Anybody broken the rear sway endlink?

[chrislane31]

I replaced the drivers side a few months ago and now the passenger side went? Just running the sport suspension and the RS4 rear sway.

Anybody else brake some?

[NorcalPB]

What did you torque them to?

Its only supposed to be like 33 ft lbs.

[chrislane31]

They were torqued to the proper specs

[rcamacho]

RS4 bar puts more stress on the links....

[Quattro]

ummm, i read one member whose end link was damaged as well, but not too many.

[NorcalPB]

This isn't good. Are the RS4 end links any more durable?
How long have you had your sway bar?
Every time I drive I think about this now lol.

[Jim@STaSIS]

just posted this in another thread, but helpful here:

the rs4 bar is way too much for a stock a4 suspension. different? yes. better? no. you don't have nearly enough tire to deal with the added rate of the rs4 bar. an arb is a spring, it adds spring rate when the car rolls. an rs4 bar on stock suspension is the same as adding rear springs that are 5x stiffer than stock and leaving your front springs the same. how do we all think that would work?

if you add too much rear spring [giant arb] proportionally, then you'll make the car very tail happy. the rear will not roll enough to get the tires to grip and the back end gets really light and scary. buy yourself springs and dampers, then a bar. it's $ better spent.

[chrislane31]

The car is actually on a 6 month old sport suspension

[Jim@STaSIS]

stock sport? rs4 bar is too big.

[whartung]

stock sport? rs4 bar is too big.

what about S4 rear bar? I just dumped my old S4 rear bar on a buddy of mine who has a stock A4, I don't even think sport. I don't want to be responsible for damages to his car because hes running the 20mm S4 sway.

[Jim@STaSIS]

The s4 arb is a better fit, again it's so far as the rs4 bar. 9mm of diameter is a huge difference in spring rate. With a good suspension kit and the s4 bar you're in great shape.

It's not going to kill him or damage the car [other than wearing out end links quicker] but driven at the limits, it will make the car much less forgiving.

[Maverik869]

Is it still too much if you have a S-Line sports suspension? Isn't the difference only 4mm between the 2 bars?

Rear anti-sway bar sizes

* non-Sline - 16mm
* Sline/Sport - 18mm
* S4 - 20mm
* RS4 - 22mm

[kooltechie]

I replaced the drivers side a few months ago and now the passenger side went? Just running the sport suspension and the RS4 rear sway.

Anybody else brake some?

how did you find out initially that the endlink had been broken/worn?
were there any symptoms?

[chrislane31]

I could hear a knock when I would lift the rear up in the air like when I was pulling over a curb.

[excelT4]

9mm of diameter is a huge difference in spring rate

9mm? Have you been talking about the H-sport RS4 or the OEM? the OEM is only 4mm thicker than sport @ 22mm, though the H-sport RS4 bar is 29mm, which is actually 11mm thicker than the OEM sport which I agree is WAY to big for the stock suspension.

[barkerd427]

I broke an end link on mine too, but I may have overtorqued it. The threads were actually ripped out of the end link. The end links aren't very strong, but I haven't had a problem since I put the new end link on about 5 months ago. I also do autocross so the car gets a workout fairly often. Hopefully yours will hold up a little longer.

[Jim@STaSIS]

9mm? Have you been talking about the H-sport RS4 or the OEM? the OEM is only 4mm thicker than sport @ 22mm, though the H-sport RS4 bar is 29mm, which is actually 11mm thicker than the OEM sport which I agree is WAY to big for the stock suspension.

Whoops! I was referring to the stock rs4 bar but typo'd 29mm, which is the hsport4 upgrade. Correct that stock rs4 is 22mm. Stock a4 is 16/18 - an increase of 6mm is a giant step, and about 300% stiffer. +4mm is more reasonable, all else being equal. That's still going to be about 150% stiffer - bar stiffness increases logarithmically with diameter [not linear]. A few mm may not sound like much until you try to bend it!

[Alkemix]

bar stiffness increases logarithmically with diameter [not linear]. A few mm may not sound like much until you try to bend it!

^^True that.

[muffinman]

I've broken mine and I'm on stock non-sport sway bar...

I was told dropping my car on coilovers was the reason (puts more stress on those components)

[Jim@STaSIS]

I've broken mine and I'm on stock non-sport sway bar...

I was told dropping my car on coilovers was the reason (puts more stress on those components)

Depending somewhat on how low it is.. but this is HIGHLY unlikely. How would there be more stress? The sway bar only does anything when the car turns, the arb doesn't push *more* because the car is lower.

Lowering your car doesn't put more stress on anything. The suspension travels in a slightly smaller arc than it did before. Techs love to blame the nonstandard part. If anything the spring is doing more work and the bar is doing less!