Whiteline swaybars fitted - rod end links - with pics

[zoomzoom]

got my whiteline swaybars for christmas yesterday and ofcourse I fitted them too. They feel brilliant!!! They feel just as great as expected.

I can see there being a little in getting the right settings though. On the test pilot run I got a slight understeer with fronts on middle and rear on soft. I am going to try setting the rears to middle to compensate, as for some reason Mr whiteline didn't take into account that there is a shock in the road which prevents the fronts being set to soft. I am also gunna try to make a ball joint type link setup which may be able to be fitted and still clear the shock.

I hope everyone had a great chrissy, catchya all l8r

[Astroboysoup]

sounds like you got the adjustable front and rear 24/16 combo

i love my non adjustable to i can just imagine how much more fun the fully adjustable ones are to play with.

i get a bit of understeer but id say thats more due to my bad weight transfer in the car... but i can compensate the understeer with a bit more gas to over steer the car.

you really need bals to drive these mx5s hard.

[zoomzoom]

Has anyone else had this issue with the 3 way blade adjustable swaybars on an NA? There is not enough room between the swaybar and the shock to fit the oe links to the softest setting.
To overcome this problem I made up some rod end style links which can be bent on much greater angles than bushed ones, which also allows you to adjust in forward and back without twisting a bush.

[green_comet]

I just ordered a set of adjustable endlinks from america. Mine have dust caps on them though, to keep the dust and grit out. You will find that they will last about 12 months, then the dirt and water will take its toll. They will start to rattle, and annoy the crap out of you..

[zoomzoom]

Yea I figured they weren't going to last forever but a year or two would be great. As they didn't cost me a cent I'm not too worried. They do hav teflon liners which should help to keep alot of the dust out, but we'll see how they go, and if need be order the right thing.

One thing I need to have a look at is retaining the swaybars in centre as they no longer have the bush tension to push them there. On the rear it came with a bit of urethane gued around it and with a hose clamp around it but they have already moved in about 30mm in under a week, so that is useless.

P.S. Rattles give the car charactor

[gslender]

Has anyone else had this issue with the 3 way blade adjustable swaybars on an NA? There is not enough room between the swaybar and the shock to fit the oe links to the softest setting.
To overcome this problem I made up some rod end style links which can be bent on much greater angles than bushed ones, which also allows you to adjust in forward and back without twisting.

Dang! I've got this problem. Anyone one know of a current solution that works?

I'm reluctant to buy adjustable end links if they still can't be used on the softest setting?!?

G

[94 clubman perth]

I had whiteline adjustable sways front and rear, standard end links wouldn't Bolt up to new angle of sway bar, ended up with whiteline adjustable ends which, with bc coilovers, do not allow u to use softest setting on the front bar. I was running medium setting on front and softest on rear. On this setting the car was not compliant enough in corners, skipping and snapping into oversteer to easy (which was fun for a while). Changed back to a standard rear bar and problem solved, much more predictable and neutral and much better transient behavior.

I've found sway bars do make a big difference, but it's very easy to over do it, especially on the rear.

[gslender]

I had whiteline adjustable sways front and rear, standard end links wouldn't Bolt up to new angle of sway bar, ended up with whiteline adjustable ends which, with bc coilovers, do not allow u to use softest setting on the front bar.

It would seem that Whiteline are falsely advertising as being adjustable, when in fact they are only adjustable if you also spend more $$ on more parts to use the adjustable bits of the sway bar

That is like Mazda saying the new MX5 has adjustable performance between 150 and 300 HP. But then telling you (after you've bought the car) that you need to buy the Turbo option to enable the adjustable performance..........!!!

I dunno, and maybe this is normal amongst sway bar manufacturing, but nothing in the instructions nor website even hints that you'd need to buy other parts to make it adjustable. I can't even get past the max stiff setting (which is where the standard end links rest) and this goes against the included instructions which advise you not to go hard, and start at the soft setting !!

I've taken this up with the resellor, and I'll post back what happens - I don't mind paying for my mistakes, but I'm not prepared to pay for lousy engineering or sneaky marketing.

G

[Old Dude]

That's a bit ordinary if you buy what is suppose to be suitable for your car and then find out it does't fit properly
What do Whiteline have to say about it, I would be ringing them directly.

Cheers
Dale

[gslender]

Their national rep contacted me today. I'm sending him a photo of the issue and he is going to sort it one way or another.

Seems like they are taking the issue seriously and I'm so far impressed.

G

[olboy]

Thought of bending the mazda links
Worked for me

[Old Dude]

Their national rep contacted me today. I'm sending him a photo of the issue and he is going to sort it one way or another.

Seems like they are taking the issue seriously and I'm so far impressed.

G

Excellent that's what you would expect a reputable company to do, Hopefully it all works out for you

Cheers
Dale

[gslender]

Thought of bending the mazda links
Worked for me

Two problems...a) hardly adjustable if you have to remove the end-links and bend and b) that only gets you to position #2... as the softest position #3 would require butting hard up against the shock tower... not good!!

My assessment is that they should have engineered the middle setting to align with the std stock end-link position - So that if you did decide to bend them (as per your idea) you'd only need to decide on either fwd or backward for harder or softer and also protrude less into the shock/suspension arms.

Clearly they should state that the standard end-links don't support adjustable sway bars and that you'd need to buy rose jointed links (or something), but even with these additional links, you only get medium and hard settings.

Anywho, I'm hoping to have a good answer and possibly Whiteline are looking to redesign based on this feedback - apparently I'm the first to ever mention this to them

[noobee]

had this problem 3 months ago when trying for softest setting on front (have whiteline non adjustable on back),
ended up bending links in 2 directions and mounting them inside the bar like zoomzoom's.didnt take long and doesnt seem to be causing any problem.
were previously outside,dont know if this is right or not but working good now.also greased poly bushes while I was at it.
car feels better balanced and less harsh over bumps.
Mick

[gslender]

Update is that Whiteline are happy to swap to a non-adjustable 22mm bar and is offering a credit for the difference. Having dríven the car on the max stiff on the 24mm bar, I think the standard 22mm will be fine.

I'm happy

PS -for those of you bending the end links...be careful you are weakening the steel and potentially creating a lethal scenario!

G