I've got a rear sway bar which is rather thick and may be doing more work then the torsions bars. Wanted to remove it to see how the ride felt wihtout it in...may not be fitted properly currently either. These are the best photos of it i had.
That is a whiteline one. Its the race spec one (ie largest std, i think about 24mm from memory. Its on the upper end of its setting (move the upper bolt as far as you can to the end of the blue bar to make it soffter.
Iam looking at removing mine and replacing with a 18mm. It lifts inside wheels allot. Its ok at higher speed, and gievs my super a nice oversteer. but i do run much stiffer front springs.
I have no sympathy for my car, only the wallet that pays for it!
Go hard or go home!!!!
Cheers, yeh had the same whilteline on the front. It seems to cause the drivers side to hit hard on bumps. I think cause the driver side bracket is twisted around a little. I just wanna trial the ride which out it on. Did they run a small sway bar originally?
BiX wrote:That is a whiteline one. Its the race spec one (ie largest std, i think about 24mm from memory. Its on the upper end of its setting (move the upper bolt as far as you can to the end of the blue bar to make it soffter.
Wow!! thats a whopper...
never seen one that big before...
LEE
PS: but I don't race beetles just drive 'em... lol
- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---
my front beam is narrowed 2inches, so thats why i sold the sway bar. Still, i think their too thick for a street car. Need to get a custom one for the front and equivalent thickness for the rear
I have a whiteline bar on the back of my daily 1303, I have have it backed off to full soft, when its in the full soft position the link bars are at funny angle, this tends to push the bar mounting on the torsion bar housing around.
I cured this buy welding the flat bar that the U clamp goes through, to the torsion bar housing, I also made the square box that the link bar goes onto a little narrower which also improves the link angle.
I reckon step 1, knock the sway bar you have way down to it's softest setting, which would soften the ride a bit as well as reducing any oversteer effect you have (less taily)
Really easy to do and a lot cheaper than putting on a different bar - just move the top bolt on each side to the last hole on the bar, the one closest to the back of the car.
Should take you max of 30 minutes to do, then go for a drive and see how it feels !!!
😉
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Yeah, possibly - there's a bit of freedom in where all of the brackets bolt up.
Basically you want the bolts in both ends of the figure 8 shaped link to be as close to the back of the car as possible - the further back you can get it, the softer it'll be.
If spinning the bracket around helps with that some, and nothing binds or grabs then sure - why not.
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Join a car club - get car peeps
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'70 Hillclimb Bug 'Jezebel' w/- Haltech EFI - http://bit.ly/VwTNtQ
'60 KG Coupe - resto kinda started
01 New Beetle - gf's car, but I turn the spanners
I,m not sure that if you took the rear bar off it would make any diffference at all.
As daimo said maybe look at your shocks,how much rear travel do you have before you hit the bump stops?
I ran my rear bar at 3/4 hard setting when my car was registered and had no issues with a firm ride.
If you intend on doing any spirited driving at all let alone racing i would strongly recommend you leave the bar on.
They are great to dial in your rear handling to suit your personal driving style.
Mick, I have a similiar Whiteline bar on the back of my beetle, as others have suggested above -set at its softest setting.
The main noticeable differences with it on are
Plus...the car does not lean so much when going around corners, which helps your steering, etc
Minus... you notice a little less traction on the rear particularly when it is wet.
It would come down to personal preference. I avoid driving in the rain when I can, so it is better to have it on.
If you have no sway bar on the front, I would get one fitted ASAP, regardless of what you do at the back.
Cheers Dave. I've got a 2inch narrowed front end and am currently looking at getting a made to order front sway bar. Will try the softer setting option first
I think the links on mine are a little longer which allow it to pick up the beck holes. Maybe talkt o white line (or any good suspension shop, ie fulcrum) should be able to supply some slightly longer links.
I have no sympathy for my car, only the wallet that pays for it!
Go hard or go home!!!!
ok, i removed the sway bar, ride is nicer but driver side rear still hits hard. I'm pretty sure its driver side only, aimed for pot holes on passenger side, no problems, hit pot holes at very low speed (20km or so) on driver side BANG, hit bumps at higher speed (60k or so) BANG. It feels like my rear shock is compressing but then not returning quick enough. So it goes up and stays when you roll back up the pot hole....Any clues?
