Hotchkis Suspension

Hotchkis has a long and successful history of offering suspension upgrades for domestic muscle cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, European performance vehicles and Japanese sport compact vehicles. Now they're bringing their expertise in tuning for domestic muscle cars to the wheel market. Launching in 2013, the Hotchkis wheel line-up consists of the H-Sport, Y- Sport and S-Sport. These wheels are designed to fit the current crop of domestic muscle cars: Mustang, Camaro and Challenger.

H-Sport wheels come in a black or silver finish and feature a distinctive 13-spoke design. The Y-Sport is the Hotchkis interpretation of the classic motorsport-style Y-spoke design. Finish options for this wheel include matte graphite silver and machined face with matte graphite accent. Finally, the S-Sport utilizes a sporty and classic split five-spoke design. It comes in a traditional silver finish and a machined with black accent.

As I enjoy playing around and putting wheels on vehicles, I'm especially fond of the Hotchkis S-Sport in machined with black accent on a black Dodge Challenger. View all the new Hotchkis wheels and find the one that you like best for your muscle car!

The anti-roll bar, also called an anti-sway bar, connects the left and right suspensions together and anchors to the vehicle frame. Typically used at the front and rear of the vehicle, the anti-roll bar is commonly used to adjust the handling balance of the vehicle and limit the amount of sway or body roll during cornering.

In essence, an anti-roll bar works as a torsion spring, so as you approach a high speed corner, the vehicle will begin to lean downward toward the outside corner pushing upward on the outside end of the anti-roll bar. The upward movement of the outside end of the anti-roll bar is transferred to the inside end of the anti-roll bar, which responds by also applying the same upward movement to the inside cornering of the suspension. This compresses the inside corner of the suspension while also providing torsion to the anti-roll bar so the outside edge can better resist the upward movement. All this results in a vehicle that'll remain level even while making high-speed corners and keep traction more equal for the inside and outside tires.  

Whether you're looking to increase performance on your daily driver or looking to have the ultimate autocross/road race machine, we offer a wide array of anti-roll bar products. 

Eibach Anti-Roll Kit

H&R Anti-Roll Bar

Hotchkis Sport Anti-Roll Bar

Performance Street Anti-Roll Bars:

Eibach Anti-Roll Kit:

• Further reduces body roll
• Cold-formed from high strength aircraft grade steel
• Designed to fit without vehicle modification

H&R Anti-Roll Bar:

• Perfectly complements H&R springs, coil-overs, performance shocks and cup kits
• Crafted from spring steel that is stronger, more resilient than other materials
• Bent on proprietary machines designed by H&R to produce complex curves and a perfect fit

Hotchkis Sport Anti-Roll Bars:

• Improves handling while reducing body roll
• Designed for the everyday commuter and occasional road course or track use
• Includes tubular front and rear anti-roll bars

Hotchkis AutoX Anti-Roll Bar

Hotchkis Competition Anti-Roll Bars

Autocross/Track Anti-Roll Bars:

Hotchkis Sport Suspension AutoX Anti-Roll Bar:

• Improves handling and reduces body roll
• Track-tested, lightweight, hollow
• Includes greasable bushings and brackets

Hotchkis Competition Anti-Roll Bars:

• Designed for the highly competitive road course and autocross course
• Maximizes tire performance and achieves slight oversteer
• Tubular front and rear bars with greasable polyurethane bushings, brackets and 90-degree zerk fittings (where applicable)

Shop by vehicle to view all anti-roll bars offered for your daily driver, autocross or road race vehicle. Also, take a look at replacement shocks and struts to complement your new anti-roll bars by reading, "Which Bilstein Replacement Shock or Strut is Best for Your Vehicle?"

Hotchkis has been well known as a manufacturer of performance-oriented suspension products for a variety of vehicles for many years. Building on their knowledge and quality reputation, Hotchkis is proud to offer a new line of performance wheels available in 20" sizes to fit modern Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and more.

The H-Sport model features a unique multi-spoke design in both a black and silver painted finish that's available in staggered widths to give you the option of a wider rear tire for that classic muscle car look. All Hotchkis wheels are machined to accept the factory tire pressure sensors. We also offer new sensors for sale if your vehicle requires.

S-Sport wheels have a more traditional five-spoke design meant to show off your brake calipers. They also feature a brushed aluminum face with either a silver or black accent for the barrel and center sections of the wheel. All Hotchkis wheels have multiple layers of clearcoat paint to protect the brushed aluminum from pitting under their one-year limited warranty.

Hotchkis' Y-Sport has the more modern split-spoke look associated with European sport sedans and coupes. The wheel is available in a matte graphite silver finish with or without the brushed aluminum face. Like the other models, the Y-Sport comes complete with all new lug nuts and center caps at no charge for a complete and hassle-free install. 

Hotchkis H-Sport

Hotchkis S-Sport

Hotchkis Y-Sport

Take a look at all the Hotchkis wheels available and find one that's right for your vehicle.

One of the most simple, yet beneficial upgrades you can make to your suspension set-up is an improved sway bar. Available in front and rear matched kits, or as stand alone front or rear units, sway bars are a great way to reduce unwanted body roll under cornering loads.

If your car is well balanced from the factory, a full sway bar kit is likely the way to go. However, many people will see improvements with just a front or rear bar. Do you have a car that understeers or pushes into corners? A rear sway bar may be what your vehicle needs. In this scenario, a stronger and stiffer rear sway bar will help the car rotate into corners and reduce some of that understeer present in many of today's automobiles.

With options available from Eibach, H&R and Hotchkis, Tire Rack has the suspension products you need to properly fit your vehicle.

Memorial Day weekend 2011 will go down as the first time the SCCA has held a ProSolo and National Tour event over the same holiday weekend. We can’t think of a better place to host the event than the awesome Lincoln Airpark, home of the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale and National Championships. It appears many of our fellow Solo competitors agree, as the ProSolo entries capped out at 250 and the National Tour count has topped 300 competitors. It is an incredible turnout and testament to the enthusiasm within the Solo community despite high fuel prices and the still recovering economic conditions. 

With the big event just around the corner, the Tire Rack/Grassroots Motorsports Project STR team of John Rogers and Chris Harvey have continued the development of the 2010 Mazda MX5. First up, was the addition of Design Engineering, Inc. (DEI) Reflect-A-GOLD heat reflective material. We wrapped out a cold air intake tube, O2 sensor wires and plastic exhaust outlet hole with this state of the art polymer to help ward off heat from the engine compartment. Its self adhesive backing makes it easy to install just about anywhere.

Next up was some fine tuning to our exhaust system. In 2010 we installed a STR class legal, PPE header, mid-pipe and resonator and capped it off with a Goodwin Race muffler. 12,000 miles and lots of hard use had taken a toll on the resonator, so we decide to explore other options. We tried the simple solution first, just replacing the resonator with a straight pipe, but the resulting resonance in the cabin was too much for our eardrums to handle on the long drives to and from events. A call to Burns Stainless was made and an Ultra-Light muffler was quickly on its way. We replaced our old piece with this unit and noticed an immediate drop in the exhaust tone and weight. It's quiet enough we can bolt on a lightweight turndown in place of the Goodwin muffler and leave a few more pounds behind in the paddock.

To take care of our suspension needs in 2010, we installed an off the shelf, KW Variant 3 coil-over system with Hotchkis anti-roll bars. This set-up carried us to ProSolo and National event wins as well as bringing home hardware from the ProSolo Finale and National Championships. The street oriented spring rates coupled with KW’s wide range of valving adjustments performed better than expected on the Solo course and gave us a comfortable ride home.  For 2011, we decided to turn up the volume a bit and assist KW with the development of a more aggressive system for Solo and track use. Stay tuned for driver impressions and track results as we get some seat time on this newly installed, prototype set-up.

ProSolo event competition will take place on May 27-28th with the National Tour running on May 29th-30th. You can find live results and a link to streaming audio at www.sololive.scca.com .

Tire Rack driver Chris Harvey pointed the Project STR Mazda MX5 550 miles south to Blytheville, Arkansas for our first SCCA ProSolo event of 2011. Co-driver John Rogers was tending to One Lap of America event duties so Chris was on his own to dial in the car and take on the solid, 12 car STR class field.

The Friday test and tune course was put to good use as adjustments were made for the unique and tricky concrete surface. Using our tried and true Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec tires, KW Variant 3 coil-overs and Hotchkis anti-roll bars, the set-up was tweaked to remove some persistent oversteer we encountered. Nice gains were made on the clock and confidence was high going into Saturday’s first heat competition.

Long time SCCA National level Solo driver Darrin Disimo put down the fastest right side time while Chris followed-up with the quickest left side time during first heat competition runs on Saturday morning. Darrin’s co-driver and car owner, Dave Marcus showed flashes of speed on par with the front runners, but cone troubles pushed him back in the running order.

An announcement was made by event officials after the first heat that all three heats would be run on Saturday due to the strong possibility of rain during the normal Sunday morning final heat. That’s all the inspiration the STR drivers needed to push extra hard in the second heat in search of every bit of time they could find on course. Darrin came out swinging, putting down the quickest clean right side run but ran into cone troubles on the left. Chris answered with a half second improvement on the right side but then ran into red light troubles on his final two runs of the heat to nix any further gains. Once the math was done, Darrin held onto a solid .658 second lead, as the drivers headed into the third and final heat of the event. Dave Marcus cleaned up his first heat cone troubles to move into third, just four-tenths off Chris’ pace.

Tensions were high and some class leading competitors were observed doing rain dances as the final heat runs began late Saturday afternoon. Lots of bandwidth was being used as competitors kept one eye on the sky and another on the weather radar as rain clouds were building to the west. The course remained dry and fast until the STR competitors were directed to the starting line. The skies were dark as the ProSolo starting lights came down on the class leaders. With the wipers coming on and lightning in the distance as they rounded the half way point, Chris and Darrin charged through the finish each finding time on course and Chris closing the overall gap by two-tenths. The drivers then switched sides only to find the lightning closing in and the sprinkles turning into a steady drizzle. Once the drivers launched onto the course, it was clear the concrete had lost some grip and no additional gains would be found. As Darrin and Chris crossed the finish line for a second time, Darrin claimed the event win as the skies fully opened and soaked the course to prevent hope of improvement for the remaining two runs. 

The weather at the Tire Rack headquarters in South Bend, Indiana is finally turning as we head into May, this will allow for additional tire testing and suspension work as our search for additional speed continues. Our sights are set on the next major event for Project MX5, the 2011 Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo and National Tour in Lincoln, Nebraska over Memorial Day weekend. Chris and John can’t wait to have another crack at the ProSolo Finale and National Championship event site.

Looking to take your performance vehicle to the next level on the track or at the next autocross event? Designed with the enthusiast in mind, Hotchkis Sport Suspension Competition Anti-Roll Bars improve handling and reduce body roll via a more aggressive rear bar set.

One advantage of running a thicker rear bar vs. stock is added over-steer, which maximizes the vehicle's race tires for on-track performance. The Hotchkis bars can also be used if your vehicle currently has lowering springs or a coil-over kit.

Popular Applications for the Sport Anti-Roll Bars

Model	Year	Front Diameter	Rear Diameter
Chevrolet Camaro	10+	32mm, 1 Position	25mm, 3 Positions
Nissan 370Z	09+	35mm, 1 Position	27mm, 3 Positions
Infiniti G35	08+	35MM, 1 Position	27mm, 3 Positions

Start shopping by vehicle, brands or product categories from our Suspension page to see which suspension products work best for your vehicle.

Additional information:

"Understanding Basic Suspension Terminology"

It’s been a busy two weeks for Project STR.

Our first outing took us to Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI for the CENDIV Divisional Championship. This area has been a hotbed for street tire competition with plenty of fast drivers to help us gauge our performance. GRM/Tire Rack drivers Chris Harvey and John Rogers traded fast times both days. Chris pulled out the win with really quick times on his fourth and fifth runs.

Fast forward one week to the Great Lakes Divisional Championship in Peru, IN. This site is the best simulation of the Nationals course surface we can find east of the Mississippi. The battle was tight all weekend, with Chris Harvey out in front after day one by just 0.060 seconds. The course on day two was fast and hard to visualize in a few spots, but that didn’t slow down team STR. John Rogers threw down a crushing second run that no one could match, but it wasn’t enough to make up for his deficit from day one. Chris Harvey was second-quick for the day just 0.4 second back with autocross legend Jim McKamey less than a tenth behind.
Nick Jackson experimented with a wing on his S2000, and ultimately went faster without it. After two days, the three trophy spots were covered by a scant 0.078 second, with Chris Harvey, Nick Jackson and John Rogers finishing first through third respectively. Tire Rack driver Angie Rogers also got her first taste of the MX-5 this season, winning the STR Ladies championship and getting primed for Nationals next month.

If the competition at the Tire Rack SCCA Pro Solo Finale and Solo National Championship in Lincoln, NE next month is this tight, it’s going to be a heck of a battle to see what driver/car/tire combination comes out on top. We think we’re ready for the challenge.

Our efforts to fine-tune the suspension set-up on Project STR are paying off, as shown by our recent success in competition. A close look during maximum cornering shows just how well the KW Coil-Overs and Hotchkis Anti-Roll Bars maximize the footprint and cornering power of the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tires on our MX-5.

Tire Rack offers a number of high-quality suspension products that can take your vehicle down a notch, but first, make note that you shouldn't go any lower than 1.5 inches below stock settings. We'd hate for you to negatively affect ride and drive performance.

That said, we're big fans of H&R Springs. They're made in Germany and precision-wound with the highest quality spring steel available. You can choose from Sport and Race springs depending on your vehicle and how you drive it (H&R Springs Comparison Chart).

We also like Hotchkis Springs. Sport Suspension, a leader in the suspension industry, engineers high quality products for domestic muscle cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks, plus European performance vehicles and Japanese sport compact vehicles. Their Sport Springs are popular among our consumers, and we think you'll like them, too.

Of course, choosing aftermarket suspension products has everything to do with your specific vehicle. You'll want to shop by vehicle, after which Tire Rack will create a detailed list of options that you can choose from.

Not sure you want to lower your vehicle? Take a look at lowering to get a better understanding of what your vehicle would look like sitting a little lower to the ground.

Since the beginning we have noticed significant lateral body roll in the Project STR MX-5. Installing the KW Variant 3 Coil-Overs with the stiffer spring rates improved it marginally, but we feel it still needs to be reduced further. Past test experience has shown us that tuning the anti-roll bars can have a significant positive impact on responsiveness and cornering power.

So, the next logical step in our build-up was to install a set of Hotchkis Anti-Roll Bars. For this application, the tubular bars are larger diameter than the O.E. bars. They're also 3-way adjustable front and rear, which should help us tune the balance of the car to our liking, and to work well with the rest of the suspension and wheel and tire upgrades we’ve already made.

If not, you should! Many Hotchkis suspension products are made specifically for MINI Cooper suspension systems.

The H-Sport Stage 1 TVS system is an ideal upgrade for anyone who drives their MINI Cooper on a regular basis. It features sway bars and lowering springs, both of which improve ride and drive quality. And as an important bonus, it's fairly easy to install. Though vehicle lifts make it even easier, a simple jack system will do. Read "H-Sport Stage 1 TVS Installation Tips for the MINI" for step-by-step instructions.

Search all suspension products.

If you seek better handling on and off the track, then your MINI Cooper will benefit from the Hotchkis Sport Suspension Stage 1 TVS kit. With just two parts—sport springs, an anti-roll bar kit—and detailed instructions, installation is easy for anyone who has ever worked on their brakes or suspension system. (Hotchkis has even provided a few hints and tips.)

How exactly do those two parts upgrade your MINI Cooper suspension system? The Sport Springs lower the vehicle, and thus—your center of gravity. But ride quality isn't diminished. The Sport Anti-Roll Bar Kit features front and rear bars that improve handling. It's explained thoroughly in the following video: "Comparing Hotchkis Sport Suspension Sport Anti-Roll Bars to Stock." 

See all Hotchkis suspension products.

The market is full of high quality suspension products, but every once in a while a brand distances themselves from the masses with an excellent product for a particular niche of vehicles. Enter Hotchkis Sport Suspension—exceptional products for muscle cars, European performance vehicles and Japanese sport compact vehicles. Even domestic trucks and SUVs.

While it's true that aftermarket suspension systems enhance everyday driving, many of today's muscle cars are just too powerful for their original equipment. These cars, along with European and Japanese vehicles, surely benefit from enhanced suspension systems.

Hotchkis Total Vehicle Suspension Kits and all other Hotchkis performance suspension components increase stability, handling and maneuverability by transferring horsepower and torque to the tires without compromising ride quality.

Shop by vehicle to determine which Hotchkis products meet your needs. 

At Tire Rack, we'll do our best to end your exhaustive search for shock absorbers online. We've developed our inventory by compiling some of the industry's best suspension products.

Search our stock by vehicle. It's easy! We'll generate a list of suitable suspension products, like shock absorbers, springs and strut boots—all of which are ready to ship from one of our distribution centers.

You can also search by brand:
• Bilstein
• Eibach
• H&R
• Hotchkis
• KONI
• KYB

Regardless, you'll find the information you need to make an educated purchase. If not, contact us. Our team of performance specialists would be happy to help you find shock absorbers.