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Aftermarket Sway Bar Upgrades?

44K views 340 replies 40 participants last post by  Santirx 
#1 ·
I have searched here and other sources online, and can not find anyone offering them, so as a last resort, does anyone know of any place that sells upgraded sway bars? I'm running KW V3 coilovers, but would really like to reduce more of the body roll in corners, and dial out more of the understeer with a stiffer rear bar.
 
#249 ·
Twice the work…
 
#252 ·
I'm definitely interested to hear your impressions of the combo. I have been going back and forth on springs, mainly for aesthetics although I'm sure they would help with some of that initial give from the stock setup.

My main concern is introducing a mismatched spring and damper setup versus what I assume is a factory tuned matched set. I'm very happy with the ride quality and I'm not quite ready to pull the trigger on something that could possibly degrade it. I'm not saying that will happen for sure but I'm definitely interested to hear the results since most only do springs and don't touch the swaybars.

That's a big job to do them all at once, I think the rear bar alone took me close to 8 hours working on my garage floor.
 
#259 · (Edited)
The H&R teflon lined bushing, for the front bar, is a direct fit, and I recommend it over the factory original front bushing. The rear bushing is either the H&R with a spacer, or a bored-out factory bushing, like BMinFSL did.

Changing to the stiffer H&R bars will certainly reduce roll, with air suspension or steel springs. I don't think the effectiveness of the bars is any different whether you have air or steel springs.

Concerning the aftermarket bar options, the solid H&R bars are the only real choice, as the other vendors only offer hollow bars, which I think are not much stiffer, if any, than the factory bars.
Although the 034 rear bar is solid, they don't offer a matched solid front bar. Plus, my prior vehicle experience with an 034 rear bar (on and Audi Q3), is that the paint finish is not as durable as H&R, resulting in a completely surface rusted 034 bar within 3 winters. The finish and manufacturing quality of the H&R bars is top-notch.

I don't think there is any worthwhile performance advantage for the aftermarket endlinks, the Porsche (or Audi ones) are not exactly made out of silly putty.....the helm-joint (ball joint / spherical) aftermarket ones are expensive, and will wear-out and start rattling within a year or two. As far as adjustability, unless you are a track junky, and need to corner load or asymmetrically bias your bars, you don't need that feature.
 
#260 ·
Thanks everyone. I think I’m all set. After I confirm dimensions, I’ll go H&R. Will not touch end links, leaving existing ones. Will install H&R bushing for the front and OEM GTS bushings (maybe slightly bored if necessary) on the rear.

This should be a nice project, to complement the rest of the stiffening I’m doing down there.

I’m not a track junkie, so, I should be fine.

This will most likely be an end of October, beginning of November project. Want to do this before snow season…

Again, thanks for doing all the research on this for the rest of us. Makes this project that more easy and going in with more confidence….
 
#261 ·
Thanks everyone. I think I’m all set. After I confirm dimensions, I’ll go H&R. Will not touch end links, leaving existing ones. Will install H&R bushing for the front and OEM GTS bushings (maybe slightly bored if necessary) on the rear.

This should be a nice project, to complement the rest of the stiffening I’m doing down there.

I’m not a track junkie, so, I should be fine.

This will most likely be an end of October, beginning of November project. Want to do this before snow season…
Sounds good and for what it's worth, the clunk on my vehicle was on the front with the H&R bushings. It went away when I installed the OEM bushings but try H&R first and at least you'll know the easy solution if you do hear that clunk.
 
#267 · (Edited)
Anyone knows part number of the u-bracket and the end link bolts? I would not want to reuse bolts, and I think the recommendation is not to reuse them.

I think the front uses nuts for the u-bracket, correct? but would still need new bolts/nuts for the end-links.

I'll try to identify these, but if someone already got them, please post. Thanks!
 
#268 ·
Anyone knows part number of the u-bracket and the end link bolts? I would not want to reuse bolts, and I think the recommendation is not to reuse them.

I think the front uses nuts for the u-bracket, correct? but would still need new bolts/nuts for the end-links.

I'll try to identify these, but if someone already got them, please post. Thanks!
I'm going to guess that VAGFan reused them and I did as well. I'm not losing sleep over it although its true they are recommended to be replaced due to the final torque instructions to 90 degrees or something close.
 
#272 ·
Well, my sway bar project took another dimension now… I was installing the 034 subframe inserts (BTW… a must do mod!) and I decided I wanted to treat and paint the subframe with POR15. I found a corrosion hole in one of the members of the subframe, which carry the front load of the differential. This is not a significant load bearing member, but important nevertheless. So, I’m going to have to drop the subframe and replace it with a new one…😳. Darn salt!!

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So, the whole job will me more difficult overall, but I guess I could take comfort in knowing that installing the sway bar once the subframe is out, will be much easier 😊…

034 subframe inserts…. I’ll create a new thread on this and video coming out soon as well…
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#273 ·
Just got my new “to me” rear subframe. Got it from eBay and it belonged to a 2021 Macan Base with 15K miles. Got it for about $600 including shipping, which is a good deal considering that it only has 15K miles, is in like-new condition, and a new one cost $2000.

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For that, I got the H&R sway bars to install in the new subframe before I install it…. Will install the front one at the same time. Now just waiting for all the hardware (new bolts, new bushings, etc…) to complete the full job. This will all be documented on video.

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#274 · (Edited)
Santrix: Please post all the part numbers printed on the H&R bars.
Also post the part numbers and diameters of the Porsche bars, including the bushings (there is a pn molded into the rubber, around the periphery of the hole.)
And, weigh each bar so we can determine if they are hollow or solid.

I am compiling a list of factory swaybar and bushing info, by model and year, as I have found that the usual parts lookup databases have some errors for these types of parts.

Thanks
 
#282 ·
@VAGfan, I think I know the answer to this based on earlier posts, but just to confirm, which sway bar hole did you use? In the photo below, Red or Yellow?

I think you used yellow but wanted to confirm.

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Also, assuming you did all you tightening and torque with wheels on floor and in normal height?
 
#283 · (Edited)
Yellow (stiffer) holes...of course!!
The center U bracket bolts don't matter when you tighten them, only the endlink bolts (which have a bonded rubber bushing) need to be tightened at normal ride height. If the endlink has a spherical joint, that bolt does not need to be tightened at normal ride height. Unfortunatly, you will find rather poor wrench access to the rear endlink bolts when the car is on the ground, with the tires on.
 
#286 · (Edited)
Santrix: See above Post #243, don't forget the spacers for the end-links.
When I switched to the OE rear bushings, I didn't need the spacers or longer bolts anymore.

I just checked positioning again and I don't see any alignment issues with the rear end link position.

The H&R front bar has one hole. The H&R rear bar has two holes.
It's the other way around! I am installing lowering springs next week and I was considering going to the less stiff of the two holes but I'll keep it on the inner hole and see how it feels.

I am going with the less-agressive Eibach set for an OE "GTS-in-low-mode" height and am curious how everything will work together.

I am not thinking I will need new endlinks since the bar should rotate to the lower height, just as it does with the air suspension setups. I assume those with air suspension who lower further than stock don't mess with endlinks. I don't hear of any issues although it's likely not ideal.
 
#289 · (Edited)
@VAGfan I attempted to weight the H&R bar with an electronic scale I had.

H&R = 12.3lb
OEM = didn’t register weight (min weight for scale to register is 11lb)

The H&R feels almost twice as heavy as OEM.

Now that I think about it, I should’ve used myself as tare. I’ll do that with the front bar.

3 days into my subframe replacement project… this project had been hard, but fun. Changing bushings is by far the most difficult and tedious part of the job.

I used OEM Macan GTS bushings, and they fit great. There is a bit of space, about 1/16” at either side where bar meets links… wondering if I still need spacers or a longer bolt. Bolt seems to reach OK.

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#290 ·
Looks like good progress.
Let me know the pn on the Porsche bars, and the stock center bushings, for my database.
Did you enlarge the hole of the GTS center bushings??

If you want to use the stiffer bar setting, I think you will need to add the spacer and longer bolt at the bottom of the endlink.

If I were you, I would start with the stiffer setting, and then if you don't like it, change to the softer setting. If you start with the softer setting, I think you will be tempted to try the stiffer setting anyway....otherwise you might always wonder if stiffer would be better.......

How are you planning on lifting the rear subframe assembly back up, for the install? Help? or some jacks?
 
#291 · (Edited)
Oh, so the longer bolts and spacers are required for the front bar, if using the stiffest setting? Rear bar is only one setting.

I didn’t have to enlarge the bushing hole, everything fit perfectly.

I need to check if the PN of the Porsche bars are even legible. They have taken a beat after 10 years of use.

Oh, and good thing I did the sway bar while the subframe was out. The subframe was so corroded that when I took sway bar holder screws out, for one of them the nut (which is welded to the subframe) broke off. Since it was so corroded, a wrench damaged the nut very quickly making it round. My only option was to cut.

I have a 1000lb hydraulic table that I used to lower the subframe, and will be using to lift as well. It makes the job easier. And it has also been a lifesaver for my back, as I can raise the whole assembly to my height level while working on it.

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#292 · (Edited)
Sorry, my bad, yes, it is the front bar with two holes, not the rear. Changing the stiffness of the front bar is easy, compared to the back. The endlink spacer is only for the rear bar, if you use the teflon-lined H&R rear center bushings (with added shims).

I need to add the spacer to my rear downlinks, unless I change to the GTS center bushings, which I probably will.

Also, for the "record", what are all the part numbers on the H&R bars? I forgot to look before I installed mine.
 
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