So my suspension and brake setup is all stock except for my GM strut bar. Basically I'm trying to decide whether it'd be better to do a rear disc conversion or buy some Eibach sway bars. I plan on lowering but I can't afford it yet. Would it be more worth the money to do the saturn conversion or get the sway bars right now? I plan on doing both but I'm going to start with one or the other. What do you guys think I should do? Thanks for your help.
do you live in the rust belt? rear disc brakes in these areas don't have a long life due to rusting rotors. Unless you really need performance braking and are prepared to do the added maintenance stay with drums.
Well, I have not done the rear disk yet, however I can tell you that the rear sway bars are nice, as I do have them front and rear top and bottom. I would go for handling over converting disk's
I say neither, keep saving and buy proper struts and lowering springs or coilovers.
"Oil Leak ? What oil Leak ? Oh, Thats Just The Sweat From All The HorsePower!!"
DSMskyline wrote:I say neither, keep saving and buy proper struts and lowering springs or coilovers.
X2
but I'd do sway bars over disc brakes, Most of the braking is in the front anyways so I see little gain doing a rear disc brake conversion. If you find your braking is poor, maybe put some Hawks in the front?
Unless you NEED rear brakes, then do the swap now if you plan on doing it in the future anyways.
2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd - Intake, Dynomax muffler, Hawk Pads, Powerslot rotors, Sportlines/Koni reds, Neon Coil, MSD 8.5 Wires - **SOLD**
2014 Kia Forte Koup SX 6spd - 1.6L Turbo - My new car
2015 Kia Sorento EX V6 AWD - Wifes Car
Well my rear brake shoes are pretty worn out so they're gonna need to be replaced pretty soon and one of the wheel cylinders is starting to go bad. I figured since I've been wanting to do the swap anyway, I could just convert to discs instead of replacing my shoes and fixing or replacing that cylinder. And the swap kills two birds with one stone because I'm getting sick of having my rear wheels tucked in and I've been looking into getting some hub spacers anyway.
Get the sway bar set and you'll be alot happier with the handling of the car.
The rear drums aren't hard to fix at all and even changing the wheel cylinders isn't that hard.
I did a friends '89 Cavalier 4 door in a day replacing the front rotors/ pads and changing out both wheel cylinders, drums, shoes, and hardware. That also included a full bleed and flush of new brake fluid.
Once you have your sway bars the next thing you'd want are springs and struts. I wouldn't lower any more than an inch and a half to keep the geometry of the suspension in check and keep everything in balance once it's lowered. I say this from experience in suspension setups so hope you don't go too low.
Again, once you add the sway bars the car won't have all that weight transfer that is so common in our cars and once you lower it with the proper springs/ struts, you'll be amazed at how well your car will handle.
Save the rear disc swap for later and down the road. Besides, once you realize how good the car is with the above you'll completely forget about the rear disc swap.
Oh and do the stainless steel lines for both the front and back brakes. It's worth every penny to do so and pedal feel is much improved.
Good luck.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO! 
James is right...
the rear brakes look nice and i'm sure improve stopping power some but the sways will have a much bigger effect on the feel of the car. short of track use, I don't see the drums as that much of a handicap in daily and even spirited driving/autox.
who uses rear brakes? i'm pretty sure mine have been gone for a while now. can't seem to get the drum off to even check them.
go for the sway bars for sure
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s1lver_N1p (forum_Naz1) wrote:who uses rear brakes? i'm pretty sure mine have been gone for a while now. can't seem to get the drum off to even check them.
go for the sway bars for sure
Lots of people do, Most of the braking is in the front but rear brakes do help, just going from good working rear drums to good working rear disc will have little impact.
I would either fix the rear brakes or do the conversion before you do anyother mods to the car.
2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd - Intake, Dynomax muffler, Hawk Pads, Powerslot rotors, Sportlines/Koni reds, Neon Coil, MSD 8.5 Wires - **SOLD**
2014 Kia Forte Koup SX 6spd - 1.6L Turbo - My new car
2015 Kia Sorento EX V6 AWD - Wifes Car
+1 strut bars and sway bars. The body roll on these cars is horrendous…
My vote is for sway bars and a spring/strut upgrade.
Much more bang for the buck.
Having good working brakes or suspension upgrades? tough choice......
2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd - Intake, Dynomax muffler, Hawk Pads, Powerslot rotors, Sportlines/Koni reds, Neon Coil, MSD 8.5 Wires - **SOLD**
2014 Kia Forte Koup SX 6spd - 1.6L Turbo - My new car
2015 Kia Sorento EX V6 AWD - Wifes Car
I would do hawk hps pads sloted rotors and stainless steel braded brake lines and do the rear whel cylinders and shoes as well as poly control arm bushings with ball joints. Best bang for the buck
see ya!
if he's having brake issues, he should obviously fix the brakes...
honestly he answered his own question...
Quote:
Well my rear brake shoes are pretty worn out so they're gonna need to be replaced pretty soon and one of the wheel cylinders is starting to go bad. I figured since I've been wanting to do the swap anyway, I could just convert to discs instead of replacing my shoes and fixing or replacing that cylinder. And the swap kills two birds with one stone because I'm getting sick of having my rear wheels tucked in and I've been looking into getting some hub spacers anyway.
I would do this:
1. buy new rear brake shoes, and replace the wheel cylinders, both. From experience, and what i've heard from others, as soon as you replace the one, the other side usually goes bad shortly after that. Someone correct me if i'm wrong though.
2. buy the largest rear sway bar you can find. You'll love the way the car just turns on a dime after that. (you should have good tires too,). From a stock setup, I would mod suspension in this order. Performance tires first, rear sway bar second, then lower springs and shocks third. Quality ones too, not cheap ones.
a large rear sway bar without a balanced front bar will cause throttle off oversteer. I've run the addco with an fe2 front and it made the car very tail happy. matched addco front gave the car a much higher cornering threshold. not just that if his car has no front sway or even the fe1 the "largest bar he can find" will only make the tail happiness worse
Does the cavalier not come with a front sway bar stock? I have a sunfire and wasn't sure if there was a difference
some of the older cars had no front sway... looks like the op has an 0
Quote:
4 so he should have a front bar.
strat81 wrote:a large rear sway bar without a balanced front bar will cause throttle off oversteer. I've run the addco with an fe2 front and it made the car very tail happy. matched addco front gave the car a much higher cornering threshold. not just that if his car has no front sway or even the fe1 the "largest bar he can find" will only make the tail happiness worse
Going a little off topic and I am sure there is threads on which front bar is best with this rear bar but in your opinion, which rear bar would be the best balance for the FE2 front bar?
2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd - Intake, Dynomax muffler, Hawk Pads, Powerslot rotors, Sportlines/Koni reds, Neon Coil, MSD 8.5 Wires - **SOLD**
2014 Kia Forte Koup SX 6spd - 1.6L Turbo - My new car
2015 Kia Sorento EX V6 AWD - Wifes Car
strat81 wrote:a large rear sway bar without a balanced front bar will cause throttle off oversteer. I've run the addco with an fe2 front and it made the car very tail happy. matched addco front gave the car a much higher cornering threshold. not just that if his car has no front sway or even the fe1 the "largest bar he can find" will only make the tail happiness worse
strat is right, I'm running an FE1 bar which is 18mm I believe with an Addco rear and, while manageable, I know it's not optimal. My car didn't come with a stock front sway bar so I grabbed the one off my parts car, can't beat free lol
Rick wrote:strat81 wrote:a large rear sway bar without a balanced front bar will cause throttle off oversteer. I've run the addco with an fe2 front and it made the car very tail happy. matched addco front gave the car a much higher cornering threshold. not just that if his car has no front sway or even the fe1 the "largest bar he can find" will only make the tail happiness worse
Going a little off topic and I am sure there is threads on which front bar is best with this rear bar but in your opinion, which rear bar would be the best balance for the FE2 front bar?
assuming you upgrade to poly bushings/endlinks on the front, i'd match it in the rear.
in other words, from the FAQ, i'd go with one of these:
-22mm eibach bar (-sold in conjunction with their 25.4mm front)
-22mm rksport bar
-22mm progressive technologies bar
The Eibach is usually sold as the set so it may only be a viable option if you can find somebody upgrading the rear bar or possibly junkyard. I believe the other 2 are still available. I'm not saying that you can't run the addco rear with the fe2 front. I will say though that the rear can be very twitchy when you're at the limits and if you lift mid corner, the rear WILL come around.
If you are running a street car you don't need either. I have found an 18mm front, good quality front and rear struts and springs, and good quality tires with -2.40 camber front and -1.50 rear work very well with a endurance road course track only car with rear disc and no rear swaybar. But I'm running RE11 tires and EBC Blue Pads for LeMon's and ChumpCar B Class, and killing Integra's and E30's with a 2.2L SFI Pushrod!
24 Hours of LeMons: Where the Elite Meet to Cheat, Gingerman Raceway, South Haven MI
CLASS B
1. #27 Grimm Racing (Pontiac Sunfire)
2. #117 Legitimate Racing (Acura Integra)
3. #53 LemonAid Racing (BMW E30)
4. #63 One Lap for Dogs (Volkswagen Golf)
5. #314 Nothing’s Hotter Than Cougar (Mercury Cougar)
If you are running a street car you don't need either. I have found an 18mm front, good quality front and rear struts and springs, and good quality tires with -2.40 camber front and -1.50 rear work very well with a endurance road course track only car with rear disc and no rear swaybar. But I'm running RE11 tires and EBC Blue Pads for LeMon's and ChumpCar B Class, and killing Integra's and E30's with a 2.2L SFI Pushrod!
24 Hours of LeMons: Where the Elite Meet to Cheat, Gingerman Raceway, South Haven MI
CLASS B
1. #27 Grimm Racing (Pontiac Sunfire)
2. #117 Legitimate Racing (Acura Integra)
3. #53 LemonAid Racing (BMW E30)
4. #63 One Lap for Dogs (Volkswagen Golf)
5. #314 Nothing’s Hotter Than Cougar (Mercury Cougar)
