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      08-03-2010, 12:53 AM   #1
doba_s
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RD Sport Sway bars installed

I recently swapped stock sway bars with RD Sport kit.

Good: You can feel the difference right away. The car feels stiffer and the body-roll is definitely reduced. Both front and rear bars are much thicker than the stock bars and can be adjusted within a few minutes right at the track.

Bad: The installation process is PITA. It take a out 4-5h to replace it if you know what you are doing. I should probably say it takes about 30min to replace the front bar, and around 4h to replace the rear.

Overall I am very happy with the product and the results and can't wait to take it to the real world testing "track" This is something I would definitely recommend doing if you are looking to reduce body-roll.

I will post a few pictures soon ...
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      08-03-2010, 01:35 AM   #2
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Cool! You have to drop the rear sub-frame to do the rear install right? That lift you have sure comes in handy for something like that; no way I'd do that with the car on jacks!
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      08-03-2010, 01:41 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Finnegan View Post
Cool! You have to drop the rear sub-frame to do the rear install right? That lift you have sure comes in handy for something like that; no way I'd do that with the car on jacks!

you can, but you would have to take a week off
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      08-03-2010, 03:03 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Finnegan View Post
Cool! You have to drop the rear sub-frame to do the rear install right? That lift you have sure comes in handy for something like that; no way I'd do that with the car on jacks!
It's not dropping it completely, just loosening it and dropping it down. It's not quite as bad as it seems (but it's not easy)

doba_s - how is the ride quality? Feel anything different? When I put sway bars on my E36, the ride quality took a nose dive, because they tended to bind a bit during the travel making it rougher. I left sway bars off the my E46.
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      08-03-2010, 02:41 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kitw View Post
It's not dropping it completely, just loosening it and dropping it down. It's not quite as bad as it seems (but it's not easy)
Well, let's just say I'm not going to try it! Small stuff, yeah, major work like this...nope. I might be up for trying it if I had a lift; otherwise like Aleks says it's a week in the driveway and problem never ending shoulder pain from that point on....
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      08-03-2010, 06:47 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kitw View Post
It's not dropping it completely, just loosening it and dropping it down. It's not quite as bad as it seems (but it's not easy)

doba_s - how is the ride quality? Feel anything different? When I put sway bars on my E36, the ride quality took a nose dive, because they tended to bind a bit during the travel making it rougher. I left sway bars off the my E46.
Maybe it was a placebo effect, but when I got mine done last Friday, the ride seemed a bit harsher... just a tad bit, but I figured that was to be expected. However, the trade off for the improvement overcomes that easily. I'm running on a PSS10(3F/4R) & RDsport(mid setting) combo.
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      08-04-2010, 01:33 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bunnn View Post
Maybe it was a placebo effect, but when I got mine done last Friday, the ride seemed a bit harsher... just a tad bit, but I figured that was to be expected. However, the trade off for the improvement overcomes that easily. I'm running on a PSS10(3F/4R) & RDsport(mid setting) combo.
I can see why the ride can get a bit harsher with PSS10s. With the Dinan Stage 1 kit that I am running on 20" HRE P40s I didn't notice any difference in the ride quality, except for the reduced body roll ...
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      08-04-2010, 11:07 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Finnegan View Post
Well, let's just say I'm not going to try it! Small stuff, yeah, major work like this...nope. I might be up for trying it if I had a lift; otherwise like Aleks says it's a week in the driveway and problem never ending shoulder pain from that point on....
hehe don't get me wrong, I'd pay someone too.
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      08-04-2010, 11:19 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alekshop View Post
I can see why the ride can get a bit harsher with PSS10s. With the Dinan Stage 1 kit that I am running on 20" HRE P40s I didn't notice any difference in the ride quality, except for the reduced body roll ...
Oh but my PSS10 were on wayyyyy before the install of the sway bars...I just mentioned because usually the suspension set up gets questioned soon after.

Again, I'm not sure if it's a placebo ..but every time I get sways done it feels like the ride gets a tad bit harsher...same Hotchkis on my old car..

It's really not significant enough to be a factor in not buying this for sure.
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      08-04-2010, 07:45 PM   #10
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It is possible that the ride may be stiffer.

Sway bars basically connect the left wheel to the right wheel so that in a corner one wheel can "borrow" stiffness from the other to reduce body roll.

Therefore, in a situation (i.e. going over a bump) when there is a big difference in wheel position between left and right, you may actually feel the additional stiffness.
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      08-07-2010, 07:33 PM   #11
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An inherent property of stiffer sway bars is a more uncomfortable ride.
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      08-07-2010, 11:57 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malekreza11 View Post
An inherent property of stiffer sway bars is a more uncomfortable ride.
but probably more comfortable then upgrading stiffer springs on OEM shocks
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      08-08-2010, 05:08 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dartanium View Post
but probably more comfortable then upgrading stiffer springs on OEM shocks
+1. Going to stiffer springs, even Eibachs are more noticeable in terms of comfort than upgrading your sway bars.
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      06-17-2012, 09:43 PM   #14
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Anymore feedback on the RD sway bars?
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      06-18-2012, 08:38 AM   #15
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I'm curious too. I was interested in doing this but when I spoke to the Ground Control folks they told me they had installed three sets of front and rear bars on E9x M3s and removed two sets because the owner's didn't like them.

There's no doubt that roll is reduced but the question is, is cornering performance improved? When you look at the stock M3 bars they are pretty massive stock (at least compared to all the other bars I've seen on other cars).
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      06-18-2012, 11:13 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VictorH View Post
I'm curious too. I was interested in doing this but when I spoke to the Ground Control folks they told me they had installed three sets of front and rear bars on E9x M3s and removed two sets because the owner's didn't like them.

There's no doubt that roll is reduced but the question is, is cornering performance improved? When you look at the stock M3 bars they are pretty massive stock (at least compared to all the other bars I've seen on other cars).
Did they mention what specifically they disliked about them?
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      06-18-2012, 04:28 PM   #17
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That they stiffened up the suspension more than they expected and that they were less compliant over bumps. Net was that it wasn't clear that it improved anything.

I think it now that there is some M3 race car experience it would be interesting to see what Turner or other race teams are using for anti-roll bars and whether they find that an even larger diameter bar is needed. Not obviously the same as street but if they're not doing it, perhaps we shouldn't be either.
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      06-19-2012, 10:39 AM   #18
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I think it's important to know what other suspension mods these cars had too and what spring rates they were using.
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      06-19-2012, 01:10 PM   #19
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We are running the H&R sways front and rear but have not had time to compare them to stock. So far the car feels good after the first race but we are going out for some testing in the next few weeks to sort the car. But this is a full time race car so comforts on the street i'm not sure we can help yet.
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      07-21-2012, 08:59 AM   #20
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any other input on these bars? im so tired of the body roll.
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