[Binji]

Eibach front ARB went on the car this week and this is how it looks now on the left side. Is it just me or does that look a bit too close? The other picture is how it looks from the right side.

 

[115686]

I'll have a look at my 156, but think that may be on upside down.

 

[sprint_veloce]

Just checked against my 156 with std bar (just refitted with new bushes) and yours doesn't look to be upside down. At full droop there is about 10mm clearance between the underneath of the bar and the top of the lower wishbone.

 

[Binji]

My mechanic says it's impossible to turn it upside down. I guess the steering rack does get in the way otherwise. Clearance is a couple of milimeters at best though. Barely a milimeter on the left side...

 

[FoxtrotOscar]

They always look really close when the car is up on a ramp with the suspension hanging; once it's back on the ground, have another look and you should have plenty of clearance.

 

[Pud237]

When the suspension is at full droop, that is when you have the least clearance.

That being said, I tried to fit one on my car yesterday and it was hard up against the bottom wishbones on both sides which is clearly not right. There was clearance when the suspension was jacked up but it should be clear all the time. For what its worth, wishbones were brand new TRWs as were the droplinks.

I put the GTA roll bar back on instead with new Powerflex bushes and had about 10mm clearance at full droop - but considering the Eibach roll bar is only 3mm fatter than a GTA bar you should only have 1.5mm less clearance than with a GTA bar.

I've got two more sets of Eibach roll bars so will measure them all and see if it is possibly a manufacturing defect. If it is then they'll all have to go back to supplier, or I'll try and source some droplinks about 10mm shorter to pull the bar up. I'm just glad its my own car and not a customer's car.

 

[Binji]

Thanks pud. They were far too much money for this kind of issues...
I am surprised noone else with Eibachs complained about this.

 

[Gertie]

I have put on Eibach ARB's LOOONG ago, I cannot remember that being an issue, I had the car lowered on coil overs before, now i have it on GTA springs, I'll double check the current clearance.

 

[Pud237]

Thanks pud. They were far too much money for this kind of issues...
I am surprised noone else with Eibachs complained about this.

They make them in batches - I guess yours and mine are from the same batch. I wonder if we will hear of more being faulty?

If your bar is installed and subframe fully bolted back up, then the easiest thing to do might be to modify your droplinks so the roll bar can be rotated up a little to be away from the bottom arms. You could cut 10mm from the middle, put a steel sleeve over either end and then weld them back together. Not ideal, but if you're paying someone to drop the subframe again to put your old roll bar back on then this would be way cheaper.

 

[Binji]

I got them from the last batch that arrived on alfisti.net. I guess if they really are faulty we would need to prove that somehow. How is that possible though? If they are being reguarly produced its surely hard to mess them up this much? I really dislike having to modify the droplinks for them to fit.
Please let me know if you find out anything more.

Gertie I'd be very interested in your findings

 

[Pud237]

How much clearance do you have with the wheels on the ground by the way?

 

[Binji]

Actually I don't know since the car is yet to be completely assembled I should find out in a few days.

 

[halftone]

Perhaps worth asking this lot if they have anything of suitable length and fitting. JOM Drop Links

 

[Gertie]

I got them from the last batch that arrived on alfisti.net. I guess if they really are faulty we would need to prove that somehow. How is that possible though? If they are being reguarly produced its surely hard to mess them up this much? I really dislike having to modify the droplinks for them to fit.
Please let me know if you find out anything more.

Gertie I'd be very interested in your findings

Just checked against my 156 with std bar (just refitted with new bushes) and yours doesn't look to be upside down. At full droop there is about 10mm clearance between the underneath of the bar and the top of the lower wishbone.

Pretty much what sprint veloce said - at full droop I can just get my index finger in flat - I measured 11mm at the smallest gap. When I jack the suspension up to where it sits normally - I can just fit my index finger side ways - I measured 17mm gap

 

[Pud237]

Pretty much what sprint veloce said - at full droop I can just get my index finger in flat - I measured 11mm at the smallest gap. When I jack the suspension up to where it sits normally - I can just fit my index finger side ways - I measured 17mm gap

That sounds about right. I've fitted probably 5 pairs in the last year, this is the only time I've had a problem with them.

 

[Binji]

Gertie thanks.

What are you planning to do now Pud?

 

[mj2k]

Pretty much what sprint veloce said - at full droop I can just get my index finger in flat - I measured 11mm at the smallest gap. When I jack the suspension up to where it sits normally - I can just fit my index finger side ways - I measured 17mm gap

Lol! Noooooo!

I'm just reassembling the front suspension and haven't got the lower arms on yet, so when I looked at the first pictures in the thread, I 'realized' my arb was on upside-down. I dropped the subframe, turned it over, bolted it back together thinking it looked a bit weird, and just noticed from your pic I'd got it the right way round to begin with! aperbag: To be clear, the arb should curve downwards, away from the steering arm shouldn't it?

BTW could it be anything to do with the drop links being too long, assuming everyone's using the non-original heavy duty ones?

Edit: Well, that was 4 hours well spent :tired: But at least it's the right way round now. I'll post a picture of one side when I get a chance so you can see if it looks any different; mine's an ex-display set from Germany with a few scratches, and was one of the previous batch.

 

[Pud237]

Lol! Noooooo!

I'm just reassembling the front suspension and haven't got the lower arms on yet, so when I looked at the first pictures in the thread, I 'realized' my arb was on upside-down. I dropped the subframe, turned it over, bolted it back together thinking it looked a bit weird, and just noticed from your pic I'd got it the right way round to begin with! aperbag: To be clear, the arb should curve downwards, away from the steering arm shouldn't it?

BTW could it be anything to do with the drop links being too long, assuming everyone's using the non-original heavy duty ones?

I'm using original TRW droplinks, which are the same length as the ones I took off.

 

[sprint_veloce]

Adjustable length drop links might be a simple solution. Should have mentioned that's what's fitted to my car, but they're set to the same length as original.

 

[Pud237]

Gertie thanks.

What are you planning to do now Pud?

Not sure really. I'm starting to regret dropping the subframe again and putting the GTA roll bar back in. Should have just pushed the car outside and sourced/modified some droplinks to make it fit. Really cba dropping the subframe a third time to put the Eibach roll bar back in.


Sprint_Veloce, where did you get the adjustable length droplinks from?