Has anyone had Aftermarket sway bars for a while with the factory end links, and then later upgraded to some aftermarked end links?? I was just curious if the end links made that much of an improvement, and if they were worth the money???
Can't say 4 sure, I got my beefier endlinks at the same time as the sway... I think it's more of a safety measure than performance... the rear stock endlinks are cheap plastic and are prone to breaking with large aftermarket sways.
bought mine with the bars. According to Whiteline the thicker links are less prone to flex (obviously) and transfer loads at a faster rate, but do not increase effective bar diameter. That's really all they do for "performance" I agree it's 99.999999% precautionary because i don't think there's any noticable or measurable performance benefit, but if you're transferring a greater load you should have a thicker link.
Thats kinda what i was thinking. However, i was reading an old sport compact car mag and they had sways on their project 300zx and they were saying that they added end links and they made such an improvement that they needed to turn the bars down a notch. Not sure if thats correct or not but thats why i was asking if there was indeed a performance gain from buying aftermarket end links.
i dunno, but you should tell us if you find out it is. I think most people do them at the same time so they don't think anything about it
Yeah i definitely agree, i got the rear bar and then had the choice between the front bar or the rear end links, so i got the front bar instead. I will do endlinks at some point tho, and ill let you guys know how it feels. Im guessing *IF* you can feel a difference it will be only under extreme cornering.
most of these mods are "extreme" circumstances only. Like steering rack bushings and the ALK (mostly). A lot of the feel comes from being less pliable than the stock item, but under a normal load the stock doesn't really have to give much. so the difference is only really noticable when the load is large (hard cornering). The ALK is a slight exception because it actually changes geometry not just stiffness.
we have a thin metal end link for the evo. I didn't get one, but at the stiffest setting on my hotchkis, I think it might be a good insurance to have a thicker end link. One of the bolt came loose from the endlink and swaybar connection during auto-x and it was rattling and the sway bar was hitting my rear axel for a bit. perrin makes one for you guys too, right?
yeh, kartboy, perrin, whiteline, all good. Whiteline, porter loves them. they've made their way onto Evolutions. It's not taken off yet, but it'll be interesting to see how they perform on Evo's. I know it's done some good on some of the STi's.
i have stock endlinks with my hotchkis sway bars....The way I see it....if they break..I'll get aftermarkets.
I have the Whiteline 22,24,26 rear bar, set to 26. I do not have aftermarket Endlinks. I have pushed my car pretty dam hard, and have yet to break an endlink. I did the Evolution Autocross School a couple days after doing the swaybar, I did the Novice School last week, and have done several Auto X events and nothing. I would suggest not wasting money on Endlinks til you break one.