I would venture to guess that the reason for the torque wrench is so that the bolts are all tightened exactly the same. Having one tightened more than another could affect the handling and that's the reason for the sway bar in the first place. A torque wrench is a great, relatively inexpensive tool to purchase and comes in handy for a myriad of things...especially when you're pulling your wheels and tires off. You want them balanced as evenly as possible too so you get the best wear and ride as well.

 

Well, I see your point Deb, but since I tightened them all as much as I could I don't figure there can be that much difference between them. As far as having other uses for a torque wrench, in my case at least, I'm long past the age where I'm inclined to do any mechanical work on the car myself. I wouldn't even mess with the wheels unless I had a flat. The dealer, or tire store, does any tire rotating these days.

 

I bought mine around Xmas. I had many excuses for not installing:

too cold
too much snow
no way to get the ass of the car in the air
no torque wrench

Well all my excuses have been gone for a while now. I bought a hydraulic jack, axel stands and a torque wrench sometime ago. It is warm now and no snow. Flies yes but no snow. So after borrowing some ramps from my father and after the embarassment of actually admitting here that I had not installed, well I just finished putting it on. Simple install. Took 20 minutes.

Have not test drove yet. That will be tomorrow.

 

Did you end up just backing it up some Rhino Ramps or something like that?


Goose

 

Got to take the HHR out for a test drive w/anti-sway bar installed.
I did not do any aggressive manouvers (mrs. bigallis1 with me) but what I did do I could tell some difference. Will report more when I can do some aggressive manouvers.

 

Yes I did. That gave me plenty of room to manouver around and get something under there with me to balance the bar on while getting the first side bolted on.

 

I went to my dad's house to get my old trusty metal ramp. He had just given them to a friend of his.

So That6s what I get for not using them for a few years......
Bought some plastic ones at ADAP or Auto Zone or what ever the low end parts store is these days. They worked fine. I just could not fit beneath the car to put the Antisway bar on like some folks can I've gone a few cheeseburgers to far
Anyway, a short easy job putting the swaybar on. A BIG difference in handling! I felt safer immediately.

 

Nice pic of the Rhino Ramps...that doesn't look like a CT plate to me.....is that a MA plate?

I have the gray Rhino Ramps...I bought them at Walmart a couple of years ago before the price of them went crazy


This sway bar must be popular...I just placed my order with Brad at neverenoughauto and he said that they were out of stock...would probably be getting some in a few weeks. Fine with me as I'll be traveling for a bit anyways and would not have time to install it. Placed the order and look forward to installing it when I get some time



Goose

 

I think I'll try the ramp idea, because what I found after wrestling with my recently delivered Progress bar is that the holes don't quite line up after I have 3 bolts in. They are not truly off but they do require precision in getting the angle of the bolt correct enough to thread onto the hidden nut of the inside plate. I was trying the jack stand method in the enclosed instructions and that made the springs droop too much. When I let the HHr rest on the floor thus easy the tension I could NOT get the 4th nut on. I've got the ramps so I'll try that. If that fails I have a friend who has a full lift in his home garage like that shown in Socal Mike's pics. So far this has been a RPITA job...so a word of warning to those who have not done it yet that, the folks who haven't been troubled with the install must have had a lot "Shop luck" going on.

 

My SB arrived earlier this week, hopefully it will be installed over the weekend.