944 Lachlan

What would these do to NVH?

odonnell

Not much. The job of the sway bar is to hold the 2 sides somewhat equal to each other, depending on the sizing. NVH from the sway goes to where it's mounted, which is on the torsion carrier (inner mounts) and via these links. The inner mounts have their own bushings, and after that, the torsion assembly is mounted to the chassis with bushings. The links connect to the spring plates, which again are damped via the spring plate bushings and the shocks. Like before, there are mounts even between those and the chassis.

So while these obviously aren't rubber like stock, NVH isn't a meaningful factor. I would guess that the factory used rubber because it's the ideal material for a production car - inexpensive and smooth. Plus they are expected to take twist loading as the sway is loaded, rubber does that by flexing the inner portion relative to the outer.

snb13

Are there any color choices for the boots or just black? Either way I think they're a good idea.

odonnell

Just black. They're made my the same manufacturer as the boots. I suppose you could order aftermarket ones.

Tiger03447

Dear Michael: count me in for all applicable boots for my set...(4 boots?) =20.00 more? OK by me..thanks for offering the boots..I was kinda wondering about that...any chance that the heim joints could be offered in stainless? I don't intend to drive my car in the slush and snow(but stuff happens). The boots sound good though..

odonnell

Bad news everyone - supplier is out of stock of the chromoly female rod ends took them 4 days to confirm. They will have more made by January. This leaves 3 options:

A) Go back to steel rod ends. These have a PTFE-lined race and per the original post, the weakest link is 3,315 lbs rated (4,124 lbs if chromoly male joints are used). These are still a lot better than the generic steel-on-steel industrial heim joints you see in many kits. They are self sealing and don't need grease.

B) Wait the 4 months for chromoly females. If I wait the 4 months, the price they quoted me for the females is more than I thought based on their previous correspondence. I'm looking at more than a grand investment, and these would cost $44 just for materials ($39 if no joint seals are used)...before tax and shipping are counted in. I would have to revisit the pricing, but I'm only adding in a few dollars per kit for my time and effort (slight modification is involved for people at stock ride height).

C) Find another supplier for the females. I have a few I'll send out a PO for quotation and will revert back. I don't anticipate their price being any better.

So I'd like to hear what folks would prefer. I'm leaning toward option A, these wouldn't be as capable as chromoly, but we're talking about a part that Porsche used rubber bushings for and doesn't see real-world failure. The limiting factor in this spherical design is the male threaded rod end - not the joints themselves. The stock parts are nothing special at that location.



Rich,
It would be $5 total for all 4 boots. Without the bulk pricing, they would be $16 + tax/shipping. So, may as well do it properly. I'm going to revise the original post later to reflect all the changes from it so far.

As far as stainless...I originally avoided them because they cost more and are not rated to a high load. Weakest part is rated to 2,295 lbs. The price premium is around $45 compared to chromoly and probably $35-40 compared to steel.

screamin94Z

I don't have a problem with the steel as I do primarily street driving, load rating is still sufficiently higher than what these would typically see. I also like the boots to ensure trouble free operation for a longer time. I ALSO don't mind waiting another few months since I won't be driving the car over the winter.

So basically, any way you choose I'm still interested

odonnell

Thanks for the input. I agree that steel is fine for at least a street car. I'm curious now what the high-end ($150+) aftermarket kits use. I'm guessing steel, I get no search results saying the material is anything special, just better quality parts to begin with. I'm also curious about how stock end links hold up in a track environment. Did Porsche use the stock style parts on the factory cup cars?

Open to more suggestions for the direction here. My rear suspension is removed right now so I'm personally motivated to buy in bulk now (I want the lower price too!) but I would rather replace them later if a different option is justified.

Tiger03447

Whichever way you decide to go, Michael, I'm in..and I will opt for the boots as well. I don't see my rig getting off the stands any time in the near future..so I'm patient with waiting...if that's the way the wind is blowing..

snb13

Boots for me and whatever is decided I'm good with.

Squid924

Option A makes sense....

But whatever you decide.

odonnell

So, found out 2 things today. The good one is that the Tarett end links are also steel with teflon linings. Same spec as used here, so that qualifies them to some extent. The bad one is that I got some specs in.... the revised links would end up being around 10mm longer than stock, due to the depth of the female threads.

Can anyone comment on the implications of running longer end links, as long as both sides are equal? 10mm longer. The entire sway would just be already a little lower at the ends. The factory setup is not really perpendicular, either... want to be sure this is ok. If not I'm going to look for alternatives. Otherwise I'd be cutting threads and all sorts of stuff I don't want to venture into.

Tiger03447

You might want to contact the vendor and see if they would do a special "run" for you. Seems that they would like to do that to save on the raw steel inventory. They're probably made on a CNC machine, which might require a mod to their programming. That is all that would be required. Just a thought...

944 Lachlan

I'd wait for the chrome moly

odonnell

Well.... I looked around a little more this week.

USA-made Chromoly links are possible via multiple/alternative suppliers. However, I'm losing bulk discounts on the female rod ends. Prices would be $65+shipping.

So just to get an honest head count, is anyone actually still interested at that price? I could go with steel at a lower price (maybe $45 after shipping for a set) but it seems like for not much more you could just buy some from a vendor. Although it's not clear if the ones at that price point use the same quality joints, i.e. Teflon lined versus steel on steel. These would include seals and safety washers. I'm kind of pissed off that I'm not able to find good quality metric parts locally to make these for great prices and I don't want to deal with cheap parts. 3/8" parts are close to M10 but will not fit over the eccentric toe bolt up top, plus there would be slight slop at the sway, closing off that possibility.