Source of bad ride and understeer with lowered car solved

[Jesse IL]

I have a Tein SS system on my car and always felt that the front end rode very harshly and that the car was prone to understeer, regardless of having a ST rear anti-roll bar. I believe I solved the problem, which would affect any lowered car. It seems that under compression, the anti-roll bar was hitting somewhere. I can feel marks on both ends of the bar from this. If the bar were to contact something, it would raise the effective spring rate in the front suspemsion considerably, causing the harsh ride and understeer. After lengthening the sway bar end links, my car rides and handles much better. I would suggest everyone who has a lowered car check for this and possibly get some aftermarket endlinks to solve the problem.

[HilfigerCelica]

What kind of endlinks are they and where'd you get them from?

[Blue Bomber]

I think the SS come with new adjustable front endlinks. And they don't have those crappy hex nut holes either. :)

[FoolioABC]

How long did you make your endlinks? Currently I have mine set at a length so that when the car is off the ground they slide right into the hole on the shock, and can fall out if i don't put the nut on. (I have Tein SS as well.) I also I have a Hotchkis competition sway bars (front and back)
Oh yeah, also what is the torque specifications for the endlinks?

[modenaplz]

hmmm, i don't think i have harsh ride/understeer problems. is this speciifc to TEIN owners? i have hotchkis street sways and hotchkis springs on tokico blues.

[00CericaRuss]

my front sway rubs a bit too (i didn't even notice it till the mechanic at toyota showed it to me w/my engine out of the car) but yeah... i have tein ha's and the ride is stiff, but i wouldn't go as far to say harsh unless i have my 18's on.

looks like i need to adjust my endlink too

[Jesse IL]

I have no idea how long they are. They were adjusted longer than stock to begin with, and now I turned them three more revolutions out. The Tein SS system comes with front adjustable endlinks. What I want to do is be able to get under the car with the wheels still on the ground and see what kind of clearance I have. Next time I stop by and see my friend who works at Just Tires, I'm gonna throw the car on the alignment rack and raise it up and have a peek under it.

[Jesse IL]

Originally posted by modenaplz
hmmm, i don't think i have harsh ride/understeer problems. is this speciifc to TEIN owners? i have hotchkis street sways and hotchkis springs on tokico blues.

The more I think about it, the more I think the problem might be specific to Tein. The shock bodies on the Tein system are significantly shorter than stock, giving alot more compression travel. This would necessitate longer endlinks so that the sway bar doesn't hit anything.

[Throttle]

Not Tein specific because my car is slightly lowered with Eibach springs and my front TRD sway bar rubs on the drivers side. Took me months to figure out where the noise was coming from. I resolved it with adjustable end links except I adjusted mine shorter than stock to bring the swaybar arm up so it was parallel with the ground. From what I read this is the proper setting for neutral handling with no preload. This gave me the clearance I needed and I also ground about 1/16" off the metal arm that the bar was rubbing against.