sx4rocious wrote:There was mention not long ago, that Progress and RRM both sold or did away with all their tooling and molds for their Suzuki division. There is a thread on the SX4 forums about it http://clubsx4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5768
I don't see anything in that thread about Progress Technology. I would find it very hard to believe that they would require any special tooling to make the bar for the Kizashi. My guess is they have a minimum batch size and that RRM provided the specs and a sufficiently large order to have them made. Given that it has a Progress part number I suspect they could make more.
In the past other sites have done organized group buys to provide a sufficient sized order to get batches of things like this produced. My guess is you'd need to buy a batch to 20 to 25, and the organizer of the group buy would be responsible for collecting payment and distributing the parts. I'm not sure that amount of demand is there for the Kizashi these days.
That being said, I have one on my car, and it made a notable difference. The AWD model only has a 15mm thick rear bar compared to the 19mm bar from RRM / Progress. The FWD Kizashi actually has a 16mm thick bar, so the bar and bushings from a FWD car would be a modest upgrade for those with AWD. If this chart from Whiteline is to be believed, that is about a 30% increase in stiffness going from 15mm to 16mm (assuming the same materials and construction, which is a safe bet for the OEM bars): http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/BL-281.pdf
SamirD wrote:I really would have liked the strut tower brace and rear sway bar too, although I think the sway bar could be found if we knew the original manufacturer.
It's Progress. I remember seeing it somewhere that Progress was the actual supplier to RRM for the sway bar. http://www.progressauto.com/
bootymac wrote:Progress 62.2405. Good luck
Thank you both! I'm sure if I can find an original Greddy SP exhaust for my 94 Accord that I can find the sway bar somewhere too. I'm sure there's one just collecting dust at some distributor's warehouse that are just dying to get rid of it.
Last edited by SamirD on Sun Feb 22, 2015 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bdleonard wrote:That being said, I have one on my car, and it made a notable difference. The AWD model only has a 15mm thick rear bar compared to the 19mm bar from RRM / Progress. The FWD Kizashi actually has a 16mm thick bar, so the bar and bushings from a FWD car would be a modest upgrade for those with AWD. If this chart from Whiteline is to be believed, that is about a 30% increase in stiffness going from 15mm to 16mm (assuming the same materials and construction, which is a safe bet for the OEM bars): http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/BL-281.pdf
Was the rear bar from the fwd and awd the same? Usually this isn't the case.
And just 1mm can make a huge difference at those small sizes. The stock 1st gen Altima rear bar was 15mm on all trims except the SE model, which was 16mm. Made a world of difference. What made even more difference was the Suspension Techniques 22mm(?) bar. No more s-turns to get the rear of the car loaded in hard turns, which I do find myself doing in the Kizashi now that I think about it. But this is on the snow tires, so I'll have to check the summers again in a few months.
bdleonard wrote:I don't see anything in that thread about Progress Technology. I would find it very hard to believe that they would require any special tooling to make the bar for the Kizashi. My guess is they have a minimum batch size and that RRM provided the specs and a sufficiently large order to have them made. Given that it has a Progress part number I suspect they could make more.
In the past other sites have done organized group buys to provide a sufficient sized order to get batches of things like this produced. My guess is you'd need to buy a batch to 20 to 25, and the organizer of the group buy would be responsible for collecting payment and distributing the parts. I'm not sure that amount of demand is there for the Kizashi these days.
That being said, I have one on my car, and it made a notable difference. The AWD model only has a 15mm thick rear bar compared to the 19mm bar from RRM / Progress. The FWD Kizashi actually has a 16mm thick bar, so the bar and bushings from a FWD car would be a modest upgrade for those with AWD. If this chart from Whiteline is to be believed, that is about a 30% increase in stiffness going from 15mm to 16mm (assuming the same materials and construction, which is a safe bet for the OEM bars): http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/BL-281.pdf
From what I've been able to gather, Progress engineered the all the parts for Suzuki, but demand had never been enough to warrant continued manufacture, so they sold everything to RRM. Are you sure the part number you have is still valid? As far as a group buy goes, This guy is pretty small. By group buy, I'm talking about gathering enough people interested at one time to persuade him to engineer the part with payment up front. I'm betting once he gets his CNC, 5 or 6 people on this site with cash in hand could be enough to persuade him.
As I said, everything I read and checked myself when I installed my RRM bar says that the FWD rear bar is 16mm, and the AWD rear bar is 15mm. I have an AWD, so I verified that with my calipers. The info on the FWD rear bar came from others on the install thread. I can certainly comfirm that they have separate part numbers from Suzuki.
The mounting FWD or AWD is the same. It must be since the aftermarket bars covered both applications. All you would need is a proper matched 16mm FWD rear bar and bushings to upgrade the AWD bar (aftermarket polyurethane bushings would improve things further if they could be found or made). The Progress bar came with aftermarket brackets, poly bushings, and mounting reinforcement braces.
bdleonard wrote:As I said, everything I read and checked myself when I installed my RRM bar says that the FWD rear bar is 16mm, and the AWD rear bar is 15mm. I have an AWD, so I verified that with my calipers. The info on the FWD rear bar came from others on the install thread. I can certainly comfirm that they have separate part numbers from Suzuki.
The mounting FWD or AWD is the same. It must be since the aftermarket bars covered both applications. All you would need is a proper matched 16mm FWD rear bar and bushings to upgrade the AWD bar (aftermarket polyurethane bushings would improve things further if they could be found or made). The Progress bar came with aftermarket brackets, poly bushings, and mounting reinforcement braces.
Good to know. So even if the progress bar is no longer available, at least an upgrade from the 15mm to 16mm is available if one can find the parts.
bdleonard wrote:If this chart from Whiteline is to be believed, that is about a 30% increase in stiffness going from 15mm to 16mm (assuming the same materials and construction, which is a safe bet for the OEM bars): http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/BL-281.pdf
Thanks for sharing that link. I've always been interested in the actual numbers behind sway bars.
Can't say I'd bother "upgrading" to a 1mm thicker bar though
bdleonard wrote:If this chart from Whiteline is to be believed, that is about a 30% increase in stiffness going from 15mm to 16mm (assuming the same materials and construction, which is a safe bet for the OEM bars): http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/BL-281.pdf
Thanks for sharing that link. I've always been interested in the actual numbers behind sway bars.
Can't say I'd bother "upgrading" to a 1mm thicker bar though
Well, it could be extremely quick and cheap, if you find a junked FWD Kizashi in a yard somewhere. Probably a 45 minute job. If you buy new from Suzuki it would be pricey.
