Sway Bar Reinforcement for a Daily?

[Andsman13]

Hello all, hopefully I can get some help with a few questions!

I have a 1989 325is e30, and I 100% use this car only for daily driving. I do not take it to the track or race it, only keep it on the street with the occasional canyon drive to get to the beach. I recently picked up some front and rear sway bars made by Suspension Techniques for the e30, and was wondering if I really have to reinforce the front and rear mounts on the subframe cross member. My thinking is that I just want some better street performance and handling around town.

My other question is that, if I will have to get the subframes reinforced, is there a way to do it without removing the subframes from the car, and be able to weld the tabs on to the subframe.

Thanks!! Hope everyone is having a great day!

[superj]

For street use , why does it need reinforcement? I thought no that's generally for autocross and stuff like that

[Andsman13]

For street use , why does it need reinforcement? I thought no that's generally for autocross and stuff like that

Hey thanks for the reply, and i'm not sure... It probably is just for high performance applications that you reinforce them but I have been seeing on a lot of places(internet, youtube) that the increased thickness of the bars vs the thin mounting points will cause the bars to rip out off the subframe. But as I have said before this is just my daily driver, never on the track and I don't really drive it like I stole it!

[chefpeterlevine]

all they will do is enhance your performance. check out this excellent article from motor trend mag from the 80s.
you'll have to sort the pages.
well worth the read.

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[superj]

I am all for less lean in the turns and I never reinforced mine and I autocrosses for three years and won class for two. Stock bars though with strut tower bars and koni adjustable shocks and struts with coil overs. Wanted larger sways but couldn't afford then at the time so I kept putting them off. I probably should have just bought them though.

I would run without the weld on stuff for a while and just keep and eye on it. If you see cracks forming, fix it and add the gusseting and reinforcing parts.

I bet it doesnt crack though

[Andsman13]

I am all for less lean in the turns and I never reinforced mine and I autocrosses for three years and won class for two. Stock bars though with strut tower bars and koni adjustable shocks and struts with coil overs. Wanted larger sways but couldn't afford then at the time so I kept putting them off. I probably should have just bought them though.

I would run without the weld on stuff for a while and just keep and eye on it. If you see cracks forming, fix it and add the gusseting and reinforcing parts.

I bet it doesnt crack though

Yeah I was thinking maybe putting them on and keeping an eye on them, since they’re super easy to see from the bottom of the car, thanks for the opinion!


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[Andsman13]

all they will do is enhance your performance. check out this excellent article from motor trend mag from the 80s.
you'll have to sort the pages.
well worth the read.

Sent from hell using Tapatalk

Great read! Thanks for sending that.


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