I'd love to be corrected here, but it looks to me like 'kit' Progress is selling for the fit is a total scam. All they send you is a bar to connect the suspension points - something that provides ZERO performance increase. (a net decrease if anything, due to the weight)

I first noticed it in mole's thread here.




Background: How an RSB works
It's pretty simple really. The RSB just connects both sides of the rear suspension, such that when one side goes up the other also tries goes up. In a steady state corner, when one side of the suspension is compressing, the RSB acts to keep the inside suspension from extending too much - this keeps the body of the car more flat and distributes weight/grip better. A pretty standard setup:




Most of the Progress RSB Kits:


The Scam: Progress RSB for Fit's



... again, like I said, I'm willing to be proven wrong, but - If I got tricked into dropping $170 for something that doesn't work? Well.. I'd be pissed.

What say you?

 

I wonder how many people put these on and thought it did something. That crap that they would scam some one like that. And I'd be pissed for sure.

 

You may be on too something on live axle rear's the sway bar connects at 4 points. The progress bar stiffens it up slightly, if you really want to see true benefits it would need two points attachment to the torsion bar with rubber or poly bushings......needless to say I went ahead and bought one based on good reviews, so I will let you know how it works out, I'm also going to fable with the idea of attaching it to the torsion bar if I can find a poly bushing and fastener or c clamps that will work

 

I can reassure any doubters that the Progress rear sway bar is no scam. It provided a substantial difference in the way my car handles. I'm not the only one who noticed an improvement, almost every person who had taken a ride in my car before and after the install has commented on the change. If I could recommend the most bang for the buck mod one can do this would be it.

As far as how it would work with no center connection points, its pretty simple. The fits rear suspension is a torsion bar. It functions by twisting as one wheel is compressed, allowing the non-compressed wheel to remain somewhat unaffected by the compressed wheels movement.
This is what makes it different from a live axle setup where when one wheel is compressed its counterpart is pushed downward. In both a live axle and an independent suspension the sway bar needs to be tied into the frame to reduce the roll. In fact the front suspension on the fit has a sway bar that works in this way.
The way the Progress RSB works is to provide additional stiffness to the torsion bar making it take more effort to compress one side of the rear suspension and not the other.
Or at least thats how I think it works... Sorry if this isn't super clear, its kinda hard to explain.

 

Yep, you did miss something.

All of the pics you show for other bars have a SINGLE attachment point for each end of the bar. That's why they also need the attachments along the cross-piece.

The bar for the Fit has THREE attachment points at each end, where the end plate bolts on to the trailing-arm on each side. As the car leans, the trailing arms assume a different angle relative to each other; the end-plates follow suit, twisting the bar.

So, no scam after all.

 

^^^This^^^

Thanks man, You said it much better than I was able to.

 

i will be trying this next thanks to feared.




Just sayin

Whiteline BHR86Z Rear Sway bar - 22mm heavy duty blade adjustable
Application Notes

Part Notes
R
3 point adjustable

Key Feature and Benefit
This Whiteline 22mm 2 point adjustable swaybar = more grip = better handling = outright performance - it's the best dollar for dollar handling improvement you can make to your vehicle. This Whiteline adjustable sway bar allows its rate to be altered by increasing or reducing the length of the lever arms. This permits the roll stiffness to be tuned for different situations without replacing the entire bar. The stiffer the bar, the more force required to move the left and right wheels relative to each other. This increases the amount of force required to make the body roll

Features and Benefits
Whiteline Sway Bars
The fitting of bigger Whiteline swaybars is still the best dollar for dollar handling improvement you can make. Cornering loads are spread more evenly across the tyres delivering more grip and frankly, that’s what it’s all about. You also get improved tyre wear as your tyres stay flatter and more upright. Comfort improves because your car sits flatter through bends meaning less movement inside the vehicle. Whiteline swaybars are manufactured using the finest grade spring steel. They are powder coated and supplied with high performance polyurethane mounting bushes in a DIY kit form, ready to simply bolt on.

 

like this one

 

Excellent, appreciate the replies here! I didn't get much help in the other DIY thread and didn't want to derail it any further. (And apologies for the trolly thread title )


Yeah, I was looking at an RSB, and I've seen nothing but positive reviews about this. But, I wanted to do my homework here - The placebo affect is pretty strong w/ car mods - I've seen some pretty incredible claims over the years about the HP gains to be felt from changing an airfilter.. and don't get me started on reviews of Monster Cables


AHHHH! Finally, some science has been dropped! +rep to you! That makes sense... sort of... I mean, I can see it doing something now!


I'm satisfied. Not a scam.



(Mod's, feel free to lock/delete this thread.)

 

 

Working in the professional AV integration field I concur about Monster Cables. With that said, I don't know how the RSB feels on the GE8 but all the very trusted GD3 owners have done nothing but rave about it. If I has no kids, it'd be on my '07 already.

 

Pardon the cynicism. What I think when people say "HUGE improvement!!!" after installing something expensive:

YouTube - Penn and Teller bullshit "The Best"
(some cursing)

 

LOL @ DSM!

I don't own one but the PRSB certainly does work at giving the car more oversteer. its the same design as the neuspeed RSB I had on my previous VW. to oversimplify what it actually does, I'll say that it connects the two rear suspension points together to make the rear end more solid therefore causing the rear end to slide more freely when taking a corner aggressively. if you ever check out pictures or videos of FWD track cars taking a corner, you'll see what I can only describe as three-wheeling "dog-peeing" action where the inside rear wheel is up in the air. that's one of the products of stiffening the rear end with a RSB.

 

I own the Progress RSB ($135 through Club RSX, ironically) and it DOES make a difference. I had my tein coilovers on for about a month before I put the bar on, and in my daily commute, my Fit rotates much better. I am no engineer, but I'm not into justifying my purchases to feel good either. It is subtle, yes. But if you have every gone from stock/no rear bar, to having one on a fwd car, you know this difference. That Whiteline bar looks legit, too!

 

ok, i looked at the op's pict showing the progress swaybar.

from the pict it links 2 independent control arms and pivots at the frame. i dont see how this can be a scam. this is how swaybars are usually installed.

 

just rut the torsen beam and anti sway bar out and weld in a damn I beam. winning

 

I just installed mine, it makes a difference. It feels as if it keeps the body from rolling/tilting. When getting on the on-ramp right hand bank the passenger rear used to lift, now it stays planted

 

Let me get this straight....the MASSIVE rear trailing arm twists during corners and this spindly little RSB is supposed to counteract that????

There is a microsoft paint picture floating around (that I'm unable to find at the moment) that pretty much debunks the Progress RSB. I tried googlig but no luck.

I just don't understand how attaching a smaller sway bar (Progress) to a massive sway bar (rear trailing arm) does anything beneficial?

 

here's a good read for the skeptics: how swaybars work

 

From your article...

"A sway bar couples the suspensions on each side to each other, *AND* relative to the chassis"


You are missing the point...the Fit rear suspension is NOT independent. The rear suspension on the fit is already couple together by the massive rear trailing arm.


I have a pretty good understanding of how sway bars work. For FWD cars, they function best as grip reducers in the rear to promote gradual oversteer. Sway bars should be the last part of the suspension tuning equation.