Stiffening the ass

[Eiik]

Hey guys, looking for some input!

I have this Blu Line JOM coilover kit and worked fine at the beginning but after some years the car has become extremely soft. I've had to increase the height in the rear drastically and when the backseats are full i still don't have enough clearence at the wheels... One of my swaybar links in the front got destroyed one day so I tried to put on TA Technix's adjustable swaybar links, quite thrilled about those actually. the handling got a lot stiffer and I can lower it to the spot i want. (Here comes the issue...) for the rear I read something about that it's the opposite of the front where you increase the length to stiffen it but at the rear you gotta decrease it? Stuggling to find an affordable option where i can lower it more than 15cm wich i've understood is the oem length?

Cheers

[WBAD530i]

I'd say some healthy squats and lunges would do the trick.

[geargrinder]

LOL. Stiff that ass baby.

I'm gonna guess from a quick google that those are just some budget CO's and the softening is purely a result of some inexpensive low quality springs sagging and wearing out.

Re: swaybar links, OP, you are under an erroneous understanding of what adjustable links do. To be fair loads of kiddiepoos dont get this and think links will help them adjust stiffness. It won't unfortunately.

Adjustable links do not adjust stiffness of the bar at all.

Adjustable links are only there to do 2 things, totally unrelated to overall swaybar stiffness:

1. Overwhelmingly the primary reason is to ensure there's zero preload at all between the left and right sides. They should be adjusted so that when the car is sitting on the ground normally, the 'last' swaybar link bolt inserted will slide in and out with no pre-load tension at all, period. If the bar does have any preload when sitting on the ground, what you are doing is creating a higher spring rate on one side than the other. And the only time that is done intentionally is if you're racing oval track otherwise that's generally a highly undesirable condition.
2. Secondarily, relocating an adjustable link for an extremely lowered car where the swaybar rotates up into the chassis and is now sitting in a location that could contact something - most typically an exhaust part or control arm etc. In that case you adjust both sides equally to put the bar in a place where it won't contact anything (basically put it back into the place it was sitting before the car was lowered). And in that case you still ensure zero preload on the bar.

The only thing that adjusts stiffness of the bar is if it has multiple mount holes and you move the mounts to an outer hole (softer) or an inner hole (stiffer). If your setup has an aftermarket bar and you can move the mount locations, this IS a way to change bar stiffness. If you think you're putting preload into the bar because you feel tension on the adjustable link, then you have to rethink how the bar attaches and realize that any increased stiffness on one side from a preloaded bar is going to create exactly the same amount of decreased stiffness/spring rate on the other side of the car.

[philly98540]

Inner is stiffer.

[blarf]

Oh get one of those electro shock thingies to work your muscles. For the love of god don't post the results to the forum.

[geargrinder]

Inner is stiffer.

Doh of course.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Innies and outies.... Oh Yeah!!!

[Eiik]

Haha, thanks for the feedback and the knowledge! Than I won't do anything about it until I can afford some high quality coilovers.
But I'm wondering why preload on the swaybar is that bad? YES I understand that it can resort to the bar braking more easily but other than that? As mentioned the front does feel stiffer after the TA's was installed and I don't think my handling became worse, in my opinion it even got slightly better considering that i'm now able to steer harder without any problems.

[geargrinder]

Because you can't "preload" both sides. If you positive preload on the left, it is really negative preload on the other.

Study how the bar works. It is connected to the control arm on either side but neutral pivots in the middle.

If you turn the links to add spring rate - "pushing down" -to the right side, it's because its taking away - pushing up - on the left. That's why it can be useful for circle tracks.
Q
This has nothing to do with breaking the bar. Zero.

As for your situation, well, you had broken links so you had no bar for awhile. If you have preload then it's on one side and it means sure your car prob sits flatter and tighter turning one way than the other.