Jackson Racing Sway Bars

Oh boy i didnt expect it to be this great,for the money its worth the upgrade second to my HnR race springs but with it combined =superior handling,im using stock shocks so theres a little bit absorbtion,for me its a nice setup for the mountain,my car is more predictable in turns i feel more confident and safe in the mountains,my 185/60 14 doesn't break traction as much as it used to with my stock sway bars i have the front set to stiffest and rear middle,i cant wait to see how it will handle on 205/50-15 rt-615 azenis,

this was a good buy for me i bought it used at craigslist some guy had swap his sway bars to eibach for spec miata purposes,if you love driving intense in the curvy roads this is my recommendation it change the way my car handles for the better,

[12/12/2005] Reviewed by: Joe Perez - miata.joe(~)adelphia.net

Wow. Honestly, I'd not have believed the difference in handling that such a simple and inexpensive upgrade could deliver without having driven it. My car is a '92 running the usual 185/60/14 tires on OEM alloy wheels. Stock springs, stock bushings, and KYB AGX shocks set at 2, the supposed "stock" setting. Previously, taking hard turns resulted in considerable body roll, lots of tire squeal, understeer, etc. I had installed the AGX's in an attempt to combat this, but to no avail- anything past 3 on the adjustment dial and I thought the car would break in half going over bad roads. I had the same experience trying out a set of 205/40/17 tires on 17 x 7 wheels- it ruined the ride quality and didn’t improve the cornering nearly as much as these bars. With the new sway bars installed, the car corners almost perfectly flat, with very little squeal, and is actually much more controllable. It's been two weeks and I still occasionally find myself over-correcting when coming out of turns for the rebound fishtail that isn't there anymore. Corners that I used to slide through at 25 or 30 mph can now be taken at 40 with no "out of control" feeling. The front bar has two holes per end, the rear three. Adjustment is done by attaching the swaybar link bolts to one hole vs. another. Right now I've got the fronts on the inner hole (full stiff) and the rears on the center hole. This gives the car a very neutral feeling- it's still possible to break the rear end loose if I really try (like a full-power left U-turn from a stoplight), but even if I find myself trail braking into a corner it is very well mannered. Best of all, there is virtually no degradation of ride comfort! After all, the sway bars (unlike shocks and springs) don’t do much when you’re traveling in a straight line. Some folks have reported fitment issues with this package in the past. I don't know if JR / Moss has redesigned or changed suppliers recently, but mine went in perfectly. I suspect that this may be the case, as my bars (purchased Nov 2005) were neither gold nor red, but actually a sort of dark purple color. Thankfully, they’re not visible when installed. :) They provide urethane mounts and two packets of snot-like grease, you re-use the existing mounting bolts and nuts. Contrary to popular rumor, even the front bar was easy- the secret is to remove the old mounts from the stock bar before you try to slide it out, and wait to install the mounts on the new bar until it's in place. Other than that I just removed the splash pan and fished the old bar out the right side of the car, tilting the left end up behind the radiator on the way out. Cleared the P/S, A/C and coolant pipes nicely. I did all this while on jackstands, and waited until it was time to re-attach the links to the new bar (after it was mounted) before lowering the wheels onto ramps. One important note for some- I had previously done a homebrew spare tire relocation job using the conventional six-inch-bolt-through-the-left-drain-hole scheme to hang the wheel, but with the new rear bar in place, my spare no longer fits. In addition to being thicker, the bar makes a slight jog rearwards between the two mounts. My spare used to occupy this space (it actually rubbed up against the stock bar), so it’s back in the trunk now. Oh well. To make a long story short: if you’re looking to improve the cornering performance of your Miata, this should be the very first modification that you attempt, bar none.

Jackson Racing solid anti-sway bars

[6/14/2004] Reviewed by: Shawn Agee - shawnagee@hotmail.com

I installed the beefy red sway bars from Jackson Racing on my 1990. Both front and rear are the solid type. Would have gone with front tubular but I got the solid ones on sale at Moss Motors. Took me and a friend about 4 hours to replace them. Used rhino ramps to lift the front of the car instead of jackstands. They didn’t get in the way at all. I was too impatient to soak the endlink bolts in Liquid Wrench overnight. Even being a 14 year old car I was able to get them off but BOY were they tough! That was the second hardest part of the install.

Thanks to my buddy for solving the Chinese puzzle of getting the old front sway bar out, which was the toughest part. It looked impossible at first. But we somehow ended up twisting it and sliding it laterally so that it made it's way to the other side of the radiator hose. After that we ended up pulling it up through the engine compartment toward the passenger side and out of the car. We did not have to disconnect any hoses at all. So remember that with a lot of patience and fiddling it will come out. Not really tough, but frustrating. New bar was a breeze to fit. Just fed it back down through the front of the engine and it was positioned in less than 2 minutes. The whole installation is pretty straight-forward except for the removal puzzle. All bolts lined up correctly with these bars and they fit perfectly.

These bars really do make the car more fun in the turns. Handles as sharp as a razor now. I thought the stock car was pretty amazing before, but now it’s nuts! Taking hard rights at sharp intersections at about 35 mph is my new hobby.

Jackson Racing tubular Sway Bars

[3/25/2003] Reviewed by: Robert Chop - robertchop436@yahoo.com

The Jackson Racing tubular Sway Bars was the best 220 I spent on my M1 as of know. The Body Roll is now nil and the 65MPH shimmy is a a small to non existent. I am VARRY happy with the result. The bars fit with no problem and I would suggest to any one who is thinking of upgrading there suspension

Jackson Racing Tubular Adjustable Sway Bars

[1/14/2003] Reviewed by: Clyde Shepherd - cshepherd@lotustechsupport.com

Jackson Racing Tubular Adjustable Sway Bars Front sway bar tubular Rear sway bar solid

Well it took less than 30 minutes to remove the old sway bars, front tray and front sway bars(two guys) to my 95 1.8 litre Miata. It helps to have a lift and a muffler stand(to lift the front of the car to remove and replace the front sway bar). Or you might have to start pulling things off the front of the car to make this easier. Only problem is the front brackets need to be fettled to get the holes to line up for the bolts(have a file and a vise grip on hand). Rears are straight forward and you should be able to R/R the sway bar in about 15-20 minutes tops. About 30-45 minutes for the fronts(with the right tools). I was a bit upset that the front brackets had to be fettled because I would expect a first rate fitment from Jackson Racing. None the less a file and a few washers did the trick.

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM! Smiles from ear to ear. Although I was upset about the front brackets this was the best $220.00 I could have spent on the car. With the fronts on full hard and the rears set to medium there is little or no body roll and the car turns in much cleaner than stock. Sits nice and flat through the corners and exit speeds are increased. Add an extra $25.00 for flowers for your significant other--I made a two hour drive just to enjoy my Miata afterwords. A word of advise to a novice driver...since there is lack of body roll now the feed back in the rain is not there on how my car is now set up. So be careful as the rear will abruptley snap away in the rain if your not cautious.

Jackson Racing anti sway bars

[5/27/2002] Reviewed by: Quivver - psvail@hotmail.com

Jackson Racing anti sway bars for 99+ Front tubular, rear solid, Gold colour with 2 adjustment holes in front.

Im a total novice mechanically. but myself and a friend completed the job in approx 5 hours. Removing the old bars proved to be a real pain, the bolt connecting the end links to the swaybar was rusty and took a lot of time and WD40 to finally get them off. I suggest that if you are planning this install yourself give these bolts a good soaking and wire brushing a few days before and you will save yourself a lot of time. My car only has 14k miles so i didnt really expect them to be so rusty.. The installation of the JR bars went much more smoothly, and the fit was perfect, i used the inner holes on the front bar as this setting is supposed to introduce less understeer and hopefully more neutral handling. With a bit more preperation this job could have been completed in 2 hours.

When i had finished the install i went for a drive, unfortunately it was raining, i immediately noticed that the car corners much flatter, but it felt as if the car was more tail happy, i think this could be put down to me driving more aggresively than normal. However yesterday i took it out in the dry, WOW! the car feels so responsive, on corners i would normally have understeer and the tyres screeching, now the car feels so stable like its on rails with no body roll at all. In all i would say this is the most noticable mod i have made to date, i wish it had been my first mod. Highly recommended.

Jackson Racing Tubular Sway-bars

[8/9/2001] Reviewed by: Jesse Lee - jesseclee@hotmail.com

Jackson Racing tubular sway bars set. Tubular in front, solid in back. Meant for the 1.8 M1's. I used them on my 1.6. Purchased used.

Installation: W/ the wheels and coilovers off, I still had to take the turbo to intercooler pipe out in order to remove the front stock bar. I used boat trailer bearing grease to lube the bushing. Lateral stops were improvised out of split heater hoses and clamped on w/ hose clamps- they work very well. There are 2 holes on the front bar, but only the inner ones could be reached even with my heim links. This is the only drawback to using these bars on a 1.6. Problems: 1. The I.D of the poly bushing provided for the front bar is TOO SMALL! Once the bar is stuffed into the bushing, the bushing puffs up so much it's too big to fit in the bracket properly. You could just crank down on the bolts to mount the bracket to the chassis, but this will just squish the bushing completely out of shape. I made some 1/8" washers to space the brackets away from the chassis. It's working fine.

2.In the front, the 2 main bends are too close to the bushings. Doesn't affect the function, but just a sign of indifferent quality. The cornering is vey flat now. I'm howling my tires every other turn. It works very well, but JR really needs to fix those front bar bushings.

[1/26/2001] Reviewed by: Kevin Knowles - kevin.knowles@csam.com

Ordered the bars from MOSS (UK) and recieved them in 2 days. These bars are MUCH larger than the stock items. The bars came with the necessary brackets and grease. I have a 96 Merlot (Jap Import)

Installation of the JR bars was reasonably straight forward with the rear bar being replaced in about 10 to 15 minutes. Front bar Once you have un-bolted the original bar you have to work it around the many pipes and tubes to remove it, which is difficult but you should be able to get it out. The new bar being around twice the size of the old one was rather difficult to get on. In the end we had to drain the coolant as one of the radiator pipes was in the way. With the pipe out of the way it was much easier to get the bar in place. We then hit another snag, the bracket supplied by JR did not fit the holes on the car (bracket). I had to get someone to machine them to the correct size before I could fit the bar !!! The problems occurred while fitting the bars were worth it, the car no-longer leans and rolls into corners. To surmise, Good result but shame about the dismal instructions and poorly fitting parts.

[8/19/2000] Reviewed by Majdi El-Ahwal - MiataDRM@aol.com

Great product! VERY noticeable difference in handling. The car feels, sits & corners much better (can you spell F L A T)! o) My miata handles more like a Go Kart now. Definately worth the money. These bars make the OEM bars look like tooth picks. They are heavier than stock...but unless you plan to race (timed events) I would not worry about it...if it is a concern, look in to the tubular sways (the tubulars were not worth the extra $$ for me). Installation was very forward. Like others have noted, make sure you put on the anti-squeak gel (lube) on the bushings. The only problem we ran into were the front sways (the rear was a breeze). One of the brackets was a pain to bolt in. We had to muscle the bracket to get it lined up w/ the hole. At the end, the installation was well worth the effort & $$$.

The sway bars were purchased from PBC. John (from PBC) helped me install it for free! o) The aftermarket sway bars are a GREAT addition! I would highly recommend them. My Miata is now much more predictable with minimal transition time when in turns or just switching lanes...it just sits F L A T o) My experience with PBC was extremely pleasant. FYI...for a nuetral setting mount the rear sway bar at the middle hole & the fronts on stiff (2nd hole from the end of the bar).

[7/6/2000] Reviewed by Keye Chang - wushu_nut@yahoo.com

Thicker, beefier sway bars, replaces OEM sways. Supposed to help with less body roll on turns.

WOW! This is the first mod I've done so far and it was money well spent. My car no longer has that ridiculous roll when taking turns hard. Great product!

Would do it again. Pete at PBC recommended this as my first mod. Glad I listened. John at PBC was great too. Did a stellar job on the install.

[4/5/2000] Reviewed by charles hailey

pros these bars are great. They really tighten up the handling. They are the most dramatic change I have made to my car. Easy to install - it takes me 10 min to swap my rear bar back to stock for autocrossing. If you have jackstands - the front is not much more difficult.

Cons not much. Seems to over power all season tires (d60), but works well with performance tires. All season tires are more likely to chirp over bumpy turns.

Problem I can not get to inside mounting holes without bending endlink mounting brackets on A-arm. This limits my range of adjustability and I see no way to fix

[11/18/99] Reviewed by Bob Brackett - RJBMTNBKR@AOL.COM

Set of adjustable front and rear suspension stabilizer bars that provide (according to the manufacturer) improved handling, better balance, and reduced body roll.

Wow. The Jackson Racing sway bars make a big difference. They do exactly what the manufacturer claims. My car maintains a much flatter attitude in the sweepers. Cornering speed is much higher than before. It also seems to be more "composed". Turn-in is immediate. No more waiting for the car to "settle" while transitioning from straight to turn (some of that may also be the new wheel / tire combo that I added at the same time). Car also seems a little more ridged. Not as much chassis / wheel movement going over things like speed bumps. The overall ride is a little firmer too, but again, much of that may be the new lower profile tires. I’d say the most important benefit to this sway bar kit is that the car’s new-found composure going around fast sweepers gives me a much safer, confident feeling.

I decided to upgrade the anti-sway bars on my ’97 Miata to take advantage of my new Yokohama AVS-I 205/50x15 tires. Installation was pretty easy. Got a little frustrated slipping the old front bar out and new front bar in because I chose to use car ramps instead of jacks (feels safer). The ramps ended up in the way. I'll use jacks next time. WD40'ed the bolts the night before & they came out easy (al beit with a long ratchet). Wasn't comfortable with JR's recommended torque of 16 (if I remember right), so I went to about 30-35. Not sure of the ramifications of the higher torque. A guy racing a Miata at the recent VISA Sports Car Championship at Laguna Seca told me that front sway bar mounts are snapping with the larger bars. I'll keep my eye on it. Recommend Jackson Racing sway bars for everyone who loves carving apexes (all of us - right?). Next stop, the Pacific Coast Highway.

[10/15/99] Reviewed by Sean Reynolds - jsreynolds@home.com

These are Jackson Racing Sway bars sorced from Moss Motors. I'm not sure of the diameter but the front is at least 1" and the rear is ~3/4"

These work well for 1 year or so I thought. After the silicon bushing lubricant dried up the sway bar began to squeak and then... bind. Under sevier cornering the sway bars would bind momentarily and release mid way through a corner. Most unsettling! I began re greasing the bushing about once a month (2 hour job). Then after about a year and a half my mechanic noticed that my front sway bar mounting brackets were broken. He is a member of our local Miata club and metioned that this had happened to another member who was using stock sway bars. He suggested the cause was the way I drive. I don't agree. I feel that the size of the sway bars is too aggressive. I plan on buying a small diameter aftermarket sway bar.

I might also mention that because I live in the snow belt we get a lot of salt and dirt on our roads this may also be to some extent responsible for the sticking of the sway bars.

I love Moss and have always had good service from them. Because I live in Canada shipping tends to be expensive but Moss is good about price matching other advertised prices. I'll also mention that I use Moss to sorce parts for my '72 MGB GT

Reviewed by: David Pittman - Mx5Dave@hotpop.com

Front and rear sway bars to replace factory units. Have adjustible settings to fit the need of the driver. Bars are a goldish color.

I've had the bars on for over a year now. Important! You will need a torque wrench to do the install correctly. I installed the rear bar easily. The front bar took more time and luckily I had a skinny friend who could crawl under the car at the end to torque the bolts properly. The suspension must be under load when you torque the bolts. The rear bar did not require raising the car at all. The front bar did. Removing the front bar and putting the new one required slipping the bars through all the plumbing, not that bad just be patient.

Performance wise, these made the biggest difference in the world. I wasn't expecting it to be that big of a difference but it is! It's the most noticeable mod I have done so far. Car is tighter through all turns. Before I could fishtail all over the place fairly easily. Now I really have to try :)

Reviewed by: Charlton Amidon - camidon@logan.net

I couldn't find this info before I bought, so here it is for anyone else interested.
Front Dia.: 1 1/16 Inch OE 3/4in
Rear Dia.: 3/4 in. OE 7/16
Front weight: 11 LB. OE 6 LB
Rear weight: 7 LB. OE 3 LB

I made 4 runs through a favorite 2 mile stretch of road before installing the new bars, and three runs afterwards. On the one constant rate, long curve where the suspension had time to take a set, I managed 55 mph with the old bars, but with enough drift to make me clinch my teeth. With the new bars I managed over 65 mph, but without the drama. Overall, the car is much flatter in the corners.

This was the only upgrade done on the car (other than a shift knob). The car is a 1994 with 24,000 miles and it has the original (well worn)tires. Great place to start improving the car!

Reviewed by: Robert Higgins - rhiggins@ipa.net

Tubular front sway bar, solid rear bar, replacing the thinner factory originals. Installed on a '96 Miata.

First impression is excellent. The handling on corners and ride over bumps is so improved that I can't imagine why similar bars aren't factory equipment. Given that Mazda has obviously done a very good job of designing the car I'm sure there's a downside somewhere but it's not obvious so far. The ONLY negataive I could see is an increased weight of the bar set. I didn't think to weigh the originals and Jacksons, but the new bars have to be heavier. But heavier or not, I love them so far.

I was a little aprehensive about installing the bars having read some of the other reviews, but installation (single handed) was very straightforward, taking about three hours. Each factory bar is attached by six bolts (four in brackets and two in the end links). After removing the bolts from the front bar it looks as though it will be very difficult to remove; however, the driver's side of the bar can be slipped up into the engine compartment allowing the passenger side to drop down and twisted towards the front, pulling it out on the passenger side. The wheels do not have to be removed for front or rear. The replacement bar went in just as easily. As reported in other reviews, the rear bar is directional. If you lay the bar on the floor and look at the flattened end with the three mounting holes you will note that the flattened portion is not straight, it's twisted at an angle. That's what gives the bar a right and wrong position. But the rear is so easy to work with that you need only slip the new bar into place before removing the old one to see the proper orientation. In the proper position, the bolt surface will be parallel to the mounting surface of the end link (naturally). If the bar is upside down, the two surfaces will not be parallel but at a considerable angle. Just insert the new one before removing the original, look at the link attachment point, and it will be very obvious. All in all, the installation was very simple (and I'm a novice at these things). No one should be worried about it.

Reviewed by: Peter Hodge - phhodge@bigfoot.com

My comment is in regards to the rear bar. The rear can be installed backwards, as I did. I knew something must be wrong because I was unable to get the bolt in the end link through any of the three holes in the bar. I thought I would take the bar off, reverse it and see it that did anything, but as it was late, I left it for this morning.

Before going to the trouble of jacking up the car again, I decided to confer with Brandon at PBC from whom I bought the bars. He asked me one question and based on my response determined immediately that I had the bar on backwards. I went out to the car, jacked up one side only (which was all I needed), took off the bar, reversed it and it fit perfectly.

To tell if you have it in right the first time, the angle formed by the bar end where the three holes are should appear to be the right leg of a capital letter A. This would be looking at the bar from the rear of the car. If the end looks like the left leg of the letter A, you have them in backwards. Check this out before you attach any bolts, and you won't waste any time! :-)

Of course, there is no mention in the directions as to the proper way to install. The front has no left or right side. Put it in either way and it will fit. Which is good, because you have to jiggle it around a lot to get it by all the plumbing in the front.

Reviewed by: Stuart Jones - stuart.jones@capmark.funb.com

Swaybars to replace the factory units. Adjustable: 3 positions rear, 2 positions front. Gold anodized. You won't believe how much thicker these bars are than the stock units, which look positively fragile by comparison.

Installation is fairly simple so long as you have a second pair of hands to help guide the old bars out and the new bars in. The fronts will require some creative thinking to snake around the various suspension bits, coolant hoses and other obstacles in the engine bay. This isn't especially hard to do, but it will require some thinking; installing the rear bar is fairly trivial, since the muffler is pretty much the only reason why the bar doesn't drop straight down once the nuts are loose. I installed mine at the same time I was doing a Koni install, so I already had the shock/springs out of the car and the end-links taken apart. Doing just the swaybars might be a little more difficult, but not terribly so.

I put these on at the same time as the Konis, so isolating the change that the swaybars impart on the handling is a little difficult. Even still, the car now corners a /lot/ flatter than it did before, which is something I attribute more to the bars than to the shocks. Taken in combination, the ride is absolutely incredible. Almost no decrease in ride quality (I'd wager that there is /no/ decrease if you're doing a bars-only install), but the car feels a lot more composed, a lot more 'sorted' in all cornering situations.

The instructions provided, however, were pretty poor. These bars are an easy install, but something a /bit/ more in-depth than "Jack up the car, take the old bars out, put the new bar in, put the car back down" is in order. Granted, this is an exaggeration, but I would have liked at least some manner of illustration of the spatial relationship between the bar, the end-link, and the lower A-arms in case someone wasn't paying attention to how they went together when they were taking apart the old bar (not that /I/ did that, mind you). On the whole, though, the installation is pretty straight-forward, and the results are very impressive.

Reviewed by: Philip Alexy - alexyp@ix.netcom.com

Tubular anti-sway bar replacements for front and solid for rear. slightly more expensive than the both solid set, but with the front tubular, Jackson claims you have the same torsional strength but with less weight. rear has three level adjustment.

Tried to install myself but two bad things...one) did not have the metric socket that fit the bolts properly AND two) a gorilla had tightened up the bolts on the end-links. i was able to get off one bolt of the rear ok, but hopelessly stripped the other, even after several hours soaking in WD-40. tried to do the front, but nearly stripped those bolts as well. with heavy heart, i slowly drove Tyche to the Mazda dearlership. luckily, they had someone there that had done several of these before and a few hours later, i had my Tyche back.

about the actual bars: amazing difference when you compare to the stock bars. about twice the thickness and the Jackson bars are a tres cool copper colour.

in a word, incredible. Tyche is a '96M with those nice RE010s on them so i thought the cornering was impressive, but with the new bars...i could take corners at about 15-25 mph greater than i was before with no body roll. why these aren't a dealer option is beyond me...they make the car not only stiffer, but more controllable and "fun". but the improved handling is an addictive thing. already the thrill is fading a wee bit and i'm eying new springs and shocks, tho finances will 'prolly dictate, after reading some favorable reviews, a front shock strut bar. and then....*evil laugh*....

Reviewed by: Robert Allen - wolverines@worldnet.att.net

I installed the new (for '94+) JR set which includes a front tubular bar and a rear solid bar, with included polyurathane bushings.

Installation was reasonably straightforward using the supplied instructions. The car should be jacked up and put on jack stands. Then you have to remove the front splash shield (which involves about 8 nuts). The front bar comes out after you loosen yet more nuts. If you have A/C you'll have to slide the bar out carefully, probably to the drivers side. Getting the new bar in is the reverse. A small amount of lube is provided to use between the new bar and the poly bushings, but I used more of some good grease I had on hand, and I drilled and tapped the new brackets to fit grease zerks (available in a mixed blister pack at Orchard Supply Hardware). If you do this drill a hole through the poly bushing as well to get grease to the bar. Poly bushings have a tendency to squeak when cold, after the grease drys or wears away. Installing the rear bar was easier, but you must pay attention - the rear bar has a forged angle to the mount points and the bar has a "right side up". Both front and rear bars have multiple points to hook the end links up to, but on my car only the center one was easily used. You'd need adjustable end links to use the other mount points (which give more or less oversteer, primarily for track use). Make sure the bars are centered in the mounts before trying to tighten down the end links. NOTE: the instructions say to use much less torque than the Mazda shop manual (which for '94 at least says 27-39 lb ft). I followed the instr. from JR, and after a short trip over bumpy pavement the rear nuts to the endlink backed off, inducing a dangerous situation indicated by a loud clunk when you corner hard. In my opinion you should use the full Mazda torque. I did that on the ground since the bolts can all be reached when the car is on the ground.

These bars are GREAT. The ride is slightly more firm, but not like you'd have with stiffer springs. Cornering is 100% better. Before the stock Miata was susceptible to snap oversteer under hard cornering. Now it is much less likely to do that, and I can carry a lot more speed through corners (watch out Porches and Mustangs). The car also feels much more glued down over rough pavement and potholes, which is a godsend.

Reviewed by: Mark Reitman - mreitman@kusd.edu

Jackson Racing Sway Bar Kit: Came with all hardware and easy to follow instructions.

I recently purchased a new 1997 Miata. After driving the car for one day, I was convinced that the suspension was adaquate for the street, but had too much body lean and not enough traction. To remedy this, a set of Borbet wheels with Pirelli P-Zero tires were installed as stage 1. Great traction, great ride, good looks. Now for stage 2: Jackson Racing Sway Bar Kit. The kit was easy to install. It's nice to install a kit like this when you have a new car and no rust. That means nothing gets broken. After installing the front bar, we went for a test ride on a long curvy industrial road. A lot of over steer, great for autocrossing, but too dangerous for flying off an expressway exit ramp. The back end was actually too loose. Next, we installed the rear bar and went for a test ride. Absolutely outstanding! No body roll or lean whatsoever! Just enough oversteer and everything could be controlled completely by the gas pedal. This kit with the Plus 1 set-up using Pireli P-Zero tires for the street is great. In intend to use this set-up for track touring too. Once the new G-Force BFG R1's on the stock Miata wheels are installed, I expect the handling to be just perfect for autocrossing. Jackso makes a great product. I would recommend the bars to anyone driving a stock Miata as a first aftermarket adition. Then get some stickier tires and hang on!

Reviewed by: Bill Meyer - bmeyer@att.com

The bars both went on without too much of a hitch. Except for...the biggest problem being the removal of the old rear stabilizer links. My car is a '95 M Edition and I had no idea that the nuts would be so difficult to remove. These serrated self locking nuts are not made to be removed easily. I wound up taking the rear bar and links off as a unit and clamping the links in my vise for a final gut wrenching tug to break them loose. They were so badly rounded and beat up that I decided to buy replacements from Mazda. Be prepared for a shock. These nuts and bolts for both sides ran $38!! On the road the bars seem to provide more accurate steering input and a flatter cornering attitude without any degradation in ride comfort. The rear bar has three different holes to adjust oversteer and understeer. Stay with the middle adjustment hole. I tried mine on the outer adjustment hole and got a real fast dose of understeer. At the cars cornering limits with proper bar adjustment in the middle hole, the car will ever so slightly oversteer at the apex which feels just right.

Reviewed by: Vince Wu - vwu@bc.sympatico.ca

Briefly: 2 heavy (of unknown metal) bars that are significantly stronger and heavier than the stock front and rear sway bars on the '94 Miata. JR sway bars improve the handling of the car, so that the steering is precise and flatter when cornering. On the rear bar, there are 3 levels that you can select for your desired ride. The most inner level, I presume is the most stiffest, delivering the most sharpest ride and cornering.

Pretty damn awesome product for the money. I think its just me, but the steering feels a little bit heavier now. Since I use Mia daily, I have the rear sway bar selected in the middle; I think it's ideal for a not too stiff ride, and the cornering is excellent. my experience installing the product was a breeze. The instructions provided were easy to understand and it took me just less than an hour, going carefully.

Good price, value and brings lotza fun back into steering the baby. With a strut tower bar combined, I handle the baby and toss her around fearlessly.

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10 August, 2008

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