chrisp

I'm debating whether to get the SRP sway bars or something like the TRG, Weltmeister Pro, etc.

I have the old school Weltmeister 22mm bars now.

Ultimately what I'm looking for is feedback from people who have tried both and understand exactly what the performance gains are for the extra money (SRP bars are double the cost). There's no doubt the SRP bars are works of art and well thought out.

Thanks.

Alan Herod

Not the answer you are looking for -- I can't believe there is any performance gain as long as the less costly bars don't fail. I have SRP and I really like them for adjustability and reliability. I chose them because I have seen many Weltmeister failures. The SRP bars are more robust.

Juan Lopez

ditto

paradisenb

Chris,

Dan Jacobs put the anti roll bars in my car. They are Smart Racing. There is probably a reason beyond price.

They look cool when car is on the lift. :

Gary R.

That's why I have them!

2002M3Drew

I have broken two Weltmeister front sways in a period of 2 1/2 years. Luckily both were in autocross conditions immediately preceeding a track event. I'd rather break the front sway (hello oversteer!) in a parking lot than in the esses at the Glen!

Here are some pics of the failures:





Both times I had the same failure. The bar end failed first, and then the drop link would get ripped off once the bar end was disconnected, shearing the drop link arm. Funny, my mechanic reports seeing others just like it as well.

To the retailer's credit, they replaced the first one for me for free. The second time, though, I dialed up an SRP through Steve Weiner. The construction is far superior to the Weltmeister, and the SRP makes no noise. Thw Weltmeister would have been more at home on a tractor...very noisy.

Note that the Weltmeister Pro series looks an awful lot like the Tarret Engineering once, and others (this they are sold under mulitple names).

chrisp

Like the pictures, have all of the failures you've heard of been the original Weltmeister as opposed to the "Pro" style...which is similar to Tarrett which is similar to Elephant.

Cory M

We have Tarett bars on a few different cars of ours 911 and 944. I have also run Smart and TRG bars in the past. The Tarett bars are really high quality and do everything I need them to.

APKhaos

Here's another reason why SRP bars are a good choice: Craig Watkins absolutely stands behind the products and provides spectacular customer support!

I ran the largest SRP rear bar in my 911. After one of the aluminum lever arms broke at MO, I sent SRP an email with pictures of the failed arm. I was thinking that they would like to see details of the failing mode. Craig replied within 24 hours, and here are the first few lines of that email:

SRP shipped new arms for both sides withing a week. They were redesigned specifically to achieve more material right where the failure had occurred. I have no connection with SRP. In my experience, their product support is something other many vendors should aspire to match!

Cory M

I had some time to answer in more detail:

I have used them all. I really like the Taretts, the SRP's are very nice too but depending on your situation probably not required. Tarett comes in one size but you can get a few sizes of SRP, however the Tarett size (22mm hollow rate) and adjustment is probably fine for the majority of the 911's out there. Having the ability to run different size bars is a nice feature but I'd bet that the vast majority of people with SRP bars never have to do this because their is a lot of adjustment in the bars, unless they screw up and order the wrong size (the bars alone are $145 each). The only situation where you could need an SRP over a Tarett is if you need a SUPER stiff bar, because the stiffest SRP bar is stiffer than the Tarett.

As for adjustability, adjusting the front bars is about the same for both SRP and Tarett. The drop link on the SRP bar attaches to the control arm with a bolt on bracket, the Tarett uses a simple weld on bracket, early cars with thru body sway bars already have the bracket. Later cars may not have it but the bracket can be welded without removing the arms from the car in about 10 minutes. Both require you to drill some holes if the car wasn't equipped with a thru body sway bar originally.

I prefer the slotted adjustment on the rear of the Taretts to the holes on the SRP. On the Tarett you simply loosen the nut, slide the drop link to the desired stiffness, and tighten it up. The SRP rear bar has very small bolts and heim joints, they are mounted in double shear and tend to bind in the arm making removal a pain. I usually had to use a punch and hammer to knock out the bolt, then everything has to be lined up just right to reinstall it. I ended up stripping out the rear bolts, the replacements from SRP were reasonably priced and shipped promptly but they were a special order shoulder bolt that can not be found at any hardware store (probably a good idea to get some extra bolts and heims and keep them in your spare parts bin if you're running the SRP bars). The SRP drop link uses two small heim joints and a right hand/left hand threaded rod, so you don't need to remove a bolt to adjust the drop link length which is a nice feature, but the heim joints are so small an can get corroded and wear over time (years). The Tarett bar has two BIG heim joints mounted in single shear which is more than adequate strength wise and the large size of the heims makes them much less susceptible to wearing or corrosion, the only downside being that you need to remove a bolt to adjust the length. You have to remove a bolt anyway to disconnect the sway bars when you are cornerbalancing a car regardless of the brand of bar you use.

Either set of bars will work, but unless you need an exceptionally stiff bar it probably isn't worth the extra dough for the SRPs. Both the front and rear Tarett bars are significantly lighter than the SRPs.

I took some pictures of the rear bars when I was swapping them:

pmason

Actually I'm having the SRP bars installed now along with RSR struts/shocks and t bars. Went with SPR because was my mechanic/PCA instructor has gone through 2 others brands with failures and until he went with SRP bars. Took his lessons learned, should be cheaper in the long run.

2002M3Drew

Both of my failures were on the standard Weltmeister bars. However, I eleve the cause of the failures was the fact that the bar, which is tubular, obviously, terminates on both ends in a square "peg" end, which is designed to fit into the arms on the ends like a piece in a puzzle. It was at the exact junction where the square part meets the round part of the bar, where the bar failed. I think this is the result of either a faulty weld(s), or a design problem where that part of the bar is absorbing too much stress and essentially is the weakest link.

If you notice from the other pictures above, the pro series (and the Tarrett, and the Elephant...I think they are all the same) also has the same square end design, whereas the SRP has a round bar end.

Cory M

I had a set of TRG bars sitting in the garage and snapped some pictures of their rear bar too. The TRG bars are basically a less refined copy of the Taretts. A lot of the geometry is the same but the difference in the details. The TRG bars are blue and the Taretts are red.

The arms on the Taretts are significantly thicker where they attach to the bar. This where the highest stress occurs so it makes sense to put more material there. The Tarett arms also have an internal thread for the clamping screw, the TRG bar has a through bolt and the end of the screw tended to scrape on things (you can see some damage in the pictures). The Tarett design is a lot smoother and less likely to cause any issues with damaged hardware or get hung up on anything (like my knuckles!). The bushing blocks on the Taretts are a lot smoother, the TRGs have two set of holes which make them more universal but the holes are too close together and on mine the material between the holes was worn through in places. The machining on the Tarett parts is more refined, an example of this is how the TRG machine shop put a radius on the face of the bearing block where it bolts to the car - the corners should be flat here to maximize the contract area, there is no logical reason that I can think of to put a radius here. Another example is the plug welds at the end of the bars, the Tarett bar has been welded completely and machined to a smooth surface while the TRG bar has been welded halfway and isn't smooth. This is the area where the bushing interfaces with the bar so a smooth surface is critical in reducing bushing wear and squeaks. Tarett anodized their locating collars to match the rest of the hardware while the TRGs are left plain, not that is matters much when it is under the car. The Tarett bar uses a square attachment and the TRG uses a hex. The drop link configuration is the same.

pu911rsr

I think both the Tarrets and the TRG's are copies of Charlie bars from Wrightwood racing. The original charlie bars used a hexagonal end but have switched to a splined end like the SRP bars. I have raced on weltmeisters for years w/o failure but always with a light car.
Phil

IamSMC

Choose SRP