Will a trailer hitch installed on an HHR serve the same purpose as an anti-sway bar? It's fastened to the frame, right?. Isn't that the same as the sway bar?

I was just shopping for a sway bar when I saw a hitch for about the same price. I have always had trucks or vans with a hitch and had little trouble with swaying on the highway. If I bought a hitch instead, I'd have a lot more options like buying a trailer to carry my kayak.

Don't beat me up if I'm wrong. I'm not a mechanic!

 

Answer is no, a trailer hitch is fixed under the frame and an anti-sway bar is under suspension .

 

The sway bar attaches to the frame and suspension, when you corner the sway bar places torque to the frame and suspension to attempt to eliminate body roll, this results in better cornering and handling.

 

They are definitely not the same. The hitch may stiffen your frame a little bit, but it'll do no good for the body roll. In fact, it should make it worse, just by the added weight in the back (I installed one, these things are heavy...).

The sway bar will attempt to loosely "connect" the two suspension sides, so that when one side gets compressed, it will transfer some of the downward force to the other side, thereby compressing the other side as well and keeping things more level. One drawback is that potholes felt on one side will be felt a bit more (compared to no sway bar) on the other side as well.

A sway bar is just another torsion beam. I had an oversize one on my previous car and the cornering was greatly improved.

Yves