bamflee84

I was looking into buy new sway bars, i knwo the racing beat come on the mp3 and mazda speed protege and have a different rear crossmember. The awr bar does not change the rear crossmember how much does this effect the performance. I would think by chaning both to a thicker bar and chaning out the old crossmember that this would be a better choice. Any help on which one would be better would be great. Also if anyone can list some websites to find the bars would be great. Thanks

hughes412

Well I've done a little searching too, and before you do anything to the swaybars make sure you get new struts (if you haven't done so). I don't feel like typing that much so I'll keep it short. The stock struts want hold up to bigger bars. And if you get a bigger rear bar it tends to mess with the stearing. I think causing understear.

rustychops41

The AWR 19mm can have fitment problems depending on whether your car is lowered, and you use the "firm" setting. Using their adjustable end-links (highly recommended) might solve that issue. By all means get struts with beefier tabs than the OEMs for either bar. A bigger rear bar only will cause more oversteer, the car will rotate into corners more, sometimes wanting to swap ends, like on the freeway last month when I sent my 02 DX to it's grave.

bamflee84

Yeah my car is lowerd and i know about the tabs actually, i have tokico blues with eibach pros. I ask becuase i had the awr 19mm bar with the adjustable endlinks and i actually snaped it in half. I put it on it worked fine at first besides that clunking sound, I called awr for help they said i installed it right and that i might want to buy new endlinks, so i did. Before they came in the bar had snaped and i was dragging it down the highway. So I just wanted to know from others personal experiences with the sway bars which would they prefer. Thanks for help any more info would be nice. I tend to favor towards the racing beat becease the rear crossmember is changed out and the bar is also thicker from the stock one vs the awr that is a thicker bar with adjustable settings.

2.0GT

you do NOT need to change the rear cross member if you change the rear sway to the racing beat. I've been using one for a while with no problems. All you need is the racing beat bar, part # BP7H-28-151A, the stabilizer bushings part # BN7H-28-156E, and stabilizer plates, # BN7H-28-155A ( these are the horseshoe shaped plates that fit over the bushings ). A few friends of mine regularly auto-X with the bar, and there have been no problems with the rear cross member.

Mazdacub

A friend just directed me to this site and this post in particular. To make a few things clear a Racing Beat sway bar from a Mazdaspeed will fit a MP5 or sedan with no problems. The only recommendation is getting new MP5 links if installing on a sedan because the sedan ones are longer. By Taking off the old end links you run the risk of damaging the allen bolt and not being able to tighten them up right after the install, so get new ones anyway.

I have been auto cross racing for the past year and a half and have no problem with the bar. I love it and it makes a huge difference in the handling of the car. The rear end can get away on you but if you know your car it is easy to stay away from. It has no clunks, no problems with the stock struts mounts and it fits like a glove.

I’m very curious on how a sway bar snapped in half or did you mean the end link?

Mazdacub

The car is fun as hell to drive with it in. You can corner much better.

bamflee84

2.0gt, so you are saying its not necessary to change out the rear cross member to fit the racing beat sway bar, but if you buy it from the dealer the kit includes a new cross member, wouldn't this help even more. I figured my the shape of the racing beat sway bar that it should be able to fit with out chaning the crossmember. Aslo about the mp5 hardware, you are saying change out the seden bushing and plates with the mp5 ones, i have those lying around in my garage some where so all i would need is the bar. I still want to know if the changing the rear crossmember would help the car even more or if it doesn't.

Mazdaclub. yes i was able to snap the rear bar in middle and not the endlinks. The bar had snapped right next to the driver side stabalizer bushing. I'm nost sure exactly how I did it, i was driving it pretty hard right before it went though. I realized it as it was scrapping down the highway. I just got rid of the bar or a would have taken a picture of it for you.

Well thanks for the help, so it seems racing beat is the choice over the awr so far.

2.0GT

The shape of the racing beat bar will fit the existing cross member just fine. You do not need to re-shape or modifiy the parts in any way. The mazdaspeed crossmember might be heavier material, or stronger. I do not know. Like I said in the prev. post, the new sway bar will fit the existing cross member. As for the part numbers I posted, they are all mazdaspeed part numbers, not the P5 ones. The only pieces I use are the P5 sport end links. They are a little more that 1" shorter that the OEM ones from the sedan.

macdaddyslomo

read the FAQ...you can "make it fit", but it's better to install the new crossmember

Mazdacub

Make what fit? It is a dead match for all the bushings / braces. They line up perfectly with the stock mounting holes on the MP5 or Sedan. Just use the MP5 links because they are shorter and keep the bar almost level.

macdaddyslomo

compare the crossmember from the kit and the stocker...you'll see what i mean

Mazdacub

got a link to the info?

2.0GT

Dealerships in canada do not have the parts available in a kit, not around here anyways. when we bought the pieces, they were purchased seperate.

macdaddyslomo

interesting...wonder if the crossmember on Canadian Protege's is different, I noticed every member that is saying it is a direct fit is Canadian