[Doohickie]

Originally Posted by tiburon1

Sway bars. There has been a lot of talk about upgrading this one part to increase roll stiffness. So how may of you have done this mod and what parts did you get and how thick of a sway bar did you install and how did it work out?

First of all, a lot of parts made for the Hyundai Elantra and Tiburon fit the Kia Spectra and Spectra5 straight up. All three cars were developed by Hyundai (with Kia being a division of Hyundai), and all were built on the same basic platform and share a lot of (but not all) suspension parts. The biggest difference I know is that the front sway bar of the Tib does not fit the Elantra or Spectra, and the Tib has 5-lug wheels while the other two have 4-lug wheels. So if you want to upgrade to Tib brakes, either the rotors need to be drilled to a 4-bolt pattern or the hubs need to be upgraded to the 5-lug Tib lugs. I know both of these have been done on Elantras and I'm pretty sure they could be done to the Spectra.

With regard to rear sway bars, the bar of choice in my opinion is the 03 Tiburon GT bar. It's 19 mm, MUCH stiffer than the 13 on the Spectra. And its geometry is identical making it an easy change out. Here is a guide to the sway bar that I wrote.

Lowing springs, what brand did you by and how low or high did you go. If you did more than one set up tell us witch set up you liked the most.

do you know any one thats actually bought a set of coile overs for our car and installed them?
how did thay ride what was the fit and qualty?
where did you get them and how long did it take to get them?

Ok ok I know struts should be part of the lowering spring question so is there a stiffer aftermarket strut out there? If you lowered you car did you keep factory struts and hhow have they lasted? And have any of you spectra Ex, Lx owners upgraded to the stiffer spring and shocks on the SX and Spectra5?

I haven't messed with those... at least not yet. But as I said earlier, a lot of products made for Elantra and Tiburon will work with the Spectra.

And finally I have a bone to pick with people about the tower braces. Fist of all no matter how thick you tower brace is un less its triangulated ( attached at three points) they hardly do anything.

I test drove both the Spectra5 and the Elantra and both seemed to have an issue with "steering wander". On the highway, it seems like the car just wants to slide off to one direction or the other, requiring constant, although small, corrections. I bought my Elantra and just figured it was something I had to get used to... and I did. I also noticed that cornering was pretty imprecise, especially if the road surface was not smooth and consistent. Then someone recommended I get a front strut bar. I did, and although you're right in saying "they hardly do anything", they do, in fact, go a long way toward correcting these issues (which were subtle to begin with).

I'm considering getting a rear strut bar as well. I think for sedans, structure is adequate and a strut bar isn't really needed. But on hatchbacks like my Elantra 5-door and the Spectra5, there is noticeable body flex and you can hear the body creak when turning into a driveway, for instance. Someone I know from an Elantra forum is just about ready to bring a removeable strut bar to market (in July), and I'm helping him finalize the design. I have a hatch because I like to haul stuff in it, so a fixed rear strut bar is out of the question. But a removeable one might be just the ticket. We'll see.