Mate before installing the sways paint them black. MACCAA will never know

 

good stuff Jim!
now can we please get Wayne to hurry up and get the springs ready :D


good choice Dave

make sure whoever is fitting it isnt going to fit it upside down :p

 

Will take delivery of the sways tomorrow afternoon.

Car is booked in for Thursday.

Woohoo. :D :D

 

Does this mean modified class will be bigger than Stock class?

 

hehe, I wouldn't be surprised. :D

No doubt Len will reveal all Saturday morning.

 

I don't mind at all... as long as I am in front of Stu!

 

Quick trip down the M5 yesterday to pick up my new swaybars. Picked up a stone chip on the upper left of the windscreen to match the one on the upper right I got last month. Bugger! Might have to get one of those windscreen repairers to fix them up.

Sways getting fitted today together with wheel alignment (toe zero and neg camber to -1 and a 1/4). Can't wait to try it out. :D :D

 

Work is finished and paid for already ($220 to fit sways and perform wheel alignment - similar to what most other Sydney guys paid from what I can tell).

Why oh why couldn't they have waited until this arvo to tell me it was finished. What's the bet I find an excuse to leave early today!!!! :D :D

 

i will bet my ***** that you will LOVE it :D
taking it for a quickie to the palmmy?

 

Tempting but I'm still savouring the last trip and don't want to ruin it by driving there in what will be peak hour.

But McCarrs Creek might be, ahem, suitable entertainment.

<strokes his chin and emits evil chuckle>

 

First impressions from driving home last night and driving into work today:

Difficult to talk about at the limit driving because of the weather and peak hour traffic both times. However, body roll is noticeably reduced with no apparent reduction of ride comfort. Car feels flatter around corners and a little more secure.

Best test will be WPR this weekend because I was there only a month ago and tyre wear is about the same. Will see if I can hold more speed through any of the corners.

I've stuck the Whiteline 'test pilot' sticker on the back of my helmet!

BTW - crawled under the back and checked the back sway - is on 'tightest' setting (i.e. the bolts are through the inner hole). However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get an eyeball under the car far enough to check the front (guard hides it - either that or I've got a big head!). Will have to jack it up at the Nats to check it out.

One question - am I correct in thinking these are 'replacement' sways (i.e. the OEM sways are replaced by the Whiteline jobbies)?? If so, the people who fitted them still have my OEM sways.

Preliminary conclusion - a relatively inexpensive mod ($700 even all up, incl fitting and wheel alignment) that will give you increased speed where it counts and I would suggest a must if you're going to add more power via FI.

 

yep, told you so...
(love the new smilies)

yes, should get them back

 

Thanks.

just spoke to the dude who did the work - he's going to get them back to me.

BTW - he believes anything more than -0.75 camber is a worry for street use. Some guys have mentioned going to -1.25 to -1.5. This guy (a suspension specialist and Whiteline distributor) says he wouldn't take them that far as it would cause too much scrubbing, etc.

I know MACCAA disagrees with that advice. Anyone else with a view on max. neg camber for street use?

 

Just for those with morbid curiosity, I can report further since Wakefield is now done and dusted.

After all the street driving I've now done (which included some quickish corners on today's cruise through the southern highlands) I definitely believe the car is improved with no significant detriment to ride comfort. Car stays flatter through long sweepers and just feels more tied down generally.

First impressions on the track was that the firmer set-up was stretching the tyre grip at the (my? ) limit. Car felt like it was skating more through corner exits and DSC was working harder than my previous day there (last month). Kept pushing and improved my times by about 1.7 sec per lap but hard to tell whether that was down to more experience or better handling.

My own amateurish conclusion is that you would get the best out of these swaybars on the track by fitting better rubber such as semi-slicks and driving with DSC off. However, I'm still too much a track beginner to try the latter yet and as for the former - hmm, maybe I do need those replacement rims afterall!!!

P.S. slightly off-topic but I can't say enough about the RP short shifter (sourced through Hymee). Magnificent improvement and didn't miss a gear all day yesterday. Just feels so intuitive - best $400 I've spent on the car so far. And thanks again Gomez for fitting it for me - you're a champion.

 

I noticed the whiteline front sway bar has the same diameter size as the stock, so what's exactly the benefit of replacing the stock front sway bar with the whiteline ones?

 

It's solid, not hollow. Solid bars are 33%-44% stiffer for a given diameter using 'same-as-OEM' arm length mounting holes. Of course you can get the Whitline's as adjustable (or not) for added flexibility in tuning (giving more or less stiffness depending on which holes are used for the links).

The only downside to these is their weight is more - 12.6lbs vs OEM 5.8lbs adding ~1/2lb unsprung weight per wheel, the rest being sprung weight.

 

...which of course leads to buying lighter rims, etc, etc, etc...

 

Black-8,

The OEM front swaybar is 26.6mm (hollow with a wall thickness of 3.5mm), the dimensions of this swaybar, equate to a solid equivalent of 24.6mm.

By fitting the 27mm Whiteline front swaybar, #BMF49, you are effectively gaining an increase in swaybar rate of approximately 50%.
If you are to fit the adjustable front swaybar, #BMF49Z (2-hole adjustable), you can set the sway bar rates to an increase of approximately 30% on soft setting and 70% on the stiffest setting.

I hope this helps you.

Cheers
Wayne C

 

Thanks Wayne.

There you go Black 8 - straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak ).

Buy 'em - you won't regret it.

 

I am waiting on Whiteline to bring out a front brace ! Anything on the cards Wayne?

 

Auzoom,

Unfortunately nothing on the agenda at this point of time.

Wayne C

 

Does the MS brace not appeal Andrew or were you hoping for a cheaper local alternative?

 

Ha Ha..Watch who you are calling cheap joking... No more interested in the AutoExe one but yes I was looking for a local one. Will always buy local over import if it makes sense

 

Thanks Wayne! It's good to have the manufacturer respond to your queries

 

hehehe, why do you think I bought their sways.