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Re: Coupe GT Anti-sway bar for rear
>On FWD cars with torsion (T-beam) rear axles such as the
>VW Rabbit/Scirocco/Quantum, and, I believe, the 4000, you already
>have, in essence, an anti-sway bar. It is T-shaped instead of
>round. The rear bar adds to the effect of the rear axle beam.
The problem with the particular twist-beam design Audi used (with the beam
between the wheels instead of ahead of them) is that in order for the beam
to twist, the trailing arms must be made of flat stock so they can also
twist. As I recall, the ST rear bar was designed in such a way that the
arms ran alongside the trailing arms, which will limit their ability to
twist and thus screw up the rollsteer characteristics Audi designed into it.
If you really want a rear bar, the best way is to replace the small steel
bar inside the channel with a larger piece of tubing ... you can also weld
small pieces of flat stock across the channel since this will stiffen it up
and increase its resistance to twisting.
That said, I've tried both and in the end, decided neither one was
necessary. Stiff springs worked better but if you're prepared to (and
capable of) redesigning the suspension, you CAN improve it further ...
still, I was pretty happy with the stock setup for both street and track.
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/ | _| o | \ _| o Jeffrey Goggin
/__| | | / | | __ | | | | / | | audidudi@mindspring.com
/ | |_| \_| | |_/ |_| \_| | http://people.delphi.com/audidudi
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