Vehicle performance on and off-road is important especially if more pavement miles are being put on then dirt miles. There are performance products out there that help with both of these driving styles.

Hellwig Products has a performance upgrade for the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon for on and off-road driving, with their performance sway bar. We spoke with Ben Knaus, Hellwig Products Director of Engineering about the benefits of the sway bar for the Colorado. The sway bar for the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon fits both 2WD and 4WD models.

Hellwig Products Sway Bar for the Chevy Colorado (PN 7745)

Knaus said, “A sway bar has a lot of benefits. In the light truck world, the biggest benefits are decreased body roll with improved handling and better safety. From the factory, the Colorado/Canyon does not have a factory rear sway bar at all, which means it does have some body roll and understeer.”

“By adding the rear sway bar, it tightens everything up for a better driving experience. It is an adjustable bar so you can use one of two available rates to match your driving style or your load,” when asked what the added benefits of a sway bar are.

Even if you are using the Colorado to tow your dirt bike, ATV, or UTV out to the desert or to the trail a sway bar will help you get their safely. “While sway bars are fun for the daily driver to improve handling, they are very important when towing or carrying heavy loads. The added weight of a trailer or load throws off the center of gravity as well as adding weight so it can really hurt the performance of the vehicle. The sway bar adds anti-roll rate to compensate for some of the negative affects from a tow/haul condition,” Knaus told us in regards to efffectively towing with a sway bar.

In off-road applications Knaus said, “There are very different styles of off-road driving, some of which benefit more than others. For any lifted trucks, the sway bar is good because, just like carrying a large load, the center of gravity of the vehicle is higher, creating more body roll, and the sway bar cancels some of that out. This leads to safer and more comfortable driving on the road.”

With all the different types of off-roading available Knaus stated, “I would recommend disconnecting the sway bar if you’re doing extreme rock crawling, but a lot of people like a rear sway bar if they’re doing ‘go fast’ desert type driving since it tightens up the rear to help handling. It also helps whip the rear end around and drift the corners.”

Don’t think your factory sway bar can handle the abuse that you are going to give it off-road, Knaus mentioned, “All Hellwig truck sway bars are made from heat treated chromoly steel and are made in the United States at our factory in Visalia, California and come with a lifetime warranty on all steel parts.”

Looking to add an upgraded sway bar to your Colorado or other vehicle check out Hellwig’s website or a complete list of all their vehicle applications.