I have a 944 turbo with Leda adjustable coil overs and would like to upgrade my sway bars. My inner front wheel lifts during a hard corner. My spring rates in the rear are 550 lbs. I have narrowed it down to these two brands. Both seem very adjustable but would like some first hand experiences between them.

Thanks in advance.
Mark

 

I have a Tarrett front bar and Weltmeister rear. Both work great. The Tarrett is a beautiful piece of work but, for the function of it, is it worth the premium price? Probably not for the street. The Weltmeisters do their job just fine and you can save a few dollars for other toys!

 

Welts are much heavier if that matters to you.

 

A lot of guys i race with say the the Taretts are overkill for a 944 and that the Weltmeisters are fine.
I personally use the Weltmeisters with coilovers/torsion bar delete and 750lb rear and 550 front springs ,it works well
for my application !
I have the Tarett swaybars on my 911 and they are a nice piece of work ...

Cheers
Phil

 

2nd

 

I used to have Tarett's. Great piece of work, but overkill on an Atmo 944. And they remove a lot of feel you get from the front wheels. Actually, there is virtualy no feel coming from the front end when they are installed.

Weiltmeisters are heavier, but they work fine.

Street or race?

c.

 

I have had the Weltmeisters on my car almost since new. The bars are quite heavy, and there are different opinions as to whether that's okay, or alternatively one should use lighter bars with more springing in other contributors (coil overs, torsion bars).

If you use the Weltmeisters and drive hard, several suggestions:
- The tubes that locate the long M8 bolts to the frame rail on either side put a high point pressure on the frame rail and will crack them. Trim them by say 1/4" on a lathe, and insert a pillow block (1/4" steel strip) between the tubes and the frame rail.
- Use shaft collars on the bars to keep them centered, for example at the front by locating the shaft collars hard up against the bushings.
- Use the "upgraded" drop links with heim joints at each end, but...
- Ditch the Weltmeister heim joints and hardware (nuts, bolts) and replace with good quality Aurora (for example) heim joints and AN bolts, nuts, and washers. I use conical "safety washers" (available from Pegasus Racing) between the drop link U-tab and on either side of the heim's ball joint to let them articulate. Baker Precision is a good, inexpensive source for quality heim joints and many other things.
- Line up the heim joints with the suspension loaded, else they will break even when good quality parts used. Make sure they are aligned so that the load is coaxial with the heim's threaded section.
- You can make a "solid" rear drop link by threading a female 1/2" heim into a 1/2" x 7/16" 'oversized' heim. Piece of cake.

Good luck!

 

Anyone have any experience using the Racers Edge blade front sway bar?

I can't seem to find in reviews of it vs. these other setups.

 

The Weltmeister front is a 28mm bar, correct? Is that 28mm "effective" at full soft, full hard, or in the middle? In other words, how does its roll stiffness compare to the non-adjustable OE 26.8mm/29mm bars?

BTW, has anyone actually weighed either of these bars?

 

Mel, it's a 28 mm (actually 1-1/8") bar at the front. You can adjust by moving the drop link. I can't compare it to the Porsche parts, have not used them.

 

Thanks, Kevin.

 

I have used both extensively in Spec racing. In a Spec car, where spring rates are limited, stiff bars can be quite useful to limit roll.

Tarrets are very nicely made, and are light, as mentioned. When you run the front bars stiff, we've had some trouble with repeated cracking of the front brackets. It's important to adjust the end links to get them as close to vertical as possible. Even so, some angulation occurs, and this works the bracket fore and aft a bit. If you don't pay attention to keeping the drop links the correct length for the setting the bar is at, the angulation can get extreme (I've seen 45 degrees). This puts a lot of fore/aft stress on the brackets (and the suspension).

The Weltmeisters tend to knock the brackets off of the rear bar, and grind down the low hanging rear hardware. Split collars can help take the abuse, and keep the bracket located in the rear. Split collars are needed to keep the front from walking, as well. They are heavy, but the weight rides low. It's also agree that a plate on the front over the bolt collars is a good idea. Factory bars can work hole in the frame as well.

Both are effective options.

 

Mark, in response to your PM about the pillow blocks, hope the following clarifies. The tubes to be shortened are labeled "CC" in Weltmeister's installation instructions:



Shorten the tubes by the thickness of the pillow block. I used 1/4" thick steel flat stock, between the top of the tubes and the chassis frame rail. Not a great photo, but here's what they look like installed:




Hope this helps.

 

Kevin,

It does help...very much appreciated.

Mark

 

I just weighed my Weltmeisters. Front bar is 17 pounds, rear is 9. This is without mounting hardware, end links, etc, just the bars themselves.