Swaybar re-inforcement

[maniacmatt]

I was wondering if someone who has done the re-inforcement for bigger rear sway bars could please post up some pictures?

Reason I ask I eventually want to put big sway bars on but I have the subframe out right now and wanted to make and weld-in my own re-inforcements with the subframe out.

[dashboardmonkey]

Paging Stereoinstaller1

[xLibelle]

how about be more specific

Ireland Engineering kit all around... barely
front:


rear:




I did this under the car.

[der affe]

how much do you really need this on a street car?

are my RD's going to blow through my rear sheet metal at some point?

[erik325i]

how much do you really need this on a street car?

are my RD's going to blow through my rear sheet metal at some point?

Yes, they will most definitely tear the mounts off the trailing arms. Also, the softer your springs are, the easier it is to tear the swaybar mounts out.

[der affe]

grrreeeeaaaaat!

would you concider H & R sports "soft"?

what about the front? am i going to rip the sub frame?

[jlevie]

Sway bar sizing is a function of what spring rates you have. The higher the spring rates, the less sway bar stiffness is needed. With H&R Race springs, sway bars larger than 22/19mm don't improve handling. One of the SE Spec E30 guys tried monster sways during a "fun race" this past year. As I recall, he said that handling wasn't improved and may have been slightly worse.

Reinforcement of the pickup points on the trailing arms is a necessity. And like what xLibelle shows above is best.

[ScottL]

In the context of a Spec E30 car, the larger bars may not help. But with suspension and tire setups available to cars with less restrictive rules (higher spring rates, better dampers, slicks), they will.

[maniacmatt]

Awesome thanks xLibelle. So from your pictures you gussetted the rear trailing arm, and the aluminum block for the other rear mounting point came with the kit and also mounts to the trunk floor. I can't see exactly what you did on the front though.

Also would you recommend the 19/22 of the 22/25 kit to go with my GC coilovers. I have Koni SA's and 750/525 spring rates (I think).

[daniel]

on my old e30, I ripped off a rear sway bar mount when i upgraded to the ST 19mm bar.

i will not upgrade the sway bar without using a reinforcement kit from here on.

[MacBudd541]

My front sway bar ripped the tab off the sub frame with stock bars.

[guibo09]

turner's kit for the non M3 doesnt include a re-inforcement for the front swaybar, how come?

[CorvallisBMW]

The reinforcement kit that comes with the IE bars is really nice, I haven't seen anything better to date except custom work. Their 22/19 kit is perfect for most any e30, the 25/22 is overkill IMO.

[xLibelle]

You have to specifically ask but you can obtain a different configuration.
My kit is the 25/19 with full hard/full soft, respectively. Its a much better pairing. I still want to relocate the front bar's mounts to the strut tube, but i'm waiting on the green for SP rules on this. This would provide better geometry for the rear sway.

[xLibelle]

Oh, and the front swaybar tabs must be re-welded before use... they break off.