I firmly believe that these are the best sway bars for the S197 Mustang--that's why I build them. Based on my knowledge and testing gained from 16 years of SCCA experience and 14 National Championships.

I've tested numerous bars and combinations of bars, and felt I could do better. So I took up the challenge to do just that.

Strano bars are 3 positions adjustable on not only the front, but the rear of the car as well!

Strano bars are tubular and lighter than most. A lot of companies make a tubular front, hardly anyone does that for the rear--but we do.

Strano bars are proven in competition and on the street and allow quick changes to the balance and performance of the car. The fact both front and rear are adjustable gives you many more choices in dialing in the handling to you preference. Range of adjustment is large and allows for use with numerous different spring rates.

Strano bars fit in the OEM location. No cutting, welding, or clamps to put on the axle to make them fit.

Strano bars fit both Steeda and Fays2 Watts linkages, this was an important design criteria when building the bars. Not all bars fit with Watts linkages.

8336 Front bar: http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=80&ModelID=5

8337 Rear bar: http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...=80&PartID=609

S197SB1 Bar set without endlinks: http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...=80&PartID=717

S198SB2 Bar set with endlinks: http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...=80&PartID=718

In stock and ready to ship! PLEASE feel free to ask if you have any questions!

 

Adjustable bars look sweet!

 

Thank you!

 

Questions questions questions...

I may have asked this before, but are the rear bar mounting links and the end attachments put into the stock locations? Would the billet BMR mounts be usable (I could always sell mine, I suppose, if they're not) on yours? They were a tight, slide-on fit on the FRPP bar (shoulda got the Steeda/FRPP clamp-on ones -- would those fit??)

And compared to the standard FRPP or Steeda standard front or rear bars, what's the stiffness of these in the various adjustment points? I know the front Steeda 'softest' is still stiffer than the stock front bar. Is the more aggressive rear Steeda bar stiffer than yours in their stiffest setting??

Thanks Sam! Might have to pick these up as my non-adjustable FRPP rear still allows too much understeer on the track, and no adjustment possible, just get a bigger bar and hope it's right! Much prefer the ability to adjust that.

 

My bars mount to all stock locations, both on the body and the axle. However, the axle mount is specific to my bar to make it adjustable. Any clamp on body mount that fits a 22mm bar will fit my bar, which is also 22mm if you have fancy aluminum ones and want to use those instead of the supplied steel ones I send.

Front bars are all pretty similar, but not the same. I use a thicker wall bar than most, and my endlink holes are in a slightly different position than most. The full soft hole is a little further back than the standard locaton and the other two holes follow that. I wanted a bar that gave a little more at full soft but not too much, so we move our holes relative to the other guys. Really if you already have a 35mm adjustable in front, I can't say you must change it... the fronts aren't hugely different, the real magic is in the rear bar.

 

Sam, why must you try so hard to separate me from my money? I am, currently, purely a daily street driver kind of guy, but would like to take a little bit of the body roll out without running shorter and stiffer springs. Your bars had been sitting at the top of the list, and with the price coming down, I might just be able to move on them a little sooner. Times are a bit tight right now though, so... I have to ask. Is this a permanent price drop, or a temporary deal for around the holiday times?

 

Um.. I'm sorry?

I can't say the price will stay here forever... nothing is forever. This is not a this week only thing, but I can't say when the prices will change again, might be next month, could be a year from now.

 

I have the Strano rear bar and I couldn't be happier. Easy to install. I have tested all the settings.
Full soft feels just a bit stiffer than stock, steering is a little crisper and more responsive. The middle setting is where I noticed the understeer start to really go away while still adding more steering responsiveness. Full stiff erases understeer and makes turn in very sharp.
For autocrossing next season I plan on running a few more events on full stiff and if the car is to loose I will go with a front bar as well.
I've said this before but other than shocks and springs this rear bar has been the biggest jump in performance that I've done.

 

Sam, any idea of overall weight savings over stock with both bars? Your website says 5 lbs lighter than stock with just the rear bar. Is your front bar lighter than stock too? I've got the Eibach bars on my '08 GT now, and IIRC they were 3lbs heaver each than the stock bars.

 

My front bar is not lighter than stock, stock is 34mm hollow, 5.1mm wall, so a 35mm 6.25mm wall bar isn't going to weigh less..... a lot less than solid bars, but not less than a stock front. Ford rear bars are solid. Weighs are variable, it's tough to put it down to an exact number as Joe's scale is different than Bob's and stock bars come in various sizes---for instance the rear bar on my '11 is 24mm vs. 20mm on my '07, or 22mm on a Shelby GT, or 18mm on a Pony V-6. All weigh something different.

 

That sells it for me. Will have to do before the start of next season.

2011 get the 24mm?? Ford finally wised up?
How does your rear bar compare to the 24mm stock 2011 bar then?

Thanks Sam!

 

Brembo cars do, in fact the front is 34.6mm (with a bind built in) and 24mm rear on a 2011 Brembo car... and Boss cars will have an even bigger rear bar, but also a bigger rear wheel.

You say "wised up", I think it's way, way too much and the split second I'm out of F-stock with the car (which is probably this winter), that bar is gone and my rear bar will join the front already on the car.

Folks tend to see a few mm's are nothing. It's a HUGE change. Now my bar will get stiffer up to something similar to 1" by adjusting it... but the fact is you don't have to use that.

What Ford did was IMHO overshoot the mark. The springs and bars on the Brembo cars were developed to work with the PZero's on that car, only that tire, and with a stock alignment. They could not add grip to the front and started taking it away from the rear. The balance of the car is good overall on stock tires with stock alignment. But there are issues. I find the rear to be too stiff and too easily upset by things. And it relies a lot on running those tires, with a stock alignment, and with a stock front bar (which has a bind in it, on purpose for steering response). Get rid of the bind and it makes the rear bar act even stiffer.

I know what they did, and I know why. I'm sure the engineers weren't 100% in agreement with everything and some compromises on cost and "don't **** anyone off" thinking came into play too.

I know some will be turned off to my bars because they see the rear as smaller than some stock bars, or in other cases no bigger.... but bigger isn't always better. And my bars have a lot of work put into them to be balanced, and give you not only choices, but *useable* flexibility.

 

Thanks Sam. Sounds like just replacing my rear Eibach bar (and keeping the front) may be a good way to improve the handling a little bit, while dropping some weight in the process.

 

I will say this, and only this.... because I know it sounds very "used car salesman"-ish.

Many find that selling things like bars are kits brings them more money than individual parts. I.E. if you sell your rear bar, you might find financially you are better off selling both and replacing both. If not, and you don't care the colors don't match--then so be it. I just though I'd mention it.

 

What's a 'bind'?? Never heard that term before...

 

Bind aka "preload" when used in a front bar will tighten up the chassis.

Remember an anti-roll bar functions like a torsion spring. Resistance to the bar of it's twisting movement is its rate.

Sam points to the 3 variables, diameter, & the effective length of the bar & its arms.

For those reasons his adjustable bars are superior to non-adjustable bars.

 

ok since the topic of preload came up... I'm thinking of getting some front bar endlinks but I don't know how to set the preload. I'm sure that they would come set to the same length as stock but would I shorten them since my car is lowered? I just have no clue as to how long the links should be.

 

The OEM Front bar on my 2011 GT/Brembo car (not sure if non Brembo's are this way or not) have something going on in the bushings that cause the bar to not rotate freely. I found this out working on my car and when I disconnected the endlinks the bar didn't move......... And when I pulled on it (and I'm not a small guy) it would barely move and then spring right back up. As I looked more I saw that the little fences the older cars have on the bar to keep it from sliding back and forth weren't there either. And yet there were clear signs the bar had slid more than 1" in each direction (marks on the bar from the bushings).

In talking to some folks, I found they did this for steering response. Well, that's certainly one way to gain steering response--but I don't think it's ideal to make a part of the suspension sticky to do it.

 

The overall length is not the issue. You set one at a given length, something like stock. You put both on the car. Then with the car on ramps and with a load in it like you'd drive it, you adjust the other link so that the tension on it goes away (meaning you now have no twist in your swaybar).

The actual overall length of the links doesn't really matter, and I tend to run them a little shorter just to better clear some of the brake lines, etc.

 

There is a similar issue with a popular aftermarket sway bar for another car I own (the hollow Racing Beat swaybar for Miatas) where the bushings are a bit too large/deep on the outside, so when you tighten the bracket it compresses the bushing against the swaybar and puts it in a bind and it won't rotate freely. The common solution is to grind away the bottom part of the outside of the bushing where it contacts the car to gain some clearance so when you install the bar it moves freely. Seems odd Ford did this by design, but I guess they had their reasons.