Ultra Racing Strut Bar

[VF-X]

Bought mine during the chinese new year, and it took around 1 week. And yes it's from the dffoo1972.

Looks genuine to me. Haven't put them on yet. Waiting for everything to be ready and i ma spend a whole day putting all at once.

[HAMSTA]

Stupid **** piece of ***** bolts.

I've used all kinds of lubricants and freeze gases and I can't get them off.

Why are they painted red anyway? **** ***** **** ***** ***** car.

[benji4138]

Stupid **** piece of ***** bolts.

I've used all kinds of lubricants and freeze gases and I can't get them off.

Why are they painted red anyway? **** ***** **** ***** ***** car.

Use a long lever......they are stuck there very tight. Needed my whole body weight to get them started.....

[HAMSTA]

Stupid **** piece of ***** bolts.

I've used all kinds of lubricants and freeze gases and I can't get them off.

Why are they painted red anyway? **** ***** **** ***** ***** car.

Use a long lever......they are stuck there very tight. Needed my whole body weight to get them started.....

I'm going to have to go see a garage to get them to take the bolts off for me *sigh*.

I spent a good 4 hours trying to undo them. *roll's eyes* Pretty sure the red paint that's been painted on the bolt and screw has something to do with them been so darn tight!

Edited March 4, 2011 by Helvetica Rounded

[Silver-Aurion]

The red paint is an indicator to show if the bolts have ever been removed, tampered with or have become loose and if they have the red paint will strip off. This is to show signs that the parts have been removed or replaced since factory.

I'm not sure why your bolts are so hard to remove? Mine came undone with minimal force.

[HAMSTA]

Guy at TJM was able to take it off using a grey socket instead of those conventional silver ones, wasn't charged :-)

[benji4138]

Ok well I received delivery of an Ultra Racing 23mm Rear Sway Bar today.

Purchased from the dffoo 1972 seller and seems to be the genuine product. Nice and solid and weighed in at 6.1kg's.

Very well wrapped and secured, tons of bubble wrap and very happy with how much care was put into the posting of the item. I shall install the bar tomorrow and go for a test run in an area with plenty of run off space as I'm expecting a fair bit of oversteer

Afterwards I shall post my findings here :)

Edited March 7, 2011 by benji4138

[DJKOR]

Very well wrapped and secured, tons of bubble wrap and very happy with how much care was put into the posting of the item. I shall install the bar tomorrow and go for a test run in an area with plenty of run off space as I'm expecting a fair bit of oversteer

You won't really reach the limits unless you truly give it a hard run. I wouldn't worry about over-steering issues under most 'spirited' street driving condtions. Not having a go or anything, but just saying that the limits of these cars may be higher than you expect. What you may think is it's limit will surprise you again next time when you push it even harder.

[benji4138]

Wow, just wow. After just having the front strut in (19mm) it made a bit of difference in feeling more "point and shoot" style of cornering but still wasn't great. But after installing the RSB (23mm) this car feels like it's on tracks when cornering :)

It's hard to explain but the rear comes round perfectly with the front and am feeling practically no body roll, although I never felt too much in stock trim. The rear does feel stiffer but it doesn't seem to have effected the comfort of the car, which I'm pleased with.

I was surprisingly able to find the limit and exceed it I gotta say the oversteer in a FWD is amazing fun, although I wouldn't recommend trying it too much. You gotta know how to handle the car in such situations and it's not for the faint hearted. Loving my decision to go with 23mm but I would recommend people looking at getting a RSB that 19mm would be ample for a daily driver with some spirited driving. If your thinking of tracking it however it might not be a bad idea to check the 23mm out. Been talking to a few race engineers and drivers (good to know people in the field) and they all say the same in setting a car up for track trim. RWD cars should have a bigger bar up front and smaller in the rear and FWD cars should have a smaller bar up front and bigger in the rear. This is only for track setup handling and wasn't recommended for just "spirited" driving.

On the bad side though, I think I may be going through tyres a little bit quicker

Summing up I never thought the Aurion could feel so quick and nimble through corners, it certainly corners harder than I could ever imagine :D Bring on Winton

[Silver-Aurion]

Can you give us a link to the 23mm bar??? I can't find it anywhere

[benji4138]

Can you give us a link to the 23mm bar??? I can't find it anywhere

I had to ask the seller if they had one as also couldn't find one. Here is a link for the one I bought Click me although the sale ends soon. So here is also a link to the seller. If you can't find it in his store just ask him a question about the 23mm and he'll reply with a link for you :)

[HAMSTA]

Anyone got any experience with using one of these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ULTRA-RACING-4-Point-Front-Lower-Bar-Toyota-Camry-2007-/190456075376?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c58111470#ht_14213wt_941

[benji4138]

Anyone got any experience with using one of these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_14213wt_941

Check page 5 of this thread

Link to the post

Edited March 9, 2011 by benji4138

[Silver-Aurion]

I'm so ****** off. When the hell did they come out with the 23MM? If I knew there was a 23MM I would have bought that instead of the 19MM.

I'm willing to sell mine asasp to buy the 23MM. Any takers? Make me an offer. Seriously B)

Edited March 9, 2011 by Silver-Aurion

[DJKOR]

I'm so ****** off. When the hell did they come out with the 23MM? If I knew there was a 23MM I would have bought that instead of the 19MM.

I'm willing to sell mine asasp to buy the 23MM. Any takers? Make me an offer. Seriously B)

No need to get all worked up about it. Can you really justify why you feel so bad you didn't get the 23mm? The 19mm bar is a great addition as it is.

You should maybe focus on things that will give more of an overall difference to complement the 19mm bar better... like getting rid of that spongy Presara suspension and putting in some Sportivo or TRD springs and shocks.

[Silver-Aurion]

I'm so ****** off. When the hell did they come out with the 23MM? If I knew there was a 23MM I would have bought that instead of the 19MM.

I'm willing to sell mine asasp to buy the 23MM. Any takers? Make me an offer. Seriously B)

No need to get all worked up about it. Can you really justify why you feel so bad you didn't get the 23mm? The 19mm bar is a great addition as it is.

You should maybe focus on things that will give more of an overall difference to complement the 19mm bar better... like getting rid of that spongy Presara suspension and putting in some Sportivo or TRD springs and shocks.

Man the reason I'm worked up over it is because that the 23MM is selling cheaper than what I bought the 19MM! So I could have had a cheaper bar and also thicker for less. So that's got me disappointed.

Anything like new suspension is out of the question as I would no way have the funds for something like that in a long time.

With rising petrol, just paid my rego yesterday (that really made the wallet light as air) and my oil change service is in few weeks. <_<

[DJKOR]

Man the reason I'm worked up over it is because that the 23MM is selling cheaper than what I bought the 19MM! So I could have had a cheaper bar and also thicker for less. So that's got me disappointed.

Anything like new suspension is out of the question as I would no way have the funds for something like that in a long time.

With rising petrol, just paid my rego yesterday (that really made the wallet light as air) and my oil change service is in few weeks. <_<

It's like the same reasoning as selling your Presara to upgrade to a TRD. Get more gain for value that way

[Silver-Aurion]

Man the reason I'm worked up over it is because that the 23MM is selling cheaper than what I bought the 19MM! So I could have had a cheaper bar and also thicker for less. So that's got me disappointed.

Anything like new suspension is out of the question as I would no way have the funds for something like that in a long time.

With rising petrol, just paid my rego yesterday (that really made the wallet light as air) and my oil change service is in few weeks. <_<

It's like the same reasoning as selling your Presara to upgrade to a TRD. Get more gain for value that way

Prodigy bro

But yeah I wish it was easier done than said <_< .

I'm looking on carsales frequently to snag me up a ZR6 but it's just not worth it. I've already invested too much money into my Aurion. The biggest thing is the 3 year warranty which has literally saved me thousands. With the biggest advantage with the extended warranty was the new transmission computer(invoice showed it would have cost me over $900 out of my pocket if I didn't have warranty.

It's either sell the Prodigy and get a ZR6 at around the same price but with NO warranty and at least several thousand more KM's than my Prodigy.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Silver-Aurion

[Adamsy]

MMM a 23mm rear bar is going to give a Prodigy a pretty stiff rear end i would think? Which kind of begs the questions is the rest of the car up too extracting the benefits the 23mm would bring in a skilful drivers hands over a 19mm bar? i know this seems like a pretty cheap way of making it handle better but is the tyres and suspension/chassis going to let you be able to get the full benefits of this bigger bar?

[Silver-Aurion]

MMM a 23mm rear bar is going to give a Prodigy a pretty stiff rear end i would think? Which kind of begs the questions is the rest of the car up too extracting the benefits the 23mm would bring in a skilful drivers hands over a 19mm bar? i know this seems like a pretty cheap way of making it handle better but is the tyres and suspension/chassis going to let you be able to get the full benefits of this bigger bar?

Benji seems to think so

[DJKOR]

MMM a 23mm rear bar is going to give a Prodigy a pretty stiff rear end i would think? Which kind of begs the questions is the rest of the car up too extracting the benefits the 23mm would bring in a skilful drivers hands over a 19mm bar? i know this seems like a pretty cheap way of making it handle better but is the tyres and suspension/chassis going to let you be able to get the full benefits of this bigger bar?

Benji seems to think so

But this is in comparison from stock to 23mm. I see what Adamsy means though. It would be interesting to have a comparison of the 19mm and the 23mm on the same suspension setup to see what differences there are. It's like when people say that a free-flowing exhaust is always better when in fact, it isn't always the case despite what people say from their experience.

[Adamsy]

MMM a 23mm rear bar is going to give a Prodigy a pretty stiff rear end i would think? Which kind of begs the questions is the rest of the car up too extracting the benefits the 23mm would bring in a skilful drivers hands over a 19mm bar? i know this seems like a pretty cheap way of making it handle better but is the tyres and suspension/chassis going to let you be able to get the full benefits of this bigger bar?

Benji seems to think so

But this is in comparison from stock to 23mm. I see what Adamsy means though. It would be interesting to have a comparison of the 19mm and the 23mm on the same suspension setup to see what differences there are. It's like when people say that a free-flowing exhaust is always better when in fact, it isn't always the case despite what people say from their experience.

Mm yeah I’m just not sure if the Luxury model specs favour dynamic ability enough to really use the extra gains bigger bar may give the Aurion? you may be able to use it a bit more in the Sportivo or TRD as they have higher levels of mechanical grip, are stiffer and suspension tune is firmer which overall gives the car a higher dynamic ability to use the bar if you know what i mean? i just can’t quit put it into words what i mean lol. i would think that you would tap out the suspension and tyres on a prodigy before you had wrung the neck out of all the performance gains he 19mm bar could offer over stock? i really can’t say for sure as it's been quite some time since I’ve driven a prodigy or Presara and i don’t think I’ve ever driven an AT-X but yeah i wouldn’t want you to get your hopes up about the 23mm bar and then have it deliver not much more than the 19mm and it disappoints you? That’s all

[benji4138]

Well I still haven't been able to compare the 23mm to a 19mm but I can only assume what it would be like, and my thinking is that it should be more than enough for standard conditions and some spirited driving. Only reason I went with 23mm is I'm planning on tracking the car and upgrading the suspension at a future stage along with lightweight wheels and slicks. Looking at the whole handling side. (Slicks are obviously only for the track).

Going from stock (man that bar is light) to anything thicker will always feel to be benefiting, although I do believe there is a point where it would get too thick. I think a really great combo would be something like 16mm up front and 19mm at the rear. That way it's a bit stiffer in the front and rear from stock but not so much that it can be unforgiving, if your not competent in handling a sideways FWD car.

I'll always be happy for my purchase but until the day I drive a 19mm RSB Aurion I won't be able to fairly decide or advise which is the better option. I'd be leaning towards the 19mm though as it is a tried and tested thickness. The 23mm is very stiff in the rear in the lateral movement which causes a fair bit of oversteer, it's actually a tightrope sort of act when I'm cornering, stay on the tightrope and she goes around the corners like she's on rails, fall off the edge though and she's got her **** out sideways and takes a bit to bring back. Good fun but not recommended at all

[DJKOR]

... would be something like 16mm up front and 19mm at the rear. That way it's a bit stiffer in the front and rear from stock but not so much that it can be unforgiving, if your not competent in handling a sideways FWD car.

Why would you want a 16mm front sway bar when I'm pretty sure the stock front sway bar is closer to at least 19mm? I haven't measured it, but I'm certain that it's well thicker than 16mm. If you were to make it thinner than stock, you would really be stuffing up the handling of the car.

But that's all irrelevant because there is no aftermarket front sway bar available.

[benji4138]

... would be something like 16mm up front and 19mm at the rear. That way it's a bit stiffer in the front and rear from stock but not so much that it can be unforgiving, if your not competent in handling a sideways FWD car.

Why would you want a 16mm front sway bar when I'm pretty sure the stock front sway bar is closer to at least 19mm? I haven't measured it, but I'm certain that it's well thicker than 16mm. If you were to make it thinner than stock, you would really be stuffing up the handling of the car.

But that's all irrelevant because there is no aftermarket front sway bar available.

Oh, the stock one is already 16mm?? Wow, learn something new everyday. Alright cancel my quote and turn it into just get a 19mm RSB for a great handling car, with no need for a front strut, unless wanting to make it more "pointier". (Good to see someone else up at this hour, although I guess in QLD it's only 0150)