Does a larger rear swaybar = higher tire wear?

So, I've been running a DanGSR 28.5mm solid rear sway for about a year and half now, and I've noticed a significant decrease in the life of my tires. I plan on taking the car in to get a new alignment done, but the car tracks well and there aren't any telling signs of mis-alignment.

That being said, my last set of tires (BFGoodrich GeForce Sport Comp 2's) lasted me about a year... I swapped them out for a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW's in January, and here we are in June and my rears are at the wear bars. I haven't driven a ton of miles in that time and I haven't done any AutoX or the like, it's just been normal everyday driving to and from work in traffic and some spirited stuff here and there.

Worth noting is the rest of the suspension setup :

Front : Bilstein PSS Coilovers, 034 Track Density strut mounts, WALK Kit, BFI Stage 2 dogbone insert, BFI Stage 2 Motor Mount, BFI Stage 2 Transmission mount

Rear : Bilstein PSS Coilovers, BSH Billet Endlinks, DanGSR 28.5mm Solid Rear Sway, Whiteline swaybar locking collars and energy suspension bushings.

So is there just something wrong with the alignment that isn't rearing its head? Could there be another problem? Or is this the price one pays for having an aggressive, performance oriented suspension? :iono:

I don't see a rear swaybar causing tire wear issues. At least not on my car. Did you have an alignment after you had all the other suspension work done? I think a good alignment is in order now.

It shouldn't be the sway bar. What does the wear pattern look like?

how many miles did you put on and did you rotate your tires?

Update : So to answer a few questions, I put less than 3,000 miles on the tires since they had been installed in January. This weekend I swapped on a spare set of wheels/tires and was prepared to get an alignment at one of the better shops here in Orlando and while we were swapping on the spare wheels we found this :



I have zero idea when this happened, but it makes sense since I felt I had a floaty rear for a few months now, especially when it rains. (I always attributed this to the larger bar...)

So, bought a new set of GeForce Sport Comp2's which will be in at some point this week, will be taking it to get a full alignment as soon as I figure out the sway bar issue.

I've seriously been thinking of just grabbing the 034 25.3mm bar with the beefier bushings (Link HERE ) just to eliminate the possibility of the DanGSR bar being a problem. Also, It's a bitch to find billet bushings for the 28.5mm bar.

Should I grab the new bar with all the bits it comes with, or stick with the DanGSR bar and find bushings? That's the question now... any opinions?

I would grab the 034 bar with the updated bushings (the older bushing version has thinner lip and can back out). It appears your sway bar mount is broken somehow and I am surprised it made zero noise.

So, just as a final update... Here was the real culprit of the ruined tires :



So, I got rid of the Continental ExtremeContactDW's and am running the Sport Comp 2's again (This make me happy). And I went ahead and downsized the rear bar just to be 200% sure. I'll most likely put the DanGSR bar back on down the line after I get some custom billet brackets made for it. But for now I went with the 034 bar with it's monster brackets.





And this is a vicious spider, so, deal with that :



The car already drives MUCH, MUCH better. It wasn't pulling before, but I could feel that it wasn't tracking properly. Either way, things seem to have been fixed at this point and I'll be keeping an eye on things to make sure all is well in 6 months.

My take away from this, is that the bar was most likely NOT the culprit. That being said, I can't say what, if any, changes happened because of running it. I may have the answer some day, but I can't afford a 3rd set of tires in the course of 10 months, so, lol

love my 034 bar

holy crap, the bracket on your old bar is too thin.

Glad you found what was wearing your tires. That sure was off.

I've broken sway bar brackets before too, on a different vehicle. They were the same thin gold type brackets you picture. After that, I'm a believe in stronger brackets.

I had some beefy steel brackets made. They are about as thick as your 034 brackets. Those are impressive...