Miata Mailing List: May 1993, Message #126
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   From: (none)
Subject: re: stabilizer bar
   Date: (none)

> From: "Mary E Daniel" 
> Subject: stabilizer bar
> 
> With my 1st extend trip coming up, I was wondering if anyone with a
> '90 or '91 has put on the rear stabilizer bar.  If so, do you really
> notice appreciable difference in aftershock vibrations over bumps, etc?

i did.  it *seems* to be an improvement, but without driving the
car back-to-back with and without the bar, it's hard to compare
actual driving impressions against a defective memory from last fall
(i added the bar at the same time i removed my hardtop for the
spring, so changing 2 parameters at once helped confuse the issue...)
but my general feeling is that it's an improvement.

on the down side:
  1) there's not much clearance between the cross brace and the
     exhaust pipe.  on bumpy roads, the exhaust can shake enough to
     clunk against the pipe (annoying!).  also, i don't know if the
     situation gets worse if you replace the exhaust with an aftermarket
     system (i'll be finding out one of these days, when i install my
     Borla exhaust...).
  2) the cross brace reduces the ground clearance at the center of the
     car by a little bit.  this might be a problem if you have to drive
     over uneven surfaces...