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So basically driver side needs to be swapped with passenger side? Or does it need to flip upside down?
Just want to get my facts straight before I call the installer again
Very very easy if you see a picture! This picture shows the correct way to connect the drop link. This is my Tarett drop link but it would be the same if you use the stock Bilstein link.
You are looking at the left front wheel, from below and behind the wheel (I was sitting next to the driver's door and stuck my camera underneath the car.). The drop link is to be connected to the blue sway bar on the outboard side, NOT the inboard side.
If you still don't understand, print it and show it to your installer; once car is on the lift it will become instantly obvious to you.
Wanted to thanks Neil for his time today and of course all the other suspension gurus on here for helping me fix 2 install problems so far. w/o this forum I would probably just have a nice looking turbo that creaks every time I park me car
Just in reply to the original post. (didnt read all the details)
But.....
i just had custom, billet aluminum links made. Adjustable on either side, top and bottom, stronger then it ever needs to be, slight bend/kink to allow for ZERO interference with ANY simple little thing you can think of....
ill snap some pic sooner then later.
on a side note, the B16s are 'OK' at the very best. High speed (125+) turns/banking/sweepers NO MATTER what i try. the rear of the car is NOT planted. I blame this on the valving, that is involved with this damptronic, in my opinion, junk.
If its going to the track, its going on a trailer (99.9% of the time)... why not JRZ or Moton that suka?
/rant
before blaming the dampeners, you might try adding the rear adjustable toe links that allow for bump steer correction. Any deflection in toe due to the weak rubber bushings can lead to disconcerting rear end behavior (Rump Shaker)
I believe eclou (as expected) has finally solved the mystery of the popping drop link; or at least identify a major contributing factor.
Enclosed is picture of my installation as done by Lucent, Los Angeles, who has done a good number of these. We've never talked about it, but now that I look at the old pictures of my installation, I realize Lucent does it the exact same way as eclou's. Looking at the picture, you could see why installing on the inboard side of the blue sway blade would cause potential problem, especially as the wheel is turned at a severe angle. Installed inboard (the incorrect way), the drop link will have to "cross over" the sway blade and that's where I believe the popping occurs. The picture shows the Tarett drop link, but my Bilstein drop link is installed the same way.
Although I don't track the car, it's been driven by nutty semi-professionals (very rough) and nothing has popped.
I would suggest everyone to check your own and make sure it's installed the "correct" way.
Sry for bringing up an old thread, but I'm running out of ideas.
I've followed the advise above by Can diligently but no matter what I do, my Tarret links will rub the knuckle when I do a full turn.
I've had to resort to using custom made spacers on the upper ball joint so that it will clear the knuckle during a full turn.
I've tried all sorts of permutation and the only one that does not rub is the lower link on the inside of the sway, which I've read is incorrect.
Even using the standard Bilstein drop links (upper joint mounted on the front of the coilover, lower on the outside of the sway) will cause rubbing.
I have Bilstein Damptronics, GMG Sway and the drop links you see below consist of RSS rods and Tarret ball joints. My Tarret rods got bent, so I'm waiting for new ones. But the RSS rods are slight thicker than Tarret but it is not a thickness issue.
I have used custom made spacers for the upper ball joints in the pics below so that it does not rub, but I am wondering if any members here experience any rubbing during full turns? Or may I doing something wrong?
The use of spacers here... is it safe? I would expect it to be plug and play when the parts came in...
I am running GMG sways (full soft front and rear) and the front drop-links that come with the Bilstein B16 kit. I run stock drop-links at the rear.
No issues for the last 17,000 miles
...although I would like to swop out the Bilstein drop-links for the new ones they are shipping these days, as the old ones are subject to fail. No joy thus far though on getting Bilstein to do a 'recall' though before they do fail on the road.
Last edited by Alex_997TT; Apr 20, 2012 at 05:07 AM.
Reason: adding images
I've decided to not use the Bilstein drop links because of the stories of them coming off.
But with after market links, they rub the suspension knuckle whenever I do a full left or right turn when I don't use spacers on the upper ball joints. I'm wondering if most guys had to the same issue with gmg sways and aftermarket links?
Bumping this old thread. I'm still confused on which way to install the front sway bar end links, I already swap sides thinking I had it backwards but now I'm still not sure.
Which of these two photos is correct on the installation, picture taken of the driver side.
This looks correct to me as installed on the driver side but the end links says "R" for right side (passenger?).
So I swapped sides, but this don't seem right to me. Please help, so confused.
I also just noticed you're supposed to file off this nub on the factory top mount. I bet many people inadvertently skip this step and wonder what's the draw back? Thanks!
I've reached out to Bilstein and was told the bottom end links can be installed inboard to the sway bar. Turns out both methods I had above were wrong. Here is what it should be with the correct marking "L/R" on the end links on the correct sides.
