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Official Sway Bar Discussion Thread

theclutch

Go Kart Newbie
Stock (original actually) shocks and springs. The bar with the wonky bushing is an 034 with poly bushings, and 034 spherical endlinks. I do autocross 2 or 3 times per month. I’ve been checking it every time I get home from an event and everything looks fine. This one broke yesterday when I was driving to pick up lunch. Last week I had to take the mount off and put the bushing back in because it had come out, but not broken. Also, the bottom bolt on my passenger side endlink is constantly coming loose. I’ve tried Loctite with an impact wrench and it still came loose. Next I think I’m going to look at locking washer options.


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Wow... this is odd. I'm also running completely originally shocks. So what you are saying is that the black bushing somehow wiggles its way out of the pretty high strength billet aluminum brackets and then breaks (rips) as a result? I assume that it wiggles out since the bottom bolt, as you say, had come undone?

If that bolt keeps coming out, I'm afraid that the issue may be is that you stripped the nut that's welded onto the frame... thank God that I was the one that installed my own sway bar. I can only imagine that I avoided paying a brute-force-and-ignorance mechanic from forcing it and stripping it out. I found that it's easy to cross thread these bolts. Mine (although Neuspeed and not O34) has not come out and I even put major anti-seize on it. I do track my car.

I hope this isn't what happened to your setup? If the bolt is not stripped, then I assume it's wiggling itself out since there's not enough grease in it causing binding vs the bar spinning freely?
 

FF_animal

Ready to race!
Actually, was just looking at their sway bars, and it looks like they come with a coupling that tightens to the bar right next to the inside of the mount that would keep the bushing in place. I’m going to try to find (or make, see my earlier photo) one of those to see if it holds.


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Yes the sway bar also comes with lateral locks I have them on also.

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FF_animal

Ready to race!
Wow... this is odd. I'm also running completely originally shocks. So what you are saying is that the black bushing somehow wiggles its way out of the pretty high strength billet aluminum brackets and then breaks (rips) as a result? I assume that it wiggles out since the bottom bolt, as you say, had come undone?

If that bolt keeps coming out, I'm afraid that the issue may be is that you stripped the nut that's welded onto the frame... thank God that I was the one that installed my own sway bar. I can only imagine that I avoided paying a brute-force-and-ignorance mechanic from forcing it and stripping it out. I found that it's easy to cross thread these bolts. Mine (although Neuspeed and not O34) has not come out and I even put major anti-seize on it. I do track my car.

I hope this isn't what happened to your setup? If the bolt is not stripped, then I assume it's wiggling itself out since there's not enough grease in it causing binding vs the bar spinning freely?
Good catch he could have stripped the mount bolt but they dont require much force to lock down.

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FF_animal

Ready to race!
If he isnt noticing the extra play when torqueing the mount down and if it isnt stripped I would look into different bushings and get some lateral locks to see if that resolves the issue.

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Lazer 100

Ready to race!
Wow... this is odd. I'm also running completely originally shocks. So what you are saying is that the black bushing somehow wiggles its way out of the pretty high strength billet aluminum brackets and then breaks (rips) as a result? I assume that it wiggles out since the bottom bolt, as you say, had come undone?



If that bolt keeps coming out, I'm afraid that the issue may be is that you stripped the nut that's welded onto the frame... thank God that I was the one that installed my own sway bar. I can only imagine that I avoided paying a brute-force-and-ignorance mechanic from forcing it and stripping it out. I found that it's easy to cross thread these bolts. Mine (although Neuspeed and not O34) has not come out and I even put major anti-seize on it. I do track my car.



I hope this isn't what happened to your setup? If the bolt is not stripped, then I assume it's wiggling itself out since there's not enough grease in it causing binding vs the bar spinning freely?



To be clear, none of the bolts that hold the bushings to the subframe have ever come loose, even when the bushing broke, so I doubt that it’s stripped. The bolt that holds the passenger side endlink to the sway bar is coming loose.

Here is what it looks like with a broken bushing.




Here was my makeshift repair for an autocross I did. It lasted a few days lol.


I just bought these couplings from the fastener store to try to keep them in place. Hopefully these will work.



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theclutch

Go Kart Newbie
It's a good thing that the bolt to the bracket is not stripped! Because THAT would have sucked. But in your pic that shows your hand, I don't see any grease residue inside the bushing. Is it possible that you may have forgotten to grease it?
 

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theclutch

Go Kart Newbie
It's a good thing that the bolt to the bracket is not stripped! Because THAT would have sucked. But in your pic that shows your hand, I don't see any grease residue inside the bushing. Is it possible that you may have forgotten to grease it?

I take it that someone forgot to grease the inside of the bushing...
 

Lazer 100

Ready to race!
I take it that someone forgot to grease the inside of the bushing...



Nope it was greased. If anything there might have been too much pressure from the grease gun and the zerk fitting didn’t do its job, because it was coming out of the sides of the bushing. There wasn’t any grease residue because I had been driving around with it broken for quite some time. I “fabricated” a stop for the inside of the bushing which seems to have worked. No problems since then, which include a couple autocrosses.


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MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
I’m doing the front bar today and I gave up on idea that I could just drop the subframe a half inch and get the stock bar out. I just couldn’t find a way to get the bar turned; the inner tie was in the way of the bracket and the end of the bar wouldn’t clear the axle. I disconnected the tie rod ends from the spindles and still didn’t have enough room for the bracket to clear.

I gave up and completely freed the subframe from the car by removing the nuts securing the ball joints to the control arms and the harness guide for the steering rack. The bar came out quite easily and I’ll be able to really clean things up for the subframe collar kit, but I’m not looking forward to lining it all back up.
 

FF_animal

Ready to race!
I've been running 26 FSB on soft and 24 rsb on hard. Paired with superpro anti lift kit and subframe collar kit. Today I will probably crank the FSB to full stiff since I totally forgot it is adjustable. Do any of you sway bar gurus think full stiff will pair nice considering the superpro alk does a hell of a job helping with front grip? This car is just driven on back roads and daily commute.

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Mostic

Go Kart Champion
Hi,
I have question regarding the sway bars, I am comparing between the 24mm & 26mm kits.

https://superpro.com.au/find/roll-c...on-/productnr-RCVAGSTD6KIT/cid-999501405/vid-

https://superpro.com.au/find/roll-c...on-/productnr-RCVAGPER6KIT/cid-999501405/vid-

I found SuperPro Tip on the 24mm sway bars says that “This package is ideally suited to vehicles with modified suspension and larger wheels and tyres.” while it is written on the 26mm that “This package is ideally suited to vehicles with standard suspension and OEM wheels and tyres.” I am confused now because I don’t get the point of using smaller sway bars with modified suspension and bigger sway bars with OEM suspension.

While it is written in USA website that the 26mm sway bars are mentioned in the SuperPro Tip for the car running a lower height via lowering springs or coilovers.
https://www.superprousa.com/application-products/616-volkswagen-mk6-golf-r-2012-2013--4motion-


Note: I am driving Scirocco R converted to 4 motion with full modified suspension (SuperPro bushings, SuperPro control arm, modified F&R end links, VWR coilovers, etc…) and 18”x8.5” wheels and maybe I will go for 19”x8.5” wheels later.

I really want to know which F&R sway bar size should I go for, 26mm or 24mm? Or should I go for different size in the front than the rear one. Keeping in consideration it’s a AWD car now.
Thx
 

NewGuy1

Go Kart Champion
My thread got closed but probably should've posted here from start. I've read through good portion of this thread already (albeit not all 51 pages) and have some questions.


- Will it be ok only upgrading front sway bar for now? What can I expect to happen by doing this? (wont have funds to upgrade rear until a month or two)

-What size combination should I be aiming for for front and rear for DD? (most recommend 24-26/22-24 is this for track or general?)

-What features do adjustable sway bars have? (This seems to refer to stiffness?, how is that set/adjusted? I cant physically see any adjustment features in pictures)

-Seeing that the mk6 R/TT/R32 sway bar is a solid 22 mm bar and the GTI is a hollow 23.6 mm would this be a potential upgrade path? (Cant find anything on this topic but someone must have done it before)

-Are sway bar adjustable endlinks needed for ~1.5" lowered for corner balance?

Some questions may be fairly obvious for some but I'm clueless on this topic and cant find shit on google.
Thanks for the help!
 

torga

Autocross Champion
ARBs generally just have the two holes at the end for roll stiffness adjustment. The outermost hole is the "soft" setting and the innermost is the "hard" setting. With a harder setting, you'll see a more aggressive resistance to roll. On a FWD, a stiffer rear and softer front is generally ideal to introduce a bit of desired oversteer (though, this can vary by platform).

An R/TT/R32 ARB would certainly be an upgrade path, but those cars have upgrade paths, too. So why not just buy the stiffer ARB from the beginning?

You should be fine doing just the front for now. Unless you're autocrossing, you won't notice any adverse effects. Plenty of people are just running a rear bar (myself including - need to save some cash for a front bar).
 
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NewGuy1

Go Kart Champion
ARBs generally just have the two holes at the end for roll stiffness adjustment. The outermost hole is the "soft" setting and the innermost is the "hard" setting. With a harder setting, you'll see a more aggressive resistance to roll. On a FWD, a stiffer rear and softer front is generally ideal to introduce a bit of desired oversteer (though, this can vary by platform).

An R/TT/R32 ARB would certainly be an upgrade path, but those cars have upgrade paths, too. So why not just buy the stiffer ARB from the beginning?

You should be fine doing just the front for now. Unless you're autocrossing, you won't notice any adverse effects. Plenty of people are just running a rear bar (myself including - need to save some cash for a front bar).
Ah so additional holes make it adjustable and the further is softer.
Thanks Torga, it was a simple question but couldn't find info, a lot of places just assumed the knowledge aha.

I just ordered a front Eibach 26mm bar from Urotuning, sale price of $138 right now, free ship.

Sway bars were in my plans from the start but got pushed forward since im already dropping subframe for deadset kit.
 

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
Ah so additional holes make it adjustable and the further is softer.
Thanks Torga, it was a simple question but couldn't find info, a lot of places just assumed the knowledge aha.

I just ordered a front Eibach 26mm bar from Urotuning, sale price of $138 right now, free ship.

Sway bars were in my plans from the start but got pushed forward since im already dropping subframe for deadset kit.

I added both Eibach bars (26 F / 23 R) to my car and I like them. They make a bit of noise when it's cold outside and the car has been sitting, but once the bushings warm up the squeaks go away.

Note that these solid bars are significantly more stiff than the smaller hollow bars. IMO they're a fantastic value for the price.
 
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