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Rear sway bar End Links ?

scott59

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Southern Arizona
Car(s)
2019 GTI S 6MT
I'm having a similar issue. When I install mine last weekend I didn't have a thin wrench to tighten the inner bolt on the end link. I did the best I could but the passenger side end link came loose a couple times during the week.
Got a thin wrench set yesterday and this morning I backed the nut off, put some blue lock tight on and tightened it down, hopefully for the last time.
It is kinda hard to get good leverage under the car (on ramps). Time will tell.
 

DarkArrow

Drag Racing Champion
Location
OC
Car(s)
'18 R
Well my solution didn't last long. Went for a drive this afternoon and have the same popping noise as before, and the car feels noticeably floaty. Clearly something isn't right with the sway bar. Has anyone else had similar issues with their rear sway bar install not going smoothly? I can't imagine it's normal to keep having to tighten down the endlinks every couple of weeks. Any permanent solutions or advice? The sway bar feels GREAT for the few days that everything stays tight down there...

If the endlink nut is slightly loose, it shouldn't make the car feel floaty. The swaybar will still ben doing it's job as long as the link is still connected to the bar. It's either in your head or you have something else wrong with the car. I had the same clunking issue from a loosening nut and bought some lock nuts on eBay which kept it tight.
 

Ridebjj

Autocross Champion
Location
lasVegas
I did moogs two weeks ago for my ST bar and I just used a regular thickness 18mm (or whatever size it was) wrench to hold the inner nut. It was close, but there was enough room to get it in and back out. Definitely didn't need a cone wrench level thick tool in there.

350 miles and a lot of very aggressive turns later and everything is still quiet.
 

mk7_bk

Autocross Champion
^ this, I had lil chunks and pops before, I had car on lift, lowered and had a long jack to give the suspension some resistance (be careful), then had torque wrench on the outer nut and 18mm on inner, torque to spec, never had sound again 1 year later or whatever.
 

mrd8cd

Ready to race!
Location
St. Louis, MO
How are you guys fitting a torque wrench on the 15mm end link nut? The springs are in the way for me.
 

NopeR

Autocross Champion
Car(s)
18 Golf R
Installing the endlinks on the bar before mounting it makes this whole process a non issue.
 

scott59

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Southern Arizona
Car(s)
2019 GTI S 6MT
I didn't use torque wrench. Not having good leverage under the car and my skinny arms, I just gave it all I got, don't think I was in danger of striping anything.
 

Ridebjj

Autocross Champion
Location
lasVegas
I didn't use torque wrench. Not having good leverage under the car and my skinny arms, I just gave it all I got, don't think I was in danger of striping anything.

Same (but normal arms). Regular wrench, locktite and crank it. I load the suspension a bit by putting a jack under the arm, which I either read is advisable to do, or I just made it up in my head spontaneously.

Either way, I've done it this way twice. Once when installing stock links back onto a bigger rsb and again when swapping said links to moogs. The former were still perfect after 9k miles.
 

Faceman

Autocross Newbie
Location
Long Island
Car(s)
'17 GSW 4Mo
when the car is lifted, the springs are not in the way,
IIRC the car should not be lifted when installing the RSB.
 

xXDavidCXx

Autocross Champion
Location
AZ
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
IIRC the car should not be lifted when installing the RSB.
The car should not be lifted when installing the end-links, and ideally, at least one of the end-links is adjustable.

The extra room is nice, plus you have to at least drop the exhaust to fit the sway bar in there.
 

EricsVdub

Go Kart Champion
Location
Chicago 'burbs
Car(s)
2019 GTI SE Exp pkg
An anti roll bar is just a torsion spring. It connects to the chassis at two points, and to opposite sides of the suspensions at the end of the lever arms (bends at the ends of the bar). In a corner, chassis weight shifts to the outside of the car away from the inside. That causes the outside suspension to compress, while the inside extends. The anti roll bars job is to tie the two sides of the suspension together, and resist them going in different directions by twisting the bar via the lever arms moving in different directions (torsion). The end links connect the lever arms to the control arms. You can imagine that as the suspension moves around constantly, if the end links aren't sufficiently tightened at all points, they will make noise as the suspension is constantly moving, particularly when not evenly between each side (i.e. cornering, driveway or speed bump on an angle, etc.) The stock links should be fine for all but the thickest bars, or severest usage. Adjustable length end links are only needed for applications with adjustable ride heights to avoid preloading the bar in case the heights are different between the sides. They add an additional point that must be sufficiently tightened to avoid noise. All end link types should be tightened with the suspension under load.
 

Desslok

Autocross Champion
Location
PA
Car(s)
2019 Rabbit
I didn't use torque wrench. Not having good leverage under the car and my skinny arms, I just gave it all I got, don't think I was in danger of striping anything.

Your name is Scott and you gave it all you got? That sounds familiar somehow.

scotty.jpg
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Installed my H&R on ramps and no need to drop exhaust...slides right in. I didn't install the end links off the car. Moog end links...I used a 18mm bicycle hub cone wrench to handle the inner nut and a 15mm open-ended wrench to crank the outer nut down. No torque wrench. Beat it up good in the mountains this weekend and checked them today...tight.
 
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