Adjustable Endlinks Neccessary?

[Kcyrusm]

Hey guys. I've been seeing comments and comercial sales for adjustable endlinks recently. I understand you'd want to keep the proper geometry of the suspension after lowering modifications, but how neccessary are these adjustable endlinks for a our beloved 1 series vehicles with a moderate drop?

HPA touts about them because they sell them, but I'd like to hear more opinions on the matter. I'm about to install KW v2's and the e93 front sway bar. I want to know if I should hold off on the install and get the adj. endlinks or not bother with them until later on in the future if I really find a need for them.

Who's running them? Who has suspension expertise that can shed better light on this?

[ucbsupafly]

I am currently runing KW V2s, Vorshlag camber plates, and M3 front sway. The car is lowered 0.5 inches all the way around. With such moderate drop in ride height, I didn't get the adjustable endlinks and just reused the stock ones. Couple thousand miles so far and every thing seem fine.

So to answer your question, adjustable endlinks are nice to have, but not necessary on a moderately lowered car.

[moveswiftly]

Originally Posted by ucbsupafly

So to answer your question, adjustable endlinks are nice to have, but not necessary on a moderately lowered car.

+1

[Kcyrusm]

Thanks for the quick responses I guess I don't need to wait and get them then. I'm just "a little" excited for install my suspension stuff, haha.

[IGoFast1589]

Adjustable end links are useful for preloading the suspension. So if you want to corner balance your car then they are crucial. If you want to fix the geometry of your suspension from lowering you will likely need to replace other components to do so, not the end links. You would likely need to alter the mounting points of suspension components and or the lengths of the arms and links to do a "true" fix of the geometry. Different end links don't really change the way cornering forces are fed into the suspension, they can correct the positioning of the sway bar, but I don't really think much beyond that. Any skilled engineers out there that know better than I?

[IGoFast1589]

Originally Posted by TrackRat

Adjustable end links are used primarily to prevent preloading one side of the car when it's lowered and weight balanced which usually means one side of the car is slightly lower than the other due to weight distribution. Without adjustable links you preload one side which is not ideal unless you're only turning in one direction. Adjustable links also keep the ARB in the proper horizontal plane so it produces the correct result. It it's anlged from it's proper plane the roll-rate change is effected by the angle.

Yup, there it is. Well said. I don't really think the weight difference from corner to corner is going to be enough to affect the static ride height significantly though. Even if the corner weights were way off I still don't think it would. I mean, if you are looking at the front end corner weights of a car I haven't really seen a difference greater than 75 lbs. Have you?

Some of you guys could most likely feel the difference if you were really in touch with the balance of the car, but I don't think the average Joe would really be able to tell. I've personally never driven a car where the corner weights were really messed up from what they should be.

[IGoFast1589]

Originally Posted by TrackRat

It depends on a lot of factors. Spring rates, ARB sizes, cornering force, etc. all impact the handling. The point is ideally you don't want preload on the ARB and you want it in the proper plane where it was designed to operate. Adjustable drop links allow you put the suspension components in there proper relationship.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

[GaryS]

Come on, someone install the adjustable endlinks and post a review.

[spiral]

I'll be installing coilovers and dropping the car about 1.2 inches. Am I ok using the stock end links if I want to install the e93 bar?

[Frampton]

i just corner balanced my car on saturday on TCKline coilovers. Not sure how low my drop is but it looks to be about an inch all around. I still have zero preload on my m3 vert fsb and stock rsb. Adjustable endlinks are a nice to have at this point but not required.

[romak47]

im lowered on kwv2 about an inch or more. fairly low actually.

Every time i go over even small bumps at 5 mph i get squeeky noises like rubber squeeking. You think its my endlink bushings makin that noise? im wondering if i should get 11.5" adjustable endlinks or 12" ones.
Anyone have experience?
Cause im thinking i want about and inch adjustable longer than stock, if thats adequate.
And im hoping the new bushings on it may help w/ squeekz

[Bdh821]

I need adjustable end links... my M3 swaybar makes a lot of noise. I'm not sure how much I'm lowered, but my tires are flush with my fender...

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by IGoFast1589

Adjustable end links are useful for preloading the suspension. So if you want to corner balance your car then they are crucial. If you want to fix the geometry of your suspension from lowering you will likely need to replace other components to do so, not the end links. You would likely need to alter the mounting points of suspension components and or the lengths of the arms and links to do a "true" fix of the geometry. Different end links don't really change the way cornering forces are fed into the suspension, they can correct the positioning of the sway bar, but I don't really think much beyond that. Any skilled engineers out there that know better than I?

The geometry we are fixing here isn't on any of the control arms, not altering pickup points, but rather the anti roll bar geometry. Whe we lower a car the anti roll bar is moved from a more ideal geometry to somewhat of an offset. What we are shooting for here is to get the anti roll bar frame mounting and the endlink mounting points to the same horizontal plane.

Originally Posted by IGoFast1589

Yup, there it is. Well said. I don't really think the weight difference from corner to corner is going to be enough to affect the static ride height significantly though. Even if the corner weights were way off I still don't think it would. I mean, if you are looking at the front end corner weights of a car I haven't really seen a difference greater than 75 lbs. Have you?

.

If you have just installed coilovers you are likely to differ more than 75 lbs if you set the ride height of the vehicle to what you thought would look the best.

[TC Kline Racing]

Originally Posted by Frampton

i just corner balanced my car on saturday on TCKline coilovers. Not sure how low my drop is but it looks to be about an inch all around. I still have zero preload on my m3 vert fsb and stock rsb. Adjustable endlinks are a nice to have at this point but not required.

This is correct, because the 'tabs' on the TC Kline coilovers have been moved to align with the stock endlinks so you get more of that 'horizontal' orientation that Harold is talking about above.

That is one plus about the TCK coilovers, is that we take into account for the endlinks and move the tabs to be in line with OEM struts. If you compare a stock front strut to a TCK front strut you will see that the mounting 'tabs' for the endlinks are almost in the exact same position.