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Sway Bar adjustment

NoIfCustoms

WTF was I thinking?!
Location
Boulder, CO
Car(s)
'08.5 GTI DSG
may be a dumb question, but here it goes...

I read APRs rear bar adjustment guide that says the car merely needs to be level.

Can I adjust on the ground? (no ramps, single jack and no garage)

it's an H&R bar, but the theory is still the same no?
 

Red-2009-GTI

Ready to race!
Location
Phoenix, AZ
You want the car on a level flat surface so that the holes in the ends of the sway bar will line up with the links. You can do this with both rear wheels on blocks or flat on the ground if you can reach the hardware, but the front to back direction does not need to be level.

Just make sure your car is not going to roll off or fall off whatever you have it lifted with while you are under it!

On the ends of your sway bar there will be a couple holes that the end links connect to. You use ONE of these holes depending on how stiff you want your rear suspension. The link points (holes) closest to the end of the bar give the least stiff control, while the hole closer to the sway bar pivot point give a stiffer ride. You can use one close and one end point for a "medium" setting as well. All these do is transfer wheel deflection from one side to the other of course, but the effect can be impressive. I suggest starting at the least stiff position, drive it this way for a week or two, then go to a stiffer setting and see if you like the difference. I'm running the fat BSH rear bar and prefer it on the soft setting.
 

NoIfCustoms

WTF was I thinking?!
Location
Boulder, CO
Car(s)
'08.5 GTI DSG
You want the car on a level flat surface so that the holes in the ends of the sway bar will line up with the links. You can do this with both rear wheels on blocks or flat on the ground if you can reach the hardware, but the front to back direction does not need to be level.

Just make sure your car is not going to roll off or fall off whatever you have it lifted with while you are under it!

On the ends of your sway bar there will be a couple holes that the end links connect to. You use ONE of these holes depending on how stiff you want your rear suspension. The link points (holes) closest to the end of the bar give the least stiff control, while the hole closer to the sway bar pivot point give a stiffer ride. You can use one close and one end point for a "medium" setting as well. All these do is transfer wheel deflection from one side to the other of course, but the effect can be impressive. I suggest starting at the least stiff position, drive it this way for a week or two, then go to a stiffer setting and see if you like the difference. I'm running the fat BSH rear bar and prefer it on the soft setting.

Thanks for the reply. Every post I can find says to jack it up, but APR and my thoughts on bar load would say in the driveway as long as its flat. My main concern was that the bar was for some reason loaded while sitting idle, which didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Jacking it in the air while unloading the bar, I could see issues if the car wasn't totally level side to side. the stands I used when I put the bar on were .5" different in height, and we fought to get one side on soft. Stiffs didnt want to really line up at all.

Thanks for the info, that helps a lot
 

asp87

Ready to race!
Location
Westport, MA
Sounds like you got your answer, but I'll chime in anyway. I put my APR rear sway bar in with the rear on ramps and chocked the front tires. I have it set at the stiffest setting. Had no issues getting everything lined up.
 

NoIfCustoms

WTF was I thinking?!
Location
Boulder, CO
Car(s)
'08.5 GTI DSG
Sounds like you got your answer, but I'll chime in anyway. I put my APR rear sway bar in with the rear on ramps and chocked the front tires. I have it set at the stiffest setting. Had no issues getting everything lined up.

Awesome, thank you as well. Like I said it's hard to find that answer anywhere in the forums.
 
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