The BMR Front and Rear Adjustable Sway Bar kit will be an excellent choice for the S550
owners out there who wanna dramatically reduce the body roll and alter the understeer or
oversteer characteristics of the car for the mid $400 price point.
Now, prospective buyers can look forward to a 35 millimeter front bar, along with a 25
millimeter rear option, both of which are 3-way adjustable.
Your install is gonna be pretty straightforward guys, but there is a small amount of work
both underneath the car and through the engine bay here, so I am gonna knock this one up
to a very soft two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter with a little bit more
detail later in the video.
So BMR's goal as a company is to help you guys improve both your handling and your traction
by offering owners a plethora of different parts to help increase or improve both areas.
Now, the sway bars here are certainly more of a handling focused mod, and in true BMR
fashion the company has gone through great lengths in designing a set of bars for S550
owners to really wake up the handling performance and help eliminate excess body roll.
Now, not only will this give you guys a little bit more confidence behind the wheel, but
you're also gonna be able to set up the car for your driving style thanks to the adjustability.
Now guys, I am on record and I'll say it again here, these cars in my opinion are very much
under barred from the factory, and that of course is to better suit the masses as opposed
to the spirited driver like you and I. And BMR tends to agree with me on this as they
claim the factory sway bars have a very low torsional spring rate thanks to the smaller
diameter tubing.
But let's talk about how these bars from BMR will be an improvement for both you and your
ride, and honestly guys, you have a couple of different things working for you here.
First up your diameter and also your materials.
Now, as far as the diameter is concerned, you're going to be looking at a 35 millimeter
front bar here in addition to a 25 millimeter rear bar.
Now, according to BMR the front option will be an increase in rate for stiffness ranging
from 28% to 70% over the factory bar it is replacing.
Now, the rear bar on the other hand is even more impressive with a 63% to 208% increase
over the factory bar, and that big range on both bars is made possible of course thanks
to the 3-way adjustability that both the front and rear have in common.
But by upgrading the front and rear bars the car will certainly feel more responsive overall,
will definitely be flatter in turns thanks to the drastically reduced body roll, and
at the same time the car should rotate a little bit better through those turns as well.
Now, this is going to be a welcome change for most owners out there because in my opinion
these factory S550s have the slightest bit of understeering characteristic sport tendencies,
meaning the car just kind of wants to push or plow through turns.
But with the bigger bars like the options we have here from BMR, you're going to experience
more of a neutral balance with the car and maybe even experience a little bit of oversteer
depending on how you set these bars up.
Now, this just is simply accomplished by moving your end link to one of the three respective
holes here on each bar, essentially softening or stiffening the bar in the process.
Guys listen, everyone has their own driving style, everyone's set up is going to be a
little bit different so this is certainly one of those things you're gonna just have
to play with a little bit before landing on your ideal setting.
My advice to you, start with the end links on the middle hole here for each bar, make
a few adjustments and go from there.
But getting into the physical construction here with these particular sway bars, BMR
is quick to point out a few key attributes.
Now, for starters these bars are manufactured from cold form DOM steel tubing.
Why cold form?
Because according to BMR the cold form stuff is better at reducing or resisting torsional
fatigue, and can actually retain the memory or shape better than most hot form bars.
Now the bars themselves are actually hollow, which does make for a strong bar overall,
but one that won't add a ton of weight to your S550.
Now, both bars do include their own dedicated brackets as you can see right here, and load
it with an 88 durometer polyurethane bushing to be exact, which will help reduce deflection
or movement far better than the soft rubber factory bushings.
Finally guys, and not nearly as important, you'll notice we do have these things obviously
in red here on the table with me for this video, but BMR does also offer these things
in their signature hammer tone finish as well and you can find those on the site if you
are interested.
But what do you say we switch gears real quick here and talk about the install?
And again guys, this isn't exactly the hardest job in the world, but since there is some
work involved underneath the rear of the car in addition to some work involved to get the
front in place, I am gonna knock this one up to a relatively soft two out of three wrenches
on the old difficulty meter here, and tool wise you're gonna wanna consider a socket
set in addition to a few allen keys, a number of extensions to help you get some bolts through
the engine bay, some open-ended wrenches, and then last but not least, obviously a way
to get the car in the air slightly.
A lift would be the preferred method of course, but you can always do jack and jack stands,
or race ramps if you have access.
Getting started, get the car up in the air and pop those front wheels off to give you
better access to those front end links.
At this point, you can remove those end links and hit the front sway bar brackets which
I like to do through the engine bay.
To do so just chain a few extensions together or hit them through the wheel wells, whatever
is easiest for you.
With the brackets removed go ahead and fish out that factory front sway bar and fish in
the new BMR option in its place.
You might wanna have a buddy help you kind of work its way through its engine bay.
Now, reinstall the new brackets from BMR in addition to your end links, reinstall the
front wheels, grease those front bushings and the front is completely wrapped up.
Now, in my opinion, the rear bar is definitely the easier of the two, but go ahead and disconnect
those rear sway bar end links, remove the brackets and remove the factory bar from the
car.
Reinstall the new BMR 25 millimeter option in its place in reverse order, and your installation
is complete.
The BMR Front and Rear Adjustable Sway Bar kit is gonna be a great choice again for the
S550 owners out there who are interested in dramatically improving their handling, and
you can find your set right here at americanmuscle.com.