Eibach Sway bars now avalable for the Mach E

[BMT1071]

Just reporting in that I have over 700 miles on the Eibach bars and they are still noise free. At one point I had three passengers and while that is not fully loaded, there still were no noises. Again, I had no noises with the Steeda's either once I properly greased their front end links. The car does handle a bit better but not enough for someone to replace their Steeda's unless they are having some of the noted issues others have had with them.

If I were buying sway bars for the first time, I would go with these Eibach's just so the OEM end links could be used. That way there would be no need to ever have to service the Steeda end links which I understand should be checked at least every 10K miles. I could be wrong about that but maybe Steve will chime in on how often they should be checked/serviced.

I'm going back to the airport tomorrow so I'll be putting another 230 miles on by the time I return on Sunday. As long as there's no rain this time, I will be able to push the car a little harder through these mountain roads and see how she does. ?

That's great to hear. Mine have arrived but I have not installed them yet. Which setting did you end up going with for the front bar?

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[markboris]

That's great to hear. Mine have arrived but I have not installed them yet. Which setting did you end up going with for the front bar?

The firmest setting. I think I understood from Eric there is not a huge difference between the two settings. This is a heavy car and I have wider than OEM performance wheels/tires with a bit more negative camber set so going with a stiffer setting is not an issue for me. It is easy to change if you find it does not work for you.

 

[azerik]

On mine the front bar on the lightest and the rear on 'only' keeps the car almost too flat. I now have a bigger issue staying pinned in the seat than with the flatness of the car lol. I honestly think the rear bar alone could be enough for the non-sporty drivers, just to keep it a bit flatter and stop the side to side wobble.

I havn't found exactly where my mystery clunk is coming from but I think it's the endlink bolt on the right side (Because I still havn't gotten in there to put them correct so it's probably not tight enough anymore). If it was the width of the bar or the bushings I'd should get it from the left side sometimes, but I don't.

I'm very pleased with the handling and the way the car is now held side to side. I get no squeaks and much much less road noise transferred to the car.

(Side note, Steeda said they'd ship me a new front bar as mine is actually wonky, but that was a week ago, and I have no tracking number. So, they're still slow at actually responding)

 

[21st Century Pony]

So I threw my new Eibach sway bars on last week. Ran close to a thousand miles since then, all here in Virginia and Maryland. BLUF: I like them better than the Steeda ones I've had for about a year now. Besides, I was surprised how bent and worn and shaggy the Steeda bar ends looked after I pulled them off.

Front steering end-to-end doesn't feel constrained at its outer reaches like the Steeda front bar did. It feels like the Ford OEM sway bar did, as in "not getting in the way" at the extreme ends of the steering arc.

The car also does drive flatter. I used the inside hole on the front Eibachs and my OEM Ford endlinks all around.

When mounting the Eibach bars, the zerk fittings are best oriented in line with the bar mounts on the rear Eibach so they point down, while the front zerk fittings are best oriented to the outside (perpendicular to) the bar mounts, so they point out toward the front wheels.

A new handling thing I noticed on the rear end: with the rear Eibach bar mounted, my rear tire slightly gave way, twice, last week, on two different days. We did have a lot of rain here in Virginia and the road was nice and wet both times. Also, my car now has 49k miles and the current tires (OEM Michelins) are getting worn down, not enough to show the wear indicators but close. The rear gave way each time on a turn, once on a freeway on-ramp and once on a street, and immediately re-gripped but the slight slide was noticeable both times. I have never, ever felt this slight slide before, rain or shine, in many thousands of miles on different roads and with different loads and speeds.

My car is lowered almost an inch in the front and about 1/2 inch in the rear, thanks to the (wonderful) KW v3 coilovers I've been running since December 2022. I add this info for context.

I'd appreciate any comments on the rear shimmy.

 

[kennethjk]

So I threw my new Eibach sway bars on last week. Ran close to a thousand miles since then, all here in Virginia and Maryland. BLUF: I like them better than the Steeda ones I've had for about a year now. Besides, I was surprised how bent and worn and shaggy the Steeda bar ends looked after I pulled them off.

Front steering end-to-end doesn't feel constrained at its outer reaches like the Steeda front bar did. It feels like the Ford OEM sway bar did, as in "not getting in the way" at the extreme ends of the steering arc.

The car also does drive flatter. I used the inside hole on the front Eibachs and my OEM Ford endlinks all around.

When mounting the Eibach bars, the zerk fittings are best oriented in line with the bar mounts on the rear Eibach so they point down, while the front zerk fittings are best oriented to the outside (perpendicular to) the bar mounts, so they point out toward the front wheels.

A new handling thing I noticed on the rear end: with the rear Eibach bar mounted, my rear tire slightly gave way, twice, last week, on two different days. We did have a lot of rain here in Virginia and the road was nice and wet both times. Also, my car now has 49k miles and the current tires (OEM Michelins) are getting worn down, not enough to show the wear indicators but close. The rear gave way each time on a turn, once on a freeway on-ramp and once on a street, and immediately re-gripped but the slight slide was noticeable both times. I have never, ever felt this slight slide before, rain or shine, in many thousands of miles on different roads and with different loads and speeds.

My car is lowered almost an inch in the front and about 1/2 inch in the rear, thanks to the (wonderful) KW v3 coilovers I've been running since December 2022. I add this info for context.

I'd appreciate any comments on the rear shimmy.

Thanks for the write up

curious which “holes” did you use on the new bars?

I have the Steeda rear bar and no wear at all and was thinking of getting front Eibach

 

[azerik]

Most likely rear tire pressure. That side to side 'swobble' cold well be the side wall of the tires now. I had been running the OEM Conti's up around 38psi, never had that swobble, but instead I had a rough ride and road noise. (I had pumped these tires up origianlly to lessen the 'thwomp' from the Steeda rwar bar+Koni's over expansion joints. As Our roads here are pretty much blacktop on sand so there's huge cracks everywhere.) I dropped the PSI all around the other day and was amazed as how much less noise there was along with the introduction of the swobble. I dropped the tires down to 33psi. In the rear it was too much, 35 was the spot for me. My street is horrible. So leaving my house I get the swobble and thwomp the whole way. It's amazing how much of a difference a psi or two can make. The problem I have, I have to just deal with the swobble down my street, a couple min later the tires warm up and I get that 2psi back and the drive back down the street doesn't do it.

This rear bar does a better job of transferring the weight from the unloaded side. I don't know if Mark ever got the chance to try to check the scrub on the tire. If you chalk that outer tread and take that corner at that speed you can check the contact patch to see if the tire is rolling over the scrub edge (those little triangles) on to the sidewall, or if it's over inflated and skipping. (Or, you're driving it harder)

 

[21st Century Pony]

Thanks for the write up

curious which “holes” did you use on the new bars?

I have the Steeda rear bar and no wear at all and was thinking of getting front Eibach

I used the inner holes on the front Eibachs. On my Steedas, I used the center holes on the front bars and the inner holes on the rear bars.

 

[21st Century Pony]

Most likely rear tire pressure. That side to side 'swobble' cold well be the side wall of the tires now. I had been running the OEM Conti's up around 38psi, never had that swobble, but instead I had a rough ride and road noise. (I had pumped these tires up origianlly to lessen the 'thwomp' from the Steeda rwar bar+Koni's over expansion joints. As Our roads here are pretty much blacktop on sand so there's huge cracks everywhere.) I dropped the PSI all around the other day and was amazed as how much less noise there was along with the introduction of the swobble. I dropped the tires down to 33psi. In the rear it was too much, 35 was the spot for me. My street is horrible. So leaving my house I get the swobble and thwomp the whole way. It's amazing how much of a difference a psi or two can make. The problem I have, I have to just deal with the swobble down my street, a couple min later the tires warm up and I get that 2psi back and the drive back down the street doesn't do it.

This rear bar does a better job of transferring the weight from the unloaded side. I don't know if Mark ever got the chance to try to check the scrub on the tire. If you chalk that outer tread and take that corner at that speed you can check the contact patch to see if the tire is rolling over the scrub edge (those little triangles) on to the sidewall, or if it's over inflated and skipping. (Or, you're driving it harder)

"Swobble"... I like that tech term it's almost like an onomatopoeia ? And actually it describes the shimmy pretty well. I'll play with the pressures.

 

[kennethjk]

Is there a general consensus on tire pressure for front and rear when the Koni’s are installed and rear Steeda.

I am using 39 front and 35 rear. I seem to have a bit more noise coming from the underneath of car compared to pre Koni’s running 39 all around. Seems stiffer now but bounce had been reduced significantly.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Just reporting in that I have over 700 miles on the Eibach bars and they are still noise free. At one point I had three passengers and while that is not fully loaded, there still were no noises. Again, I had no noises with the Steeda's either once I properly greased their front end links. The car does handle a bit better but not enough for someone to replace their Steeda's unless they are having some of the noted issues others have had with them.

If I were buying sway bars for the first time, I would go with these Eibach's just so the OEM end links could be used. That way there would be no need to ever have to service the Steeda end links which I understand should be checked at least every 10K miles. I could be wrong about that but maybe Steve will chime in on how often they should be checked/serviced.

I'm going to the airport on the 29th so I'll be putting another 230 miles on by the time I return two days later. As long as there's no rain this time, I will be able to push the car a little harder through these mountain roads and see how she does. ?

LOL I still have my Steedas on my car. I haven't put the Eibachs in for a variety of real life reasons. Probably won't be this weekend either, and all I want to do is put the front one in to gauge the difference there. ??

Yeah, just like any tie rod end or ball joint, we should probably be greasing or at least checking the Steeda end links every 10K or yearly (bumpier roads will require more frequent checks, smoother surfaces less frequent). I pumped @sci_goat 's up a little when we were flipping his front bar over to the correct positioning, so Chris should be good for a little while. ??

 

[mkhuffman]

It's been a long time since I played aronnd with tire pressure but I am going to try lower pressure this week based on what you guys are posting. I am driving down to the beach with my wife and she may appreciate a softer ride.

 

[ALTANertive]

Switched out the Steeda bars for the Eibach bars today on my GTPE. Went with the softer setting in the front since that setting is already stiffer than the stiff setting for the Steeda. In the very short amount of time driving home, I didn't notice too much of a difference. Car does seem a little flatter when cornering. Overall ride comfort when just cruising along seems similar. Will see if my views change after more driving.

 

[markboris]

I have close to 2000 miles on the Eibach bars. No issues so far. Using the OEM end links. No issues there either and I have a lowered suspension so if anyone should have issues, it’s me. I’m running the front bar on stiffest setting and car handles great. A little more flat than the Steeda’s. I mentioned all this back in August but just confirming all is still good with these bars and I’m happy.

EDIT: I was NOT unhappy with the Steeda's. They worked well for me once I lengthened the adjustable end links so as the front bars would not hit the half shafts.

 

[mkhuffman]

I installed the front bar yesterday. The clunking and creaking noises are gone. Here are a few pictures. I need to point out that if you are like me, and threw away the stock end links, make sure you get the right nuts. The Steeda nuts do NOT fit the OEM links. I forgot about that and was ready to attach them when I realized I didn't have the right sized nuts.

I had to order new OEM end links. Which is great, because now I know I have new parts in that part of the suspension.

Bar installed at the stiffest setting:

The clearance concerns me, but this probably means I don't need to worry about the bar rubbing on the half shafts.

I loaded up the bar with the grease @markboris recommended, but is no longer available. It was a little messy. I positioned the bar all the way towards the front of the car, because when positioned towards the rear, it was close to hitting the motor insulation.



I

I had to run out to Lowe's to get four M12-1.25 nuts because I didn't remember that the Steeda end links used a different nut. And of course I threw away the OEM nuts. @HuntingPudel told me I should add some green Loctite and that will prevent the nuts from coming off if they loosen. Or I could order the Ford nuts. Actually, it was soooo much easier to put the non-locking nuts on, I would rather just put the green Loctite on there and call it a day.

I love how much better the car drives now. It is quieter and smoother. The bounce is the same, but it definitely is an improvement over the Steeda front bar.

I still have the Steeda rear bar on the car.

 

[4sallypat]

I installed the front bar yesterday. The clunking and creaking noises are gone. Here are a few pictures. I need to point out that if you are like me, and threw away the stock end links, make sure you get the right nuts. The Steeda nuts do NOT fit the OEM links. I forgot about that and was ready to attach them when I realized I didn't have the right sized nuts.

I had to order new OEM end links. Which is great, because now I know I have new parts in that part of the suspension.

Bar installed at the stiffest setting:

The clearance concerns me, but this probably means I don't need to worry about the bar rubbing on the half shafts.

I loaded up the bar with the grease @markboris recommended, but is no longer available. It was a little messy. I positioned the bar all the way towards the front of the car, because when positioned towards the rear, it was close to hitting the motor insulation.



I

I had to run out to Lowe's to get four M12-1.25 nuts because I didn't remember that the Steeda end links used a different nut. And of course I threw away the OEM nuts. @HuntingPudel told me I should add some green Loctite and that will prevent the nuts from coming off if they loosen. Or I could order the Ford nuts. Actually, it was soooo much easier to put the non-locking nuts on, I would rather just put the green Loctite on there and call it a day.

I love how much better the car drives now. It is quieter and smoother. The bounce is the same, but it definitely is an improvement over the Steeda front bar.

I still have the Steeda rear bar on the car.

Nice write up and photos!

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