Front E30 sway bars

[darrencnz 10]

Hey people

Whats the general consensus with aftermarket E30 front sway bars? I replaced the old rubber bushes with urethane ones and noticed the horrible mounting system and the whole setup just looks terrible, its as though the sway bar pulls the bushing and would ideally like a better system.

Also, what different sizes are available and what are most people using?

I've seen setups where the sway bar links are connected to the strut rather than the lower arm, whats peoples opinion on this?

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2122]

I've seen setups where the sway bar links are connected to the strut rather than the lower arm, whats peoples opinion on this?

not sure on the E30 M3, but certianly how the E36 M3 is setup, as opposed to all other E36 which is on the control arm

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2914]

E30 M3 front sway bar links up to the strut, not sure of the merits over the control arm connection.

[darrencnz 10]

Merit is in connecting the sway bar to the strut

Gearing is then 1:1 i.e 10mm of wheel/ strut movement means 10mm of sway bar action

When connected to the lower control arm in the same manner as the E36 then the gearing is approximately 2:1 i.e 10mm of wheel/strut movement translates into 5mm of sway bar action , so the sway bar is effectively running at half power , the other issue is any slop in joints and bushes is a big loss in action

e.g 3mm bush / joint loss in strut linked systems leaves 7mm bar action whereas control arm link results in 5-3 or 2mm of strut action or basically nothing.

I converted my 328 to the M3 set up and went from a 26mm bar to a 23.5 and it is 60% stiffer and MUCH faster acting than the old one- pretty sure a few others have done this as well.

This is really interesting, thanks... I just noticed when replacing all the bushes that the setup seemed a bit of an after thought, especially the mounting system to the lower control arm and where the sway bar mounts to the front cross member... As i mentioned in my original post, its seems the sway bar is pulling the bushing forward as though it doesn't fit correctly...

Can the M3 system be adapted easily to a non M3 car, to me, it seems that all you would need to do is get the mounting system welded to the strut in the correct position and then get the adjustable linkages (which are easy to source)

Another benefit i read was that doing it this way, allows you to "preload" or set the sway bar to be parallel to the ground in a lowered car as it would usually be at standard height and therefor would function better... but im no expert...