ARB/Swaybars

[AndyBaur]

Before I replace the ARB bushes I thought I'd have a look to see what's available for an upgrade. Unfortunately, nobody seems to make them anymore. I believe I have the post facelift standard 23.5/16 mm bars.

[Jeroen]

If you're lucky you'll find a used Alpina example on the bay. I have one but can't remember the size, believe it was 19mm.

[e21-Mark]

Whiteline did uprated ARB's but they're NLA so you'll have to keep scanning eBay etc. There used to be some available in the US too.

You could always double up on standard front ARB's as per county race cars?

[Jeroen]

That still is an option I'm considering as well. Who were supplying the parts to do that properly?

[e21-Mark]

I think you'd just need to fabricate sandwich blocks and bolts.

[JTY]

http://www.vacmotorsports.com/catalog/s ... ar-kit.htm

Seems these won't be available much longer either...

[Jeroen]

Good one! Except I just want the front for my own car anyone have a contact with them? Group buy material?

[AndyBaur]

I'd found those bars too. $390 = £243 which seems very good value as it includes poly bushes too. Don't know how much shipping would be.

Is a 25.8/19.6 setup much stiffer than standard?

[Jeroen]

Defo. I fitted a 19mm Alpina rear and that already reduced body roll quite a bit. Some much I want one for the front as well. Some say it made my car tail happier

[Eddie.]

What's the difference in sizes between the models?

Did the bigger engined cars get thicker ARB's?

[nas80]

all anti roll bars that i have seen have been 22mm (iirc)

you could possibly spend a day at the scrappers with a measuring tape - maybe cut the ends off something else and adapt.

Or just use something like this

http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_in ... ts_id=7196

it would be even easier to fit that as a rear anti roll bar - you could mount the brackets directly to the under side of the axle and then fab up some drop links!?

[AndyBaur]

What's the difference in sizes between the models?

Did the bigger engined cars get thicker ARB's?

According to the parts listing standard size for 6-cylinder cars is 23.5mm front & 16mm rear. A 17mm rear bar is listed as a "Sport" option.

The question is, how much benefit do bigger bars provide for road use only? BMW thought a 6.25% increase for the rear bar was all that was required for the Sport suspension (presumably in conjunction with uprated springs & the hard rear axle bushes). Road use requires more compliance than track use so I'd like more opinions before I splash out on a pair of beefier bars.

The Whiteline add-on supplementary bars - has anyone got photos &/or opinions ?

[e21-Mark]

Personally I doubt any of us would notice much difference on the street.

The Whiteline additional ARB's certainly reduced roll but the trade off was a little less grip when it rained.

[Jeroen]

That's the prob with uprated ARB's, what you win on the dry, you loose in the wet. Bigger ARB in the front should lead to more understeer even though these cars aren't too bad on that side. Perhaps a mild ARB upgrade, say going from 23.5 to 25 or 25.8mm should still be ok I guess.

[AndyBaur]

Personally I doubt any of us would notice much difference on the street.

Good to know. So often you can waste money on an "upgrade" only to find there's little or no benefit.

. . . but the trade off was a little less grip when it rained.

Less grip when it rained??? Not a good move when you live in the UK