Don@STaSIS

Howdy folks! For those of your interested in the Mance Adjustable Sway Bar Links we have a quick update.

These adjustable links will work with the rear sway bar of a TYP89, mainly 90q20v and CQ that have factory rear sway bars. The bar will need to be twisted upwards as the adjustable links are a tad shorter than the stock rear links, but will not be an issue.

We will also be testing a B4 rear sway bar on the TYP89 to confirm fitment of the RS2 Rear Sway Bar with the TYP89 models and these adjustable links.

We also have some tentative bad news to report. RS2 Front Sway Bars have again been placed on back order from Audi. There was a back order mentioned a few posts down in response to Alan, 2 month wait around the New Year. It appears this may happen again, even though the manufacturer had more units made they were quickly all eaten up by those of us in retail, it appears to be a popular part so hopefully the manufacturer will oblidge on getting stock to Audi. We will have more information shortly on availability on both front and rear RS2 Sway Bars.

The Mance Adjustable Sway Bar Links will be available in the group purchase no matter what, but we may have to extend the RS2 Front and Rear Sway Bar additions so that you all can buy when they come back in stock, again we will confirm delivery availability shortly.

If you have any questions just let me know.

Cheers,

nothing

I know the links themselves are better, but them being too short kinda kills the point of the adjustability, doesn't it?

Jretal

esp since these don't have a bend in them, I'm not sure if they would... but just curious.

VAP

work great on B5 A4/S4 rear

VAP

with zero loss (or gain) in efficiency.

Besides if its true that for every action there must be an equal but opposite reaction and shorter swaybar links did reduce performance wouldnt it be neccessarily true then that longer links would be all the rage and people could simply install link extensions rather than replace with larger diameter swaybars.

nothing

I guess I don't understand the value of adjustable links then, if length is irrelevant. Isn't the length the adjustable part of an adjustable link? I'm obviously missing something.

Jretal

thanks for the info mance! So even without those bends that you put in the original ones there's no chance of rubbing if I were to put them on the stiff setting of a neuspeed or H-sport sway?

You're tempting me to spend $$ I don't have again =P

Jretal

so you start off with a neutral balance on the car. With the stock links, when you sit in the car you add weight in the car which then loads the bar slightly, which makes the car no longer neutral. This helps fix that issue.

If I'm off at all please correct me, Mance.

VAP

Pre-load can be a good thing if done correctly and precisely. Problem is most will set it with no driver. The ideal situation is pre-load without driver and no pre-load with driver in his seat. Most people install sway bars with "0" weight on the car. This creates a pre-load due to minor differences in mounting points on both sides of the chassis as well as swaybars not being a "precision" part and its arm mounting holes are never aligned perfectly. That is further complicated by the car not being a 50/50 left-to-right weight ratio. All these things ensure the sway bars are pre-loaded all over the map. Now throw a 150-250lb driver in the car and guess what!?! That slight but important amount of pre-load is all biased to the left side of the car. That is to say the sway bars, springs, shocks have been compressed lower on the left side of the car. The car is in a serious state of swaybar imbalance particularly at its adhesion and performance limits. It can pull to one side under braking, wander to the left on flat roads. In short the car lists to the left. It takes right turns differently than left ones. Its suspension geometry is skewed one way or another. Its a cobbled together effort. Your ride height is not consistent side-to-side with the driver inside. No one ever measures their ride height with the driver installed. The driver is walking around taking center hub to fender lip measurements with a measuring tape when he should be in the car with someone else doing the measuring. Do you think the ride height he's so proud of achieving at all 4 corners remains that way when he plops his butt into the drivers seat? Do you think the fridge light stays on when you close the door? I mean c'mon... common sense folks, the car doesnt drive itself!

Sway bar is nothing more than a spring thats anchored at each end. Its stiffness has absolutley nothing to do with its link length at each end. I mean zero, zip, zilch, nada, bupkus. The "bar" is the spring! Long as links are rigid and do not flex they could literally be short, long or in between with absolutely zero affect on bar stiffness. Only two things contribute to a bars stiffness, ie; its center length diameter (torsional spring resistance) and its arm lengths. Shorter arm is stiffer while longer arm is less stiff. But the arm is NOT the link. Think fulcrum/axis here. Its why adjustable bars have two or more mounting holes. Most people believe a swaybar with two adjustment holes in each arm believe that sway bar to have only hard/soft settings. Little could be further from the truth. It actually has 3 settings: soft, medium and hard. It has two setting only when links are moved together to a new hole. But you can leave the left arm link in soft and move the right arm link to soft or hard for a new "medium" setting.

Balancing:

Sway bars can seldom be installed in cars where "fixed" links just pop right into the bars arm holes with no effort to move the sway bar arms up or down. When you apply effort to move the bar over a fixed link that is "pre-loading" the bar. Whatever effort up or down that action takes in pounds is exactly how many pounds of pre-load is on that bar. It happens for a number of reasons mentioned at the beginning of this post. The ideal set-up is "0" pre-load. But here's where it gets tricky. You dont want your bars balanced on an empty car. You want it balanced the way the car is driven most. If you track or Auto-x your car that doesnt mean with last weeks camping gear and 2 weeks worth of drive-thru bags tossed in the back seat. It means it should be balanced EXACTLY how its competed in down to the finest detail. If your even requires a helment then a helment should be in the car. Not only "in" the car but on your head or lap... not in the passenger side back seat. This is "balancing" not weight-matching. If your event requires a driver (and most do!) then it might be good idea if you balance your sway bars with the driver in his seat. Or a ballast object equal to the drivers weight (with helment on his head or on top of the ballast pile).

Sway bars cannot be balanced while the car is up on jackstands with suspension dangling free and unloaded. Nor can it be done from under a pair of drive-up ramps. It can only be done while the car is level, nestled on its own weight with tires under load either on top of a drive-on ramp or straddled across a culvert that allows end links access with a wrench at all 4 corners without moving the vehicle. One man cant do it and also be the driver. This is a buddy-system co-op effort... it takes two.

Now if you've managed to get this far we might as well finish the job assuming you now have "adjustable sway bar links."

1. Remove the upper or lower end of each link from its anchor point NOT BOTH ENDS at all 4 corners of the car. Rock, push on all 4 corners to settle the car in with now swaybars connected to insure its in a fully "settled" position on its suspension. If you compete with a full tank of fuel then balance with a full fuel tank. Quattro handles better with a full tank. If this is just for street balance then do it with half a tank of fuel. Mine was done with 12 gallons of fuel in the tank.

2. Start on the left (drivers side) and adjust the links upward/downward just enough so that its spherical bearing stud slips easily into the anchor point which you removed. Adjust the link as so that there's equal spacing (thread count)between its upper and lower spherical bearings threaded rod ends and the link tube ends. Count exposed threads to be sure the link is centered. When you have the correct length it will slip right into its anchor point with zero force. Tighten jam nuts to against link hex securely. Repeat at opposite end of left side. Driver must reamin in the car for all 4 corners. He CANNOT get out after only drivers' side is done.

3. Now move to right (passenger side) of car and repeat the process.

Now the car is swaybar balanced to the specification of one driver. If thats how you drive "mostly" then thats where you want to be. If there's a passenger in the right seat "more than" 50% of the time then you might want to add his/her butt to the balancing process.

nothing

I wasn't talking about adjusting to make stiffer, I am talking about adjusting for balance. I just thought that an adjustable link whose range doesn't include the stock length might not be ideal. What if proper balancing requires adjusting the link longer, not shorter? Or does this type of adjustment always end up shortening the links? If a link is too short, wouldn't that be causing the very preload that adjustable links are meant to eradicate? Or is adjustability from side to side the most important part, so it's fine so long as both links are the same amount shorter?

That is what I meant.