Rear Upper Strut Bar - Cruze

"Hooker" (Hooker) 01/26/2016 at 11:58 • Filed to: None

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I have a friend of mine who swears by strut bars as a way to reduce body roll and stiffen the ride up a bit. I’m just looking for a little more body control in the twisties on my Cruze. I’m looking into a rear upper strut bar (trunk mounted) and potentially a lower strut bar (but far less so.) Have any of you had any experience with these bars (front or rear) and their effectiveness?

Edit: I’m looking into a rear upper 2pt bar.

Party-vi > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:02

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I’m not sure how a strut bar will reduce body roll since it’s just holding your strut towers still. Get some thicker sway bars to combat body roll.

daender > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:07

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It’s for NVH, noise, vibration, and harshness, it might stiffen up your ride but it’s not going to reduce roll. If you want to reduce roll, then look into front and rear sway bars.

Hooker > Party-vi 01/26/2016 at 12:07

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That’s how I feel, however, they (online at Cruze talk forum) swear by them.

Hooker > daender 01/26/2016 at 12:11

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OK thank you. Do you have any suggestions of brands? Places to go where they know their stuff? I don’t want to mess up the car. (still under warranty. )

Hooker > Party-vi 01/26/2016 at 12:11

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Same question as below. Do you know of a place that can advise me on a good replacement sway bar? Thanks!

Decay buys too many beaters > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:12

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Are the rears struts (they’re not)? How exactly are you going to change chassis dynamics at all when the shocks cannot experience transverse loading.

Go with a front strut bar, or better yet stiffer roll bars

Hooker > Decay buys too many beaters 01/26/2016 at 12:14

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Roll bars the same thing as sway bars? I know next to nothing about suspension components.

Party-vi > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:16

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Considering the Cruze is made out of steel and not wet noodles, so I don’t think chassis flex would be that much of an issue. Certainly not noticeable unless you’re racing one of them. A strut bar assists in helping to eliminate chassis flex during cornering, as Macpherson strut and double wishbone suspensions put more stress on shock/strut towers and these towers aren’t connected to the chassis rails.

Anti-roll (or sway) bars would be your #1 choice in combating body roll, followed by stiffer shocks/springs/struts.

I think the only benefit to getting a strut bar for a daily driver is your teeth chattering more over potholes.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:18

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ZZPerformance?

Decay buys too many beaters > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:19

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Sorry yes, that’s the more common name. Haven’t had my coffee yet...

Party-vi > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:22

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Whiteline makes a set for the Cruze. I’m not sure about others companies. You can try Tirerack and look for suspension components for your car.

Warranty-wise, the manufacturer can claim that your aftermarket sway bars accelerated wear on your other suspension components and may not cover replacement for any associated parts. I would keep your old parts around in case of this event.

Jayhawk Jake > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:22

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I have a rear sway on my sonic, it makes a ridiculous difference

Hooker > Party-vi 01/26/2016 at 12:29

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Thank you for the information. I had seen Whiteline. I didn’t know if they were a good brand or not. I will look into sway bar upgrade instead. This is good kinja. Thank you!

Hooker > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 01/26/2016 at 12:29

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Is this the brand?

Hooker > Jayhawk Jake 01/26/2016 at 12:30

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Just the rear? Makes that much of a difference? How much did the bar go for?

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:32

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They have a website... They do a lot of GM products (Grand Prix, Cruze, Sonic, etc). JayhawkJake used their rear sway bar on his Sonic and it kicks ads at autocross

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Decay buys too many beaters 01/26/2016 at 12:33

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Front strut bars on the Cruze are fairly useless as well, since the strut towers are connected to the firewall. They aren't going anywhere.

Jayhawk Jake > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:33

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Yeah, it’s night and day when coupled with sticky tires. I think it was like 300? I got it from ZZP

d15b > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:33

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Large rear swaybar with an open front helps with turn-in.

Decay buys too many beaters > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 01/26/2016 at 12:38

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I didn’t even look at the front, that’s a pretty cool design feature!

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Decay buys too many beaters 01/26/2016 at 12:41

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Cobalts are the same way, I'm guessing most other small Chevys are. It makes a lot of sense.

iSureWilll > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 12:41

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As others have said, a strut bar will stiffen the chassis a little but it won’t prevent body roll. Sway bars are what you want.

I wouldn’t go much larger than the stock bar, maybe +2mm, in the rear. As you get bigger the tendency to oversteer will increase as well. A non adjustable bar will be perfectly fine on the street.

TireRack has Whiteline bars for around $200 each. Good brand and good store.

http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/Sus…

Textured Soy Protein > Jayhawk Jake 01/26/2016 at 12:59

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Sway bar is totally different from strut bar.

daender > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 13:02

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Whiteline is pretty awesome for sway bars, they only have a rear sway bar for your car. http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_detail… However, all they appear to sell is just the sway bar, you’ll have to find the endlinks and brackets elsewhere if your Cruze didn’t come with a rear sway bar from the factory.

Also check carID to see what’s out there. Some of the parts aren’t in stock but at least you can get a product name or number to search elsewhere.

http://www.carid.com/2013-chevy-cru…

Mustafaluigi > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 13:10

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White line is very reputable. Very big in the Subaru world.

Hooker > Mustafaluigi 01/26/2016 at 13:25

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Thank you for the feedback!

Hooker > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 01/26/2016 at 13:25

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See, this is why I come here. I had no idea about any of this crap and now I have the knowledge! Thank you!

Hooker > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 01/26/2016 at 13:26

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Thanks for the heads up!

d15b > iSureWilll 01/26/2016 at 13:31

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By oversteer, you mean turn-in?

boxrocket > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 13:49

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Option 2: Get a Fiesta ST or Focus ST. Suspension woes resolved.

The Crude is a massive improvement over the cobalt, but it still feels just more than adequate. The new one looks like a chevified-Elantra.

iSureWilll > d15b 01/26/2016 at 14:09

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lol - depending on how you look at it.

Hooker > Jayhawk Jake 01/26/2016 at 14:17

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300 isn’t bad at all for that much improvement. So, did you only do the rear? I’m not looking to autoX or anything. More just to have more confidence in turns (more smiles)

Hooker > d15b 01/26/2016 at 14:18

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Thank you. I get to learn new things every day here!

Hooker > iSureWilll 01/26/2016 at 14:18

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This. Thank you.

Hooker > Jayhawk Jake 01/26/2016 at 14:18

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Also, how much more thick did you go?

iSureWilll > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 14:42

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No problem!

Hooker > boxrocket 01/26/2016 at 14:47

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I genuinely like the Cruze over the Foucus (ST notwithstanding). I tend to like comfort and quiet more than anything else so the Cruze works for me. I just want it to handle a little better.

Jayhawk Jake > Hooker 01/26/2016 at 15:03

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The Sonic doesn’t have a stock swaybar. I don’t know that ZZP’s thing is considered a swaybar either. It’s a bar that attaches underneath the springs on either side. I have no idea how big it is off the top of my head.

Jayhawk Jake > Textured Soy Protein 01/26/2016 at 15:04

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Yes. But I know from experience how much of a difference the sway bar makes for handling, which is probably more than any sort of strut bar will do on this car. The sonic and cruze are quite similar.

Textured Soy Protein > Jayhawk Jake 01/26/2016 at 15:19

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Oh, I agree, a sway bar is much more useful of an upgrade.