Front end sway bar links?

[S14]

I'm in need of an adjustable sway bar end link. What kit uses the most stock-ish joints?

My last car had bimmerworld race end links, and while they were very pretty and easy to adjust, they started popping once the heim joints weren't perfectly clean. Those were too race car, I need a more street friendly, yet still adjustable setup.

[BBRTuning]

Makes 100% sense. So, in theory, this could have a negative effect on running, let's say a softer spring in front? A preloaded front bar could increase front end stiffness.

Preload on a swaybar means the bar itself is twisted to some degree, which means you're creating a roll stiffness imbalance across the car. This is different than "preload" on a spring of a damper which effects initial spring/wheel rate, so swaybar preload does not effect overall roll stiffness. If there's enough preload on the swaybar, the car will have a steering pull towards that direction at freeway speeds. Other than the rattling thing mentioned above (which I haven't heard of, but it makes sense) you ideally want ZERO preload. There is no good reason to have preload in your swaybar unless you only turn in one direction (NASCAR uses severely preloaded swaybars for this reason). I've never had an issue with noise due to removing all preload, but if you were worried about that, the amount of preload necessary to "take up the slack" in your presumably sloppy endlinks would be so insignificant that it shouldn't have any ill handling effect anyway.

Swaybar endlinks should only be adjusted with the car on the ground at normal/race-ready ride height. My process is, remove wheel, loosen adjusting nuts on endlink rod (only one side actually needs to be adjusted, assuming overall endlink length is correct), reinstall wheel, drop car to normal ride height, bounce the car a few times, adjust rod to remove pre-load by reaching under the car around the tire, then jack up again, remove wheel, tighten endlink rod nuts, reassemble and you're good to go.

Another note, swaybar preload should be set BEFORE corner balancing car as this has a significant effect on corner weights as well.

[ShaunG]

With preload on the sway bar, the bar will be liked to the suspension even in steady-state conditions (i.e. not cornering). It basically acts like an additional spring.

Removing preload takes the bar out of the equation until the car is cornering, i.e. when you want to prevent the car from rolling.

Some cars come from the factory with a little preload to prevent rattling. But too much preload is not advised.


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Makes 100% sense. So, in theory, this could have a negative effect on running, let's say a softer spring in front? A preloaded front bar could increase front end stiffness.

[CrookedCommie]

If you are asking how to determine sway bar link length, the recommendation is 10-11.5" and the idea is to have the sway bar and link to clear any suspension components under load and for the sway bar arm to be close to parallel to ground.

[eacmen]

With preload on the sway bar, the bar will be liked to the suspension even in steady-state conditions (i.e. not cornering). It basically acts like an additional spring.

Removing preload takes the bar out of the equation until the car is cornering, i.e. when you want to prevent the car from rolling.

Some cars come from the factory with a little preload to prevent rattling. But too much preload is not advised.


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[ShaunG]

I've lowered my car for track use and am using stock front end sway bar links. I have not tested this, but I imagine lowering the car has put tension on the front sway bar (probably the rear too)in a resting state. Can someone explain what NOT have proper sway bar links does to a lowered car for handling?