Rear swaybars and front strut tower bars

[mikk]

I am running the 2 point bar at the top the page below, but I'm not super impressed by it. I didn't buy the other braces, just the bar from one side to the other. To make it fit I had to cut a chunk out of the bracket on one end because of the revised brake line routing (it looks like there are 2 different ways it was done over the years).

VW GOLF MK 4 - REAR LOWER BAR (2 Point)



Anyway I've bought the whiteline kit below in the hopes that it's better or at least gives me more choice in adjustment.

Whiteline BWR22XZ

Goal is less understeer and maybe not have it feel like it's leaning so much.


Also, any opinion on front strut tower bars? I have a Beetle so the windscreen cowl is further forward than the other mark 4s. It looks like it would already be pretty rigid. The top of the shock towers is already under the cowl so the usual mark 4 bars don't fit, but it's possible to get some Beetle specific ones.

[sambb]

Yep that rear bar will be great and make the biggest/cheapest handling change you can make. Set it on stiff and then forget about it. The front strut tower brace hmm not sure. I dont know what other suspension mods you've made but my car is pretty track stiff and the brace is really only something that I noticed on the track. If the car is still sprung factory or 'sport' spring soft then I think the money is better spent elsewhere.

[Sirocco20348]

Edit: When I installed the rear sway bar, I noticed no difference at all. But when I installed my vibra technic engine mounts, the difference was amazing and to me had more of a positive impact on handling then the sway bar.

There are so many things you need to address besides bracing...

You need to be clear what you want to achieve and you need to address the fundamental geometry problem on these cars by optimising the roll center the best you can with the money your willing to spend.

Reading: VWVortex.com - McPherson Suspension Geometry on our MkIV ....... shall we one more time?

"I want to drive my car on the street/occasional track, have better handling retaining mostly stock parts and I don't give a **** what my car looks like in terms of ride height."

Cheapest way to get by.

You need to atleast get some Bilstein b6 struts and combine with your stock Springs.

Make sure all your bushings are tight and fresh. Put on the whiteline bar and be done with it.

After this is a rabbit hole... Especially if you want to lower your car even 1" and retain good handling.

What have you done so far in regards to suspension, bushings etc.

Sent from my LG-H870DS using Tapatalk

[Sirocco20348]

Sam felt a disturbance in the force with the creation of this thread. haha

Sent from my LG-H870DS using Tapatalk

[sambb]

Ha ha After a good weekend in the car its hard to not notice the word 'suspension' out of the corner of my eye

[mikk]

So far this thing is pretty stock apart from a freshen up. I think it rides pretty firmly for mostly stock but I expected a bit more handling out of it and less rolling.

Engine mount was a brand new stock one a few years back.

-Replaced both the front control arm bushings. For the big one I used the TT bushing, the one with no gaps in the rubber.
-New front antiroll bar bushings
-New ball joints
-New tie rods
-New rod ends
-Antiroll bar drop links replaced with new metal ones
-Got new suspension tops/mounts all round

-Bilstein TC Sport shocks
-Eibach Pro-Kit springs

Bump stops replaced with ones that turned out to be slightly taller than the old ones. There seem to be a few lengths of these and turns out the old ones were the shortest ones. I mean about an inch tall at the rear - but two of my other beetles have long ones with a lot of ribbing. Not sure which length is best really. All I know is when I leave them lying around, they look suss.

[Sirocco20348]

So far this thing is pretty stock apart from a freshen up. I think it rides pretty firmly for mostly stock but I expected a bit more handling out of it and less rolling.

Engine mount was a brand new stock one a few years back.

-Replaced both the front control arm bushings. For the big one I used the TT bushing, the one with no gaps in the rubber.
-New front antiroll bar bushings
-New ball joints
-New tie rods
-New rod ends
-Antiroll bar drop links replaced with new metal ones
-Got new suspension tops/mounts all round

-Bilstein TC Sport shocks
-Eibach Pro-Kit springs

Bump stops replaced with ones that turned out to be slightly taller than the old ones. There seem to be a few lengths of these and turns out the old ones were the shortest ones. I mean about an inch tall at the rear - but two of my other beetles have long ones with a lot of ribbing. Not sure which length is best really. All I know is when I leave them lying around, they look suss.

Great basis you have there.

Hmm yeh the struts are the touring B4 struts. Not great. You ideally want the high pressure B6 at stock height or if lowered the B8s.

Springs.. Just looked these up, this kit will lower your car by: Front: 1.2". Rear: 1.2".

Both these would be negatively impacting you in regards to handling.

And this is where it becomes stupid..for free you could reinstall your stock springs to recorrect your roll center to a point and handling would improve, even thou it would probably feel slopply due to the OEM spring rate.

From here it's opening your wallet.

[sambb]

yeah eibach pro kit springs at least on the Polo and I presume the golf platform are exactly the same rates as the stock ones. Problem is they lower the front which ruins roll centres and don't lower the rear enough and leave it too high. I'd go stock front springs (but I understand that is a decent sized job to switch back), leave the eibach rears in and fit a rear bar on stiff since you already have all that stuff on hand. Then down the track look at B8 dampers (if you do change out the eibach fronts you could throw in a pair of B8's then) and some strut top adjustment so can get some caster and maybe some more camber into it. Then if you're still hungry you could toe correct the rear and the whole car will come alive.

[sambb]

hang on what car exactly are you in. Beetle or Mk4 gti. The spring rates bit I mentioned is true of Gti's but the eibachs might in fact be stiffer than stock if you don't have a gti in which case they may be of benefit if they aren't too low in the front. Call Eibach Sydney. They are very good and will most likely be able to tell you what rates you had and what is in their kit.

[dylan8]

The end links on those bars make it hang way to low. My mate had that exact bar and in the end it was missing a fair bit of material.

I'm still not sure if most of the strut braces for the mk4s do much. most just bolt to the thin areas of the strut towers. feel it needs to really tightly fit the nipple or connect to the struts to have a massive effect.

dropping it a bit to get the arms level, fresh struts and refreshing all the bushes will make a huge difference.
get some lighter wheels with a bit more offset once its sorted. Always found that made a huge difference on mine