[impressive]

has anyone tried the perrin front and rear sways? what size would best suit the 08 sti? for both front and rear. according to Perrin does the STI 08 and the wrx 08 share the same size sways? would like to hear feedback and info on this products... im planning to purchase them and match them with whiteline front and rear endlinks... tia

[steelgraySTi06]

I have the Perrin 25mm sways front and back on my 06 for almost a year and they make a HUGE difference in body roll. The quality of the bars is great and fitment was excellent. I use kartboy end links and they are great I have not a bad thing about them from anyone who has them.
I don't know about the 08 but my car is fairly neutral in turns and in general a larger rear bar promotes oversteer. if i were to do it again I'd get a 25rear/22front or 22rear stock front

[caveguru]

since you asked... the current Perrin FSB for the '08's does NOT fit the STI, only the WRX and LGT. I just pulled mine off and reverted to stock. I talked to Jeff and he is working on it.

Rear 22mm bar works fine.

Frank

[impressive]

Originally Posted by caveguru

since you asked... the current Perrin FSB for the '08's does NOT fit the STI, only the WRX and LGT. I just pulled mine off and reverted to stock. I talked to Jeff and he is working on it.

Rear 22mm bar works fine.

Frank

i think i saw this in here... is this the right swaybars front and rear for the 08 sti? it says wrx/sti als contacted perrin i was told that the sways for the 08 sti and 08 wrx are the same for the front and rear.. were you able to try this? any suggestions on what size to get? i think 25mm is to thick for this car.. thanks

[twigg107]

They did have the front swaybar forsale awhile back but took it down after some people complaining about fitment. They have just put it back on their site so they might be the new ones.

[Harman Motive]

We just recently released our front and rear adjustable for 08 STi with correct end link angles...check them out

Harman Motive 08STi adjustable front and rear sway bars

[philrae]

I put Perrin front and rear sway bars on yesterday. They certainly reduce the body roll and improve the handling.

A few notes. I bought the 19mm rear and 22mm front. I used the stock endlinks. This may have been a mistake that I will fix next time I have ~$250 spare. The stock links are really pretty flimsy and had issues at the rear (see later).

My opinion from driving the modified car. I would not go with stiffer bars than those I chose for street use unless you also stiffened the shocks. As it is, the car went well into tight bends with reduced body roll and felt great, however, hitting slight pot holes while loaded up like this did cause perturbations from the 'soft' OEM shocks. This would not be an issue on track since there should not be potholes. I cannot be certain, but fitting new endlinks may also help. As it is, the sway bars and shocks still seem well enough matched with the 18 and 22mm bars.

The rear bar comes with 3 stiffness settings. I had wanted to use the stiffest setting (~50% stiffer than '08 STi stock), however the endlinks were not happy about that idea. I cannot say that I could not have jammed them in, but it would have been a wrestling match and the link would have been at the extreme end if its travel. I used the middle setting instead, that was fine.

The front went on easily in the stiffer setting. An impact wrench is a thing of beauty for removing the engine cross mount support to get the old bar out and the new one in.

A note on jacking up the car. Searching this forum for "jack points" gave some useful tips. I used the rear diff with a hockey puck to get the rear raised onto axle stands. This was easy.

The front is more tricky. My jack is too tall to reach the front central jack point with the car on the ground (I think the low profile Craftsman type jack would be OK). Instead I lifted each side using the hockey puck at the points where the axle stands eventually went. There are many warnings about bending metal using the OEM jack points with a trolley jack. Instead I inserted concrete blocks under each front tire and this raised the car enough to access the central lift point to place the axle stands. This was a pain so I have ordered the "43042 Floor Jack Adapter" from eastwood.com that was recommended on another thread. This should make life much easier in future when raising the front.

All in all it took less than 3 hours to do both bars including working out the jacking process and never having done this process before.

Now the remaining question. Whiteline adjustable endlinks or the perrin fixed length ones?

Philip

[caveguru]

Phillip, for your sanity, you should look under the car soon while it is on the ground. The front endlinks will be sharply angled. You may already have popped one of the blue plastic cups out of an endlink like this:

Caveguru's 08 OBP STI - Back from the track---

Frank

[philrae]

I just looked and yes one of the front endlinks is broken. Thinking back I know when it occurred. I was almost home from the test drive and I took an off camber hump smartly. There was a clunk as one front wheel hit first. When I got home I looked under the side that hit first and could not see anything. The break was on the other side, but that makes sense if the link broke in tension.

Kind of embarrassing that I did not immediately notice, but in my defense I was almost home and you do not speed through my town unless you want to be several hundred dollars poorer.

Just ordered new endlinks for front and back. Guess I know what I am doing one evening late this week.

Two notes. 1) I will call Perrin and suggest the wording on the sway bar web page is changed. It currently only says that it is not recommended to use the stock endlinks. Something stronger is required (the wording and the link)!

2) The car is still drivable with no front sway bar at all. I took it to the grocery store and back and it was ok. No driving fast for a while....

[caveguru]

which endlinks did you order? The Perrin links have to be perfectly vertical, which presents a problem with the bar length.

Frank

[philrae]

I ordered the Perrin front endlinks and the Whiteline adjustable rear ones. I figured that if I cannot make the Perrin front links work with the Perrin sway bars, that is Perrin's problem to sort out. Although I know Perrin make rear endlinks, they are not on their website for the 08 STi. Additionally, I figured that the adjustability of the Whiteline design was useful given the issue discussed earlier of making the fixed length stock links fit with the rear stiffest setting.
I will report back late this week when they arrive and I have fitted them.

[philrae]

I tried fitting the endlinks this evening. The rear Whiteline ones went on fine. The spacers that sit in the suspension arm were a fraction too long, however, 20 seconds with a sharp file fixed that. It was also easier when I realized that you can stretch the rubber bearing covers over the long spacers. Much easier to assemble that way prior to pulling them back once complete. I adjusted them easily to the stiffest setting on the bar and thread locked (blue) the locking nuts in place.

Caveguru was correct, the Perrin front endlinks did not fit. Not even close. Even when I got creative with extra washers and spacers I could not get the links off their maximum deflection (highly angled). It looks to me as if a large 36mm long spacer is required for the suspension arm end for the links to be vertical. Obviously, much longer bolts are required as well as a result. I will call Perrin tomorrow.
Pain in the ass.

[Garrett]

Originally Posted by philrae

I tried fitting the endlinks this evening. The rear Whiteline ones went on fine. The spacers that sit in the suspension arm were a fraction too long, however, 20 seconds with a sharp file fixed that. It was also easier when I realized that you can stretch the rubber bearing covers over the long spacers. Much easier to assemble that way prior to pulling them back once complete. I adjusted them easily to the stiffest setting on the bar and thread locked (blue) the locking nuts in place.

Caveguru was correct, the Perrin front endlinks did not fit. Not even close. Even when I got creative with extra washers and spacers I could not get the links off their maximum deflection (highly angled). It looks to me as if a large 36mm long spacer is required for the suspension arm end for the links to be vertical. Obviously, much longer bolts are required as well as a result. I will call Perrin tomorrow.
Pain in the ass.

Thats pretty sad. It not like that have to dyno test these, fitment should be the least of theri (your) problems in such a controlled environment!




-Garrett

[philrae]

I spoke with Perrin. It seems there was a screw-up with the bar sent to me. I appear to have received the regular WRX bar. I guess the WRX has the suspension arm mounting point closer to the center of the car so the bar is shorter. The STi only front sway bar is longer and should fit better. The only snag is that they are out of stock at present.....
Philip

[twigg107]

That sucks.