After a problem with my Bilsteins, and the car been off the road for a few weeks now, I thought I'd lighten my spirit with a little present...

A giant package arrived yesterday from the guys (Dan) south of the border, in San Fran - Sharkwerks!
I thought I'd give them a shout-out for not only fantastic/fast service in getting these parts ordered and delivered out to me in record time, the added bonus(es) of a cool shark-shirt and decals... and the massive amount of bubble wrap!!!

Certainly not the first time I've had to deal with with sharks.
Although this time the experience was way more friendly than the great whites I encountered off the coast of South Africa!

...oh and did I mention the bubble wrap!

Side note:
Quick question regarding the rear drop links (part of the RSS Sway bar kit), is it recommended to use these or just go with the OEM drop links? I was told that the RSS ones are a bit more noisy and don't offer much more benefit over the OEM?


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what do the Drop Links Do ?

 

They rear drop links connect the rear swaybar to the rear trailing arm. Main difference is that they don't have the rubber bushings and look to be much more robust!

 

Hi, I've changed between the 2 multiple times and followed are my observations:
Stock drop link (rubber): suspension feels softer, more quiet (when you go over bump it makes a "thump" sound), more comfortable.
After-market drop link with Heim joint (metallic): suspension feels stiffer (*not* subtle, most definitely there), noisy (when you go over bump, it makes a "crack" sound), suspension is less comfortable but more planted (stiffer).
Keep in mind GT3/GT2 does NOT use heim joint drop link; but... OTOH, I've seen heim joint drop links on race cars. Essentially, there is no question it does something, and that's increasing the anti-roll effect and increasing noise (handling over comfort).

Whether any of these metallic after-market links provides "benefit" depends on rest of your suspension (for example if car is too "soft" then yes) and your personal taste and use of the car. In my car, I use the metallic drop link when I have street tires on, and use the rubber link when I have Cup tires on. No right or wrong, that's just how I like it. I would suggest you give it a try.

BTW, does the sway bar comes with polyurethane bushing, or are you re-using the stock rubber bushing? I have some comment on that issue too. I plan to do a write-up on sway bar and associated components, do's and don't's, etc., but now just too lazy and busy. Hope this helps and sorry to hear about your problem. Keep the faith - you're on the right track (stock Turbo is simply way too soft and mushy of a car) and the suspension God will be smiling upon you soon enough.

 

Hi Cannaga - they came with their own bushings. My guess is they are polyurethane, or some other hard polymer type plastic.
Is your concern noise/squeaking from them - or performance characteristics?

 

Thanks for posting this up and so glad it showed up okay -- guess all that bubble wrap paid off Cool shark pics, I'll be sure to show Alex! Keep us posted on the progress of your car and share some more pics when you have them.
-Dan

 

Both. For those who don't know, the sway bar is held in place by two drop links and 2 C shaped clamps; between the clamp and the bar itself is the bushing that we are talking about here.
1 Polyurethane (most after market sway bar comes with these):
Supposed to last forever
Stiffer
Noisy (grunting noise when you go over bump, etc.)
Need to be lubricated with non-petroleum based grease
2 Rubber (stock)
Softer
No noise

It's very important to know that polyurethane sway bar bushing must be lubricated with grease once in a while. If not you will have noise and/or binding of the bar (ie the bar cannot rotate - nearly frozen in place - because of friction between the non-lubricated bushing and itself) and the result is broken link, popped off link, or broken coilover mounting point.

We have not talked about this much but I am suspicious binding of the sway bar is a cause of various noise and illness associated with drop link/sway bar on this forum. A source of the lubrication is here:
http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...4-oz-Tube.html
I am also enclosing a picture. You could also get it on ebay - just search for "super lube synthetic grease". Hope this helps.

 

Dan, Will do!

Excellent info - thanks Cannga!

-Mike

 

very sweet ..

 

You're very welcome. I think you will really like the drop link - it gives a stability and solidity to the rear end that's easily noticeable. The car feels less rubbery and "bouncy," and more planted with these solid drop links.

The polyurethane bushing is another matter. Give it a try but personally, I am not a fan. It is very problematic if not lubricated (noisy, binding, increasing effective spring rate unintentionally). Make sure to tell the installer to give back to you the OEM rubber bushing. If the new sway bar is the same diameter as the OEM sway bar, you could use the OEM rubber bushings if you're not happy with the polyurethane ones. That's what I do for my car - rubber bushings.

Also remember the sway bar install is not a one time set and forget. I would arrange a deal with the installer for adjustment of the sway setting. For example, tell them to set front at medium, and rear at medium. Drive for 3 weeks, then come back and try the rear at the stiff setting. This is the only way to find out what's good and bad about each setting.
I do the adjustment at home (by myself) btw. If I can do it, anyone can! This way I could change sway bar setting and study the changes numerous times without wasting money and time.

 

Interesting...
I've read over and over that folks are setting the front at soft and rear at medium, which is what I was going to go for. Personally I want to cut down understeer and don't mind a little bit more of an aggressive ride.
Now you've put doubt in my mind - how aggressive would the med(f)/hard(r) be?

 

Very good question and not to worry - the main point is that the bar is adjustable; over the next year or two, try them, learn, and have fun.
And yes, you're exactly right, my own car is also at soft front, medium rear, but this is with a GMG bar, which may or may not be the same as RSS. For your case, I would play around with these combinations - :
Front: soft and medium
Rear: medium and stiff
Start with soft front if you like but keep in mind one of these days you might want to try medium front just to see what it feels like.

Another very interesting point is that while soft front/stiff rear is the suggested setting to **minimize** understeer, it is not necessarily the "best" setting, as it depends on what the rest of the suspension setup is like, and what you're trying to achieve. For example setting the front to soft means you "lose out" on the anti-roll effect. Another example is in my car, I've never used the stiff rear setting of the GMG bar because it is extremely stiff and uncomfortable.
The issue is complicated, appropriately. For example, your RSS bar may not be the same as my GMG bar, meaning different people with different bars will use different settings, yet achieving the same result. This is a point that's very rarely discussed but very much true.

BTW, following are the specs for the GMG bar. You might want to ask RSS what their specs are so you could have some idea of where the starting point should be.
>>>> http://www.gmgracing.com/porsche_suspension.shtml
The rear sport sway bars offers a torsional stiffness increase of 30,45 and 60% while the front front sway bar offers an increase of 15/25 and 35% over the factory bar.

 

Thanks Cannga - as always, great advice.

BTW Found this: the rear GMG sport sway bars offers a torsional stiffness increase of 30,45 and 60% while the front front sway bar offers an increase of 15/25 and 35% over the factory bar.
The RSS bars - all I could find is that they increase the stiffens by 50%, so I'd imagine they are referring to the max setting, which would make it a smidge softer than the GMG. Need to do a bit more research on this.

 

I've read over and over that folks are setting the front at soft and rear at medium, which is what I was going to go for.

 

You might want to see if RSS could give customers the detailed specs of their sway bars. Not that the numbers matter, but they do give peace of mind (are the numbers the same as what we expect) and any little bit of information helps us amateurs. Maybe it would help to tell RSS that GMG their main local competitor has that information available publicly for many years now. It's not like it's an incredible earth shaking secret anyway. Customers really have the right to know.

Good luck and have fun. We have near identical setup: Bilstein, sway, drop link; IMHO you're on the right track. During the setup, remember the 3 parameters you are trying to balance here - what's best for one is not necessarily best for the others:
1. Understeer/oversteer: affected by relative setting of front to rear stiffness.
2. Anti roll: stiffer/less body roll is better, but too much and car is too firm, loses compliance/suppleness, and not useable on streets. And of course too much front stiffness worsens understeer.
3. Subjective sense of precision and quickness: stiffer is better, but too much then again car loses compliance/suppleness, and is not useable on streets.
I actually think that for a street car (without extreme high speed of the track), 2 and 3 are at least as important as 1, if not more.

When set up correctly, your car shouldn't push any more than before (understeer not worse), trace a curve as if it's on rails , and the rear end should feel a lot firmer and more precise. Yet the car should retain some compliance/suppleness for daily driving. It's like heaven!