ADDCO actually makes there own bars and supplies them to others. There
mounting kits for the Vanagon is the pits. I use their bars as they are
cost effective but I always go to a speed shop and by real brackets,
links and urethane bushings.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Ryan Alfonso
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 6:32 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Are Sway-bars all the same?

Hi All!

Being the cheap farrgin' bastidge icehole that I am, I
went and bought a set of F/R sway-bars from P-S-T (dot
com) for a cool sum of $238 shipping included.  Good
deal (?).

So, I crack open the box and find a one labelled #488,
and the other labelled #719.

Why is this of interest?  Well, these are the exact
stock numbers that ADDCO uses for the same bars to fit
my '89 vanagon.

CMIIW (correct me if I'm wrong), but ADDCO is supposed
to be higher quality, right?

So, what gives??  Do they both get them from the same
supplier?  P-S-T is in NJ, and ADDCO is in FLA/NC.

Are they really the same?

I hope not!  The P-S-T kits came with a "fully
enclosed" rubber bushing (cut from extrusion) that
looks like it'll last about 3 days before the rubber
gives up. The rubber was about 4mm thick.

I had hoped the sway bar bushing would be thicker and
be held in place by a bracket that's more like a strap
(like the stock set-up) rather than a curved thing to
keep the bushing captive, and hence "fully enclosed".
Moreover, the bracket is designed to be held in place
with 2 bolts, rather than the (tab + 1 bolt) stock
arrangement.

The bars themselves, and most of the rest of the
hardware, are pretty decent looking quality-wise.
It's just those all-important bushings...

Anybody with an ADDCO kit care to share their
observations?

-Ryan
'89 We$tfalia

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