Nice looking HHR

 

When I bought my HHR, the sway bar wasn't connected due to broken end links. I never felt any questionable handling or ill effects so I removed it rather than dealing with the re-occuring end link and bushing issues and that was almost a year ago. To be honest, replacing the struts and shocks had a much larger effect on the handling than removing the sway bar. Is there a little more roll on some turns, mainly low speed, probably. Do I have any weird clunks or noises-nope. I have deliberately tried to get the car into a dangerous situation-I have swung it hard back and forth at 65 mph simulating dodging a road hazard, taken off ramps at very high speed, drove with the roof top cargo box which raises the center of gravity-nothing happens. The inherent understeer of front wheel drive cars and the HHR in particular means it will just understeer more and lean a little more, nothing even close to unsafe. Now, I am not recommending everybody do this but I have found it works for me.

 

BigJack-

No issues at all, my new tires are 26.1 tall.. I still have .300" above the front stut plate for clearance. Lighter by 1 lb per tire also..

And in back, approx 1/2" on the closest side between rear plastic inner fender.

Doing the math calc. speed-O is about 1 mph off. (slower than I'm traveling)..
But seems speed-O is more accurate now, with side by side comparisons on the road & wifey's Mopar beside mine.

Disclaimer: Not saying this size fits all.. Many variables, tire profile, etc, etc. etc.. Buyer Beware & do your own calculations..

 

Yea, that looks pretty close to what mine was with 25.9" tires.

 

Solman- Yes it does.. Couldn't get any bigger, height wise.

But a very good fit.. Should have come from the factory with 225/50/17 on !!! (Course then we'd probably wanna change those too)..

My new Sumo's are doing everything I was hoping for them to do..

 

I have some more to tell about the 4X's-they keep getting better. Last Friday, drove 35 miles to work in heavy snow with ice and snow covered roads-horrible conditions. Everybody was struggling no matter what they drove but most were driving sensible, the HHR and the 4X's exceeded my expectations again. I know high performance all seasons are a compromise but for the terrible conditions they did great, very little wheel spin and lock up. Today, the commute was in heavy rain, a lot of water on the roads from the rain and melting snow. My old Michelins would have been terrible today, they were the worst tire I have ever had in the rain. The 4X's displayed no hydroplaning or spinning at all, where the Michelin's definitely would have.