DPE

iTrader: (1)

DPE has had to wait a bit for the shipment from down under, but it has now arrived and we are offering Whiteline swaybars for the RX-8 at outstanding prices and with free shipping in the continental USA!

For those of you who haven't heard of Whiteline, they have been making swaybars since the late 1960s in Australia. They are probably best known in the USA for their Subaru swaybars (one of which can be found on my WRX Wagon), and in the last few years have expanded into coilovers, strut tower bars, and a variety of other chassis bits.

We have 8 sets of adjustable bars and 4 sets of non-adjustables in-stock. The specs are as follows:

27mm standard front bar - $115 - These bars actually measure 27.5mm vs. the 26.5mm of the OEM bars, but the real increase in stiffness comes from them being solid vs. hollow. Based on data provided by Whiteline, we calculate this bar to be approximately 59% stiffer than OEM.

27mm adjustable front bar - $150 - These bars also measure 27.5mm, and benefit from two mounting holes on each side that allow you do adjust the stiffness of the bar. This bar can either be approximately 54% stiffer than OEM, or 64% stiffer depending on which mounting holes are used. A nice, simple way to fine-tune chassis balance to suit your driving style or to better match other suspension modifications.

18mm standard rear bar - $115 - These bars are exactly 2mm thicker than OEM, and are also solid. This lends an increase in stiffness of approximately 87%, which really helps keep the rear end under control under extreme circumstances. And if you're like me, you want your rear end under control in extreme circumstances!

18mm adjustable rear bar - $150 - These bars are also exactly 2mm thicker than OEM, and of course are solid. With a choice of two mounting holes on each side, you can set this bar to be either 79% stiffer than OEM or 91% stiffer. Once again, handy to be able to fine-tune chassis balance.

All percentages above are approximate and based on our calculations, which are based on data that Whiteline provided on the OEM bars. All Whiteline bars for the RX-8 include a lateral lock kit, which consists of two clamps that you'll mount on the inboard side of the swaybar brackets that keep the bar from moving laterally a significant amount. Very easy to install with common tools, and adds perhaps 10 minutes to the installation process.

DPE recommends buying these swaybars in front and rear pairs, as installing an aftermarket bar at one end or the other can have negative effects on chassis balance (when dealing with an already well-balanced car like the RX-8). As we understand it, some have had good luck in autox doing only the front bar (to stay legal in Stock class), but this is sometimes combined with Koni dampers set to full-stiff in the rear to offset the increased stiffness in the front bar. In other words, we recommend installing in pairs, but if your application dictates one end or the other we won't stop you from ordering just one .

To check out the swaybars on the site, or to place an order, see: http://www.dpeweb.com/ProductsList.a...oductTypeID=13.

Sorry for the crappy pictures; I'll post larger versions here later tonight. Questions? Post here .

DPE

iTrader: (1)

And here are a few pics. I'll get pics of them installed this weekend. . .

Adjustable Front:


Adjustable Front up close:


Adjustable Rear:


Adjustable Rear up close:


Our Technical Director currently has front and rear adjustables on his car along with Tein Basics, and is enjoying himself quite thoroughly. We're doing a turbo on his car this weekend, and after that and some good 'road testing', I'll have him post his impressions of the bars (and the turbo) from a driver's perspective.

Spin9k

Good to see these FS in the US w/lateral stoppers. I had to order mine direct from down-under. $300 for adjustables? WW. This is such a no-brainer to improve your 8 by leaps and bounds! Want to see how much? Watch my vids @ www.spin9k.com - one of the best things I ever did for my 8. Besides Falken tires and Autoexe strut braces, these are what gives my car it's advantage .

Hey! You forgot to mention a very important thing - those little yellow bushings - they replace the toilet plunger quality/squishy ones with these (pretty yellow?) ones and they are extremely strong/tough hi-q stuff. The useless OEMs can twist & ooose right out of the metal bracket under extreme load...these aren't going anywhere and greatly improve the initial response of the bars action on the suspension IMHO.
Good going DPE !

DPE

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the good words Spin9k! Glad you like yours; sorry we didn't have them sooner to save you the hassle of getting them from Oz. And nice videos, too . I believe we have the first large batch of them in the USA, and were able to buy in quantity with volume discounts and pass on the great prices to the RX-8 Club. Once these sell, it's likely prices will have to go up a bit. We at least won't offer free shipping on them forever .

And thanks for mentioning the new, harder D-bushings that come with the bars (that I failed to mention!). Indeed, MUCH stiffer material than the stock pieces, and they further enhance the responsiveness of the suspension overall.

Vertigo-1

iTrader: (3)

Do these sway bars just work with the stock endlinks? Or are there tougher endlinks available for these too ala Racing Beat?

DPE

iTrader: (1)

I don't know of any stronger endlinks other than what Racing Beat sells, so if you went that route you'd have to drill the holes out larger (as you have to to put RB endlinks on OEM bars). You could get away with that on the fixed position bars and the front adjustable, but on the rear adjustable you'd only want to drill the inboard hole, as the outboard is fairly close to the edge of the bar.

EDIT: In looking at them in person, you may not want to drill the rear adjustable bar at all. That said, I don't imagine one would need stronger endlinks for the size of the rear bar?

Any endlink that fits the stock bars will fit these, so if there are tougher ones out there with the OEM-size stud they would work fine with these bars. Thus far, we haven't had a problem with the OEM endlinks, though we don't have many hard miles on the Whiteline-equipped car yet. Spin9k, can you speak to this?

Spin9k

Sure, I used the stock endlinks wo/any problems whatsoever. My adj. bars are both set to full stiff, so if there was problem I imagine my Loudon sessions would have uncovered any deficit.

However, never willing to let a good thing stop me from screwing it up , I bought some fancy endlinks adjustable 3 ways from Sunday.

Mistake..looked cool, strong enough to tow a trailer each one. BUT .... they wouldn't torque down well, bolts had enough slack through the ball joint hole to make noises in normal use, on track the things loosened up, thought my frnt-end was coming apart ...so off with the $175 waste of time and back to the ugly but wonderful good-working OEMs.

You know the moral of the story...if it works...and doesn't break....leave it alone

DPE

iTrader: (1)

Good to hear, thanks for posting your experience. I think a lot of things get over-hyped as far as being 'problems'. My WRX has plastic, yes plastic OEM endlinks, and I ran quite awhile on OEM endlinks with my Whiteline rear bar set at full stiff. Never had a problem, even on track. Eventually upgraded to Whiteline HD endlinks (not available for the RX-8 yet), and the bar responds a bit better with the billet aluminum parts and their stiff bushings, but whether I actually needed an upgrade for what I do with the car is debatable.

RPIRX-8

I've got the whiteline front bar and am loving it so far. Just installed it this weekend. Couple words of caution.

1. This install can be done yourself, it took me about 5 hours. I did it by myself but it was quite the puzzle to get the stock bar out and the whiteline one in on my own. Be careful not to dislodge the lower radiator hose while doing it.

2. The RX-8 service manual states to torque down the endlinks to 31-45 ft/lbs and the bushing clamp bolts to 62-72 ft/lbs. DO NOT TIGHTEN DOWN THE BUSHING CLAMP NUTS TO MORE THAN 37 FT/LBS!!! I made the mistake of following the service manual and snapped the bolt right off. Cost of repair, approx $110.

3. Pick up a load of liquid wrench before the install, will make your life a lot easier

Other than this I'm in love with this sway bar.

Also one question, which set of holes represents the full stiff setting? Is it the set that is towards the front of the car?

cgrx

I'd replace the front endlinks. Mine snapped and I was 100% stock

Spin9k

Whoa! This is what GF and/or wives are for.. Poor bachelor you....:p Then it's about an hour.

Wooops! You read it wrong somehow. Here's the manual (see pic) the numbers are (in order) N-m, kgf-m, ft-lbs. The correct torque is 25.6-36.8 ft-lbs!!!

Closest to the bar is stiff, furthest out are soft

RPIRX-8

Hmm, I have another exploded view that looks like it says 62. Let me find it.

And yeah, I'm REALLY suffering over here living the single life ....

BIU

What are the effects of just getting the rear bar?

For a RWD i've heard getting just the rear bar would be much enjoying and beneficial...

any truth?

thanks

RPIRX-8

Ive run with just a rear bar for 2 track days, the oversteer is quite bad. Now my rear isn't adjustable, but its pretty stiff. If you do run just the rear, be very careful of the rear end stepping out.

DPE

iTrader: (1)

On a lot of cars, namely FWD and AWD, it is often beneficial to get just a rear bar to counter their natural tendency to understeer. I have my Whiteline adjustable bar on my WRX wagon set at max-stiff on the rear and an OEM bar up front and the car is balanced reasonably well. There are also some RWD cars that push a bit, such as the 350Z, that would benefit from only a rear bar. Just have to be careful though, as it's easy to get too much of a good thing.

For the RX-8, the chassis is already well balanced from the factory, so getting a bar at either end has the potential to screw that up. Not saying it will in every case and it'll depend on other mods, but suffice to say we recommend buying the bars in pairs for this car.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the install on the front bar should only take about 1-2 hours at most, just have a friend to help you work the bar out of there. It can be done without undoing the tie rods and without even removing the engine under-cover. And the rear bar is quite simple.

Magic8

Does it come with instructions on how to install both front and rear?

DPE

iTrader: (1)

No, but we're happy to provide tech support. In fact, we'll try and post a little writeup on how to do them, in our forum, for reference. The rear is quite simple, and the front is just a matter of having two people and a bit of patience to get it out of there.

jowettw

could i get a shipping quote to Canada (if you guys ship to canada that is)?

more specifically:

Victoria, BC
V8T 2C2

i tried the website, but it seems like US orders only!?
Thanks!

DPE

iTrader: (1)

Sorry for the delay; been a bit hectic around here.

Yes, we'll ship to Canada, but the site isn't set up to take international orders yet. That said, we could do shipping for one or two bars for $10 to your address. Sending you a PM right now. . .

avg8

For me too please, also in Canada, thankx for the earlier PM.

Edmonton, Alberta
T6J 3N5

Thank you.

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Only $10 extra to ship to Canada!

I'm in!
:D
:D
:D
S

DPE

iTrader: (1)

So far for Alberta and BC it's looking like the same shipping rate, which means I can do it for $10. I'll have to go case-by-case on that, but if FedEx is consistent that should be all it is.

And feel free to contact us regarding other items on the site. We're certainly willing to work with folks from other countries (ANY other country for that matter) to get stuff to you as cheaply as possible.

Always glad to help out our friendly neighbors to the north :D !

DPE

iTrader: (1)

Just FYI guys, I received another order just now, and I'm down to 1 fixed front and 2 fixed rear bars left in stock. The offer is still good through August regardless, but I think my supplier in the US only has a couple sets and then that's it for at least a month. Such as it is getting stuff from Oz.

So like I said, the offer remains good through the end of August, but if I keep selling fixed bars at the current rate the late-comers are going to be waiting on them awhile.

PLENTY of adjustable bars in stock still, for what that's worth.

Spyder_doo

I plan on ordering these but not until the end of the month. Hope you still have them by then but how long will it be if you dont have them in stock?

jamie

DPE

iTrader: (1)

I'm trying to find that out from my supplier right now. He may have a few sets on hand, and if he does I'll be getting them within a week or so. If not, it could be anywhere from 20-60 days, depending on if Whiteline has any produced, if any are already in transit, etc. I'll keep this forum updated.