I've been thinking of further upgrading my suspension(currently AGX/prodrive) and have been thinking i'd start with endlinks. Seems adding stiffer bars can possibly snap the stock endlinks or at least put alot of stress on them, or am I wrong with thinking that? If I were to upgrade my stock endlinks with lets say Kartboys would I notice an improvment in the corners or would most of the noticable improvement show its head if the sways were upgraded on stock endlinks? Anyone have experience with upgrading endlinks on stock sways?
Yes. I've upgraded front and rear sways and endlinks. Your rear endlinks need to be replaced and you will feel the back end tighten up. The rear isn't hard at all, but the front sway can be a motherlicker sometimes depending on how much rust you have. Endlinks are pretty easy front and back though, it's a good start. One thing to note is that I've heard rumors of people breaking stock endlinks with stock sways. They probably had other things that tightened up the chassis otherwise, but I don't trust suspension components made out of plastic.
Go with the Kartboys. You won't regret it. You won't see much of a difference on a stock bar, but once you upgrade it'll let you take full advantage of the larger bar.
Yes, I'm currently running kartboy endlinks on stock sway bars. I have whiteline anti-roll bars sitting in the house, but haven't needed to install them yet. I didn't notice anything but the occasional noise on the street (this is on STI, not wrx... different rear endlink design). In autox and on the track, I think I noticed slightly improved sway bar response (quicker to react)... could have been placebo effect tho. On your car, iirc, the rear endlinks are plastic, so it's generally accepted to at least upgrade those. I've never personally seen plastic rear wrx endlinks break (stock bar or not), but I'm sure it's happened. Either way, endlinks are a good mod to do if you are upgrading sway bars. If you are going to do one or the other, I would suggest bars. I would also do both front and rear, but if I had to choose 1, I would do front first if autox'ing and you want more grip or rear first if you just want more "responsiveness" on the street.
Holy uber fast responses. Thanks for the quick input all. You're definitely giving me more to think about. Investing in both sways and endlinks right now is just not gonna happen so I gotta get either endlinks front/rear or one or the other or sways front/rear or one or the other. My car is my daily driver so its primarily for street use. I'm thinking endlinks first still but $200 for f/r kartboys is a lot to drop on a mod that is slightly noticeable unless taking clovers at 100mph. Hmmmm
agreed with above mentioned. On a wrx- start with the rear. Kartboy "drop links" preload the rear sway bar slightly so you MAY notice a slight difference during spirited cornering...provided your on a stock sway. rear: What year is your car? If you have an 02/03 you probably have a 20mm in the rear....that seems to be good enough for most people. If you have 04/05 the you have a 17mm, which is blah, too soft. you can pick up a 20mm pretty cheap. I have the KB drop links matted to a 20mm. Those two combines I noticed a difference in the rear, it's a bit snappier. other option- With the stock rear endlinks you should be fine keeping them on the car if you go to a 20mm. Front: Just assume you'll need to replace the endlinks if you wants to take them off. Those bastards rust and it's very tough and sometimes impossible to get the nut free...to remove the endlink. I usually cut them off. the stock bar is already a 20mm. If you choose to go with a larger bar make sure it's not larger/stiffer than the rear. Option on sways: a lot of people like the cobb sways- 25.4mm. they are spendy, but pretty nice. Your car will respond much quicker in the corners and you'll greatly reduce the dreaded wrx understeer.
Well, I think everyone's heard of the stock rear plastic endlinks breaking, but I don't know of anyone who it has happened to. Honestly, my advice would be to get some stiffer bars first. Aftermarket endlinks do really firm up things (as the plastic ones stretch a lot), but you will likely notice a larger bar more. At worst, you can buy some aftermarket endlinks if you break your stockers. Running without a sway attached isn't the end of the world.
I would disagree with this for 2 reasons. If I were Paul and had to choose between front and rear, I would rather hold my dynamic camber curve first (bigger front). Also, a larger rear bar can induce oversteer in certain situations... WL 22mm adjustable rear bar set on "medium" with stock fsb on my wrx was a handful on the first couple cloverleafs. I guess if you're only doing 1 bar, I would suggest keeping everything in proportion. If you plan to do both eventually, you can get away with disproportional. I've driven 27mm front and stock rear and it wasn't awful (to me). Also keep in mind that hollow bars like cobb (hotchkis) will have a lower stiffness. Actually, different geometry between different manufacturers will have different stiffness. So look for numbers like "150% stiffer than stock" rather than 26mm hollow, or 24mm solid.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I would personally never put a stiffer bar up front than rear. no way, the wrx plows through corners as is, putting stiffer sway up front will only magnify the issue. And maybe I'm speaking from person experience, but I'd much rather control an oversteer than try to correct an understeer in the wrx.
Well I have an 02 so i've got 20mm front/rear bars. Reason I was thinking endlinks was that I was assuming that the stock 20mm sways are stiffer than the stock endlinks allow them to be. But Bullwinkle makes a good argument with going sways first. I did read about endlinks snapping on nasioc, but its the fronts that i've heard have snapped with large sways of course. thanks for the help all.
Do both front and rear bars and endlinks if you can. Lots of people only do the rear bar and miss out on much improved turn-in by doing the front too. I put front and rear bars and endlinks on and the chassis all of a sudden became balanced. What I have is a 22 in the front and an adjustable in the rear set at 22 and it feels pretty good.
You sure about that? I'd say you're coming into corners too hot I've had the exact opposite experience on tarmac at the limit. I can't personally speak to street use though. I think "stretch" on iwsti did some roll center/camber curve and suspension geometry testing and found that mid corner, up front the STi gained .64 degrees of positive camber for every 1 degree of body roll. Seeing as how we are lucky to start with -1 degree of static camber from the factory (my stock wrx showed -.7 on one side and -.5 with factory alignment), you can see what happens mid corner. Also, you can't think about sway bars without considering coil spring rates since the sum of these two values determine your total wheel rate. I can't articulate myself nearly as well as someone like Clint from TiC can, so maybe give this a read. There are a couple good posts in here with decent technical information: http://www.iwsti.com/forums/gd-susp...58-rambling-thoughts-sways-springs-clint.html
