the springs i bought aftermarket touring shocks from bilstein, and i dont know if i can put smaller springs on them without damaging the shocks?

edit* i just looked at the site and saw that all E30 models have the same bars.

Storamin · 02-10-2006, 11:00 AM

sway bars are much better. they connect pieces of the suspension together whereas the strut bars connect the chasis together more so than suspension pieces. strut bars are mostly for looks on our cars.

nick_318is · 02-10-2006, 12:02 PM

Yea sway bars are the way to go, definitly go for some thicker diameter bars, it should frim everything up. They are on the list as something I want to do hopefully this summer.