ZCP to CSL F/R sway bar upgrade?

[sliqwille]

Anyone have experience upgrading stock ZCP front and rear sway bars to OEM CSL sway bars? About to undertake a major refresh on my 06 ZCP and wondering if the CSL bars are enough of an upgrade from stock ZCP to warrant the cost. Thanks in advance

[usdmej]

do you feel like your current swaybars are lacking in any way? seems like a waste of money to upgrade them if you haven't had issues with stock.

[Arith2]

Anyone have experience upgrading stock ZCP front and rear sway bars to OEM CSL sway bars? About to undertake a major refresh on my 06 ZCP and wondering if the CSL bars are enough of an upgrade from stock ZCP to warrant the cost. Thanks in advance

I'm pretty sure they are either stock size or already CSL. I don't think there's a ZCP specific size. I would reach under your car with some calipers and measure how wide your sway bars are.

[sliqwille]

I'm pretty sure they are either stock size or already CSL. I don't think there's a ZCP specific size. I would reach under your car with some calipers and measure how wide your sway bars are.

I thought ZCP bar were slightly larger but not so. ZCP/ non-zcp coupes are the same. Not sure about convertibles (Had to use the google). CSL rear is 1mm larger (22.5mm) and front is 4.8mm larger (30.8mm).

[sliqwille]

do you feel like your current swaybars are lacking in any way? seems like a waste of money to upgrade them if you haven't had issues with stock.

I don’t really feel anything has ever been lacking on my car. I just enjoy upgrading it over time. I figured since I’m pretty much replacing every single bushing and any other worn item under the car, now may be a good time to upgrade my sway bars.

The only time I’ve ever had any noticeable understeer on the car is if the front is light (cresting a rise) while going into a turn. And that’s probably due to my less than stellar driving abilities. Really just curious if anyone has first hand experience/ feedback on the OE CSL BARS.

[Speed Monkey]

From ECS’s website:

For the matter of discussing cost, the total CSL sway bar tally is just a smidge over ten Benji’s (that’s Benjamin’s, or $100 dollar bills if the slang doesn’t register). $1,000 dollars is not exactly chump change. I’ll first start by giving my impression on adding CSL bars to my ‘05 M with stock bushes, then with Powerflex bushes, and then my final conclusion.

Starting off with a bit of background on my M to provide some context, I have CSL front + rear sway bars that are clamped into place with Powerflex poly sway bar bushes, which replaced the rather soft foam-rubber stock bushes. My coilovers are Bilstein PSS10 set to the 4th hardest setting up front, and a softer rear setting, that being the 6th hardest setting, which concludes the context description.

Now my seat-of-the-pants impression with the stock foam-rubber bushes: In short, I like it; the cornering is just a bit flatter with CSL bars; it is subtle and maintains the M3’s stock cornering attitude, meaning a faint hint of understeer on corner entry, and stable on exit under careful throttle. The immediate CSL bar impression is that the front stays flatter through corners and for me, this imparts a more confident feeling. On say a long-ish freeway on ramp to simulate a sweeper, I can feel the front bar working to keep that flatter cornering attitude; it’s subtle and confidence inspiring. As for how the ride is affected, there is just the faintest bit more roughness that filters to the driver’s seat,, but the soft rubber bushes do a good job in isolating out much of the harshness. The improved cornering balance and confidence inspiring feeling is a welcome addition.

My impression with the Powerflex poly bushes, again from seat-of-the-pants, is a welcome addition for me. I have a moderate tolerance on accepting suspension harshness. The added harshness from the harder bushes is again subtle, but additive in feeling. Where I feel it the most is in a long journey, say that 7-ish hour drive from south LA County to Sacramento; that added bit of harshness does wear on me just a hair bit more. Moving onto how Powerflex bushes Improves cornering, it very subtlety adds bar stiffening, for lack of a better technical description, to make my M3 corner just a bit flatter; it’s small, but it’s an improvement.

My final thought is this: if you can fit the $1,000 dollar cost into your budget without sabotaging your savings goal per month, do it, but if not, use that $1,000 bucks for something more worthwhile. I bought my CSL bars used long ago for about $400 dollars, which for that cost, that’s a no-brainer. The Powerflex bushes were less than $150 dollars, and again from my perspective, it is worth that. CSL bars bring a subtle change to cornering flatness. It’s almost impossible for me to guess at your priority and how much of a motor-head you are, and how badly bit you are from the modding bug. So for this, I will err on the side of caution; for $1,000 dollars, I fall on the conservative side and say a reluctant “no.”

[mainstreamer00]

Meh, just buy the Hotchkis set for half the price.

[sliqwille]

Speed Monkey

That feed back was exactly what I was looking for plus more! Thank you!

Background on my car: My 06 Zcp is my first “forever” car. It has a dedicated bay and will live there until my kids get to fight over who gets to sell it when I kick the bucket. It sees 3ish track days and a random autocross a year. It’s all OEM minus exhaust and Intake currently. Was going to keep it stock but I have kinda been bit by the OEM+/ CSL upgrade bug. They way you described your experience is exactly what I’m looking for. Rear of the car is good but the front needs just a little bit more.

[old///MFanatic]

Honestly unless you're getting the CSL bars at a great price or you're building a CSL OE spec car I would suggest the H&R swaybars(UUC kit).
The adjustability of the different bar settings over having no settings is a big plus. Especially since the CSL bars are "tuned" to the CSL suspension/kingpin and weight.

[duracellttu]

Might help if you stated what you are trying to achieve with the upgraded sway bars. Also let us know if you are in stock or aftermarket suspension/springs.

Best advice is to start reading up on flat ride, which has been popular among forum members. Watch the Fatcat Motorsports YouTube videos, learn the spreadsheet tool, and understand how changing specific suspension components affects the drivability of the car.

This will help determine if CSL sways are right for you.