Re: 5kTQ swaybar upgrade???

[OorQue@aol.com]

>  Likewise, if you stiffen the rear (and who here has ever watched a Rabbit 
go around an autocross
>  course with its rear wheel two feet in the air?) sufficiently, the inside 
rear will come off the ground.

Even in stock trim and on street tires, the rear end will do this ... I once 
got a ticket from a police officer who claimed I was driving "too fast for 
conditions" in my '81 4k because he watched me three-wheel my way through an 
intersection even though I was driving slightly slower than the posted speed 
limit.  Fortunately, I was able to convince the judge to dismiss the ticket 
after running him through the physics involved on a big flip chart...  

Frankly, I can't imagine ever needing to add additional roll stiffness to the 
rear of any Audi using a twist-beam axle via an a/r bar ... not only for the 
reasons explained so eloquently by Scott -- who did a great job, btw! -- but 
also because Audi designed these cars with final roll oversteer at the back 
end.  Increasing the rear roll stiffness with a bar will have the effect of 
raising the crossover point at which the transition to roll oversteer occurs; 
it will also dictate how swiftly it occurs hence the quirky "two-stage" 
handling characteristic that I (and others) have experienced when driving 
cars so equipped.  Unless you're willing to redesign the rear suspension, I 
think it's probably better to play around with spring rates, shock valving 
and wheel offset instead.   

JG