Lock & Load

Are you getting these whiteline clamps and placing them on both front and rear or just the rears ??

cheers
michael

ILIV48

I indicated I need them for both front & rear when I emailed them my address for shipment. Their reply to let me know they were sending them today did not indicate if both front and rear were included. Should know in a day or so. Will let you know as soon as the package arrives.

Cheers

ozzie8

Guys, I took mine car back to the mechanic today and he said we shouldn't have to go and buy clamps as Whiteline should provide the solution...I was going to ring Whiteline tomorrow but will wait for further feedback from ILIV48.

takahashi

There seems to be more fun and problem created....

I am glad mines fit perfectly.

Lock & Load

Guys i spoke to whiteline apparently both the front and rear swaybars SHOULD HAVE COME with a set of rings that are either side of the bushings , mine came whitout them as have others , so please CHECK YOURS those that have them fine if they are missing let me know i will then pass on your details to whiteline and they will send you a set for both the fronts and the rears its an easy fix but a pain in the *** .

ILIV48

Sorry to let you know but they apparently only sent you a set of clamps for the rears and not the fronts .

CHEERS
MICHAEL

ILIV48

Thanks for letting me know the bad news Michael. I'll call them tomorrow and have the fronts sent out. I did get under the car though and have a look at the front and it seems pretty centred so I can wait for them. It's the back that is really bad!

Hopefully easy to install and just clamp on not needing the sway removed to slide on.

Cheers

Muzz

Hi L&L,

I did not receive the rings, just the 2 bars and 4 bushes.
Can you shoot them down to me? Let me know if you need my address PMed.
I'm booked in for a fitting on Tuesday. Can they be fitted retrospectively or should I postpone it?

Lock & Load

As i havent recieved the rings( clamps ) i cannot give you a clear cut answer, however from what steve ILI48 has said they should be able to be fitted retrospectively , we will have a definite answer for everyone soon .

cheers
michael

ozzie8

Michael,
I didn't get any clamps either so can you add me to your list.

Thanx mate

Michael "Ozzie8"

mikeyr

And while we are at it I read through the Whiteline site in more detail and our "2x2" hole swaybars are considered to have 3 positions as originally described. One is an assymetric set up, ie one inne, one outee. There's a whole download on that subject ,so L&L we got what we ordered! Many thanks for you efforts on sorting out the deal & the clamps.
I hadn't really absorbed that these are former "Selby's" and have had great experiences with them before!!

Lock & Load

MIKE

Woke up at 430am this morning and read about the whiteline swaybars , and found the same information regarding the 2 holes but 3 positions .

Looking at the stock mazda swaybars cant help but wonder if we could have changed them to a harder setting by merely drilling an extra hole however theres not a great deal of room to do this and the extra pressure may have stressed the swaybar and got the 2 holes to become one

I realise that the whiteline bars are stronger and a different tickness tp the stock ones .

Maybe ILIV48 or another more tecknical person can look at doing this and comment on it .

cheers
michael

Spin9k

I'm not convined that we have a 3-way adjustable in the back. The holes are offset in the back and the links are a fixed length. Just try (I did) and put one end link on the outer hole and one end link on the inner... can't happen, the bar would have to be twisted to do that, and besides you want no pre-load on a sway.

So at least in the back it is both links to the bar or both links away from the bar. That results in either full soft or full hard, with no middle stiffness.

Now on the front, it may be possible, as the holes are in a straight horizontal line (I haven't tried).

Personally, I have both set to full hard, and on the street, I'm very happy. Next week I go to track it, and then I'll know if the car is still balanced or some adjustment need to be made.

=====

As to the rubber clamps to stop movement, I called them on that on March 22nd as after I installed them without, the rear bar nearly ripped my DSC lever arm off, and in the front the bar was rubbing against the strut after only about 10 miles use.

Being reasonably concerned about my personal safety, not to mention damage to expensive parts of my car - I wrote them and they replied, and I quote, "There are some clamps that can be fitted to the sway bars in order to stop the lateral movement of the bar. Unfortunately at this point of time we do not have stock of these items..."

I finally got the clamps after about three weeks, after writing to them again and insisting my car was now unsafe AND out of commission. By that late date I had done what ILIV48 had done. That stopped the problem, but it surely was a PITA to have to take out the front bar again, even if the rear was easy.

Also I noticed that the bushing were just a bit bigger than the stock. And especially in the front, I noticed the bushing were smashed too tight, twisted and bulging out of the metal clamp somewhat, so, in the 2nd install, I put a thick washer on just one bolt, then put the bushing & bracket (both front and rear). That fixed THAT problem .

My observation to them was that I was pretty disappointed in their ahhemm 'engineering work' if they apparently had never bothered to install and test the bars on the freaking car before selling them.

IMHO, these clamps weren't just "mistakenly not included', they were never there in the first or last place, but only provided after we all 'beta tested' the product for them

Thankfully no harm no foul... and I still love my bars... but my faith in Whiteline engineering is diminished. What's even more discouraging is they apparently didn't get it the 1st time, and continued to sell these bars to you guys without the clamps!!!! What does that say???

ILIV48

Well just received the rear clamps from whiteline and all I can say is I am very disapointed in them. They have just supplied a couple of poorly cut pieces of rubber hose and 2 metal clamps to go around them. I'm looking at these clamps and wondering how the hell are they going to clamp tight enough to stop the bar moving. I guess we'll see.

mikeyr

Got a photo of your bushing mod? Which bolt? etc etc

Was you "home made" solution as effective as the Whiteline clamp. Cause I reckon I can cut tube better than ILIV's photo. Quick trip to the ENZED should find some solid clamps.

Appreciate your Beta testing on our behalf and you acquired knowledge. (It will become wisdom once it's shared!)

Cheers

Mike

Spin9k

ditto, as the clamps they sent sit on my shelf, I'm glad I have my own (far superior design) on my 8. And yes, I to thought to myself, "First, what ta hell are these things, and how in hell would I ever tighten them? This sure is some weird type of 'clamp' - instructions would have helped...I guess"

ILIV48

Well... It's decided I am going to use my solution. After playing with the whiteline solution I have decided it would be only at most half the strenght of mine. My solution also means I can put it on without taking the swaybars off the car. If you have fitted the front sway then you know that is very desireable!

If you all say please I will take photo's of what's used and what I do then post it here so if your not feeling creative you can just copy what I have done.

Wish me luck

Spin9k

I put a (thick) washer on the top bolt on each attachment point. I figured the bar need only be held, not even that tight, by the bushing. In fact, a tight bushing might 'grip and pull' the bar and actually be part of the lateral movement problem.

I used c-clamps, washers, and circular rubber pieces for my bar stops. Don't laugh, but the truth is I used some rather different, rather strange materials, I just happened to have on hand or could get easily :D

1. the front bar diameter was an exact fit for the rubber bit on a toilet flapper ball's center rubber piece that fits down over the pipe in a toilet. Just my good luck that I had two spare to cut up Snip, snip, and I had two nice hard, firm, but 'sticky feeling' bushings.

2. the rear was smaller, so I had a piece of 'sticky' mat, the type you are supposed to put on your dash and it hold things to it like your cell phone. Made strips out of it to fit the diameter of the bar.

Because I didn't like the idea of the C-clamp scrapping up against my yellow bushing and tearing it up, I went to a local hardware store and in the plumbing dept (what's with toilet and cars parts anyway??), and found two approx 2 inch rubber washers with appropiate diameter center holes and put those on between the bushing and the C-clamps. The washers stretched and I could pull then onto each bar over the flat end piece.

Aside: the Whiteline clamps had no rought edges on the clamp and are better IMO in that way, but they don't look easy to tighten.

While unorthdox in material, they work just fine, no movement whatsoever.

RXP33D

I've never looked into "toilets" myself but your a genius with this idea!
Talk about toilet trained.:D

ILIV48

Very similiar to my idea. Except I am using a thick hardish (Is that a word?) rubber hose to wrap around the sway and apply a similiar clamp around it's outside. The hose because of it's thickness braces well against the inside of the bush which allows the clamp to be offset slightly and never touch the bush. And I don't have to take the swaybar off again... Thank Hymee (well he will be my lord and saviour once he's finished the supercharger... Praise be to him)

mikeyr

That's just too or "Loo" bloody clever.

Gibbo's the king of "bling" but Spin9k is clearly the "crapper flapper chap" or something.

Your wisdom from the depths will be put to wise use.

Cheers

Lock & Load

Guys after talking to Whiteline i have recieved this e-mail from them please read it carefully and adhere to their wishes , this hiccup will be resolved ASAP .

cheers
michael

Hello Michael,

I would like to clarify few issues first.

During product development, we DO actually fit the products to cars, and depending on the type of product we may or may not follow with performance testing at the race track in order to fine tune and achieve the maximum gain possible.

At the time, we did not see it mandatory to include the D-bush side clamps, as we have had no such issues with our test car.

It was only recently, and after the group buy, that we were made aware of sway bar movement issue. In response to that, we have revised these sway bars, to include the clamps.

The rubber hose clamps that we are using now, although being temporary which may give a poor impression, they do work very successfully in stopping sway bar movement. Oddly enough similar arrangements are used by other car manufacturers.
We are engineering dedicated sway bar clamps, which we are hoping to have stock off in approximately 1 to 2 weeks.

Michael, even though I have asked you to collect all the names and advise us, we have already received a number of emails from the group buy customers. This can get very easily out of hand.

As the group buy organiser, could I ask you to advise us one single list of all your customers names, addresses and phone numbers, and we will send front and rear sway bar clamps direct.
We would prefer not to receive individual emails from your group buy customers as it creates a lot of confusion.

Customers not part of your group buy are welcome to email us direct.
I propose that if you can wait, we will prefer to send our new dedicated clamps.

If you can prove us the list of customers, we will organise the lot.

I hope you can appreciate my comments and our standing on this issue, as well as our good will. I look forward to your comments and reply.

Regards,
Wojtek Rogulski
-------------------------------------------------------------
Technical Support
Go flat-out with WHITELINE Automotive
( Ph: +61 2 9603 0111
2 Fax: +61 2 9820 2500
* Email: wojtek@whiteline.com.au
8 Web: www.whiteline.com.au
-------------------------------------------------------------

Guys heres a link to asymmetric sway bar adjustment from whiteline .

The link to asymmetric sway bar adjustment;
http://www.whiteline.com.au/articles...metric_adj.pdf

Spin9k

Good idea... I like the idea of using a hose wide enough to set the clamp off from the bushing!

I can see getting the rears on wo/removing...but how did you get into the fronts? Did you take the plastic bottom pan off? That looked to be the only other solution, and it was easier to just take the bar out wo/ a lift to get the car up on.

I'll be interested to see their 'permanent solution'. One would think a 5 cent piece of metal wrapped on the bar and tack welded or just force fit would make everyone's lives a lot simpler??? I mean that would just imitate the stock bar..... and require no work from the customer... why force us to align the bar, put this clamp on, where it could be so brain dead easy.

As to them not knowing til your group buy..ahemm I guess it's not worth quibbling, but.....I've got the emails :o

playa78

following is the response i got from latest reply.

---------------------
Hello,

I am having discussions with my boss regarding what we plan to do in order to help all of the customers that have purchased the RX8 sway bars.
Hopefully I will have an answer for you by Tuesday.

I will get back to you after the weekend.

Regards,
Wayne Cunningham

Spin9k

Wayne was also the pleasent fellow I exchanged emails with about this problem.

ILIV48

I just bought the metal ramps you drive the front or back on. They were less than $50 bucks at repco. Makes it aesy for me to change my own oil each 5000km between dealer services. Gives plenty of room to work underneath.


[/QUOTE]I'll be interested to see their 'permanent solution'. One would think a 5 cent piece of metal wrapped on the bar and tack welded or just force fit would make everyone's lives a lot simpler??? I mean that would just imitate the stock bar..... and require no work from the customer... why force us to align the bar, put this clamp on, where it could be so brain dead easy.[/QUOTE]

I cannot see then giving us new sways so I think in the end they will just supply some stop gap measure. Besides with the problems I had with the bolts for the bushes I really am not keen on having to take them off again. Believe me it is an absolute nightmare when they break (even though using Mazada's torque settings )

I cannot see a solution for us they put out being any better. Mine painted up looks like it belongs there anyway. I'll post pictures after the weekend of exactly what I did.

Cheers mate

Stuart