hacker-pschorr

If that's the case maybe we should steer these slightly wider bars towards those of us with track cars.

Chuck Schreiber

Mark, I figured you had some trick up your sleeve!

Chuck Schreiber

I did some measuring as well.

Stock bar is 44 inch outside edge to outside edge at drop link holes.

DR front Bar Version 1.0 on my 79 is 44 inch.
This bar also has what looks to be a concave curve in it toward the ends. If I remember correctly, this cool little curve is how DR managed the wider wheel/tire accomodation in the front. Great idea!!
I must say again, this bar transformed the handling of my 79!!!!

DR front Bar Version 2.0 that I just got is just a tick shy of 45 inch and looks like more of a straight shot to the ends vs the concave look of the bar on my 79.

I'm guessing these new front bars are made more for stock wheel/tire combos and not for extreme width setups like Roger's, Jim's, Sterling's etc?? That's a better questions for DR and Jeanie as I'm NO expert on this.

Brad W

Chuck, put your wheels on Rogers car and see if they rub. If they dont rub the you know it is the tire set up and 90% of the buyers should be fine.

SeanR

If it does rub, I'll buy it from you and modify it to fit my car. Been wanting one of these for years.

So, what is the plan for Friday? Just Bilstiens or are we doing the sways too? Need to pick up the new shaft clamps if we are, the guy got them in today.

ROG100

I guess I was hopeing the supplier would offer some help or insight.

I think a combination of spacer, bending and grinding should do the job.

A rough guess on wether the bar will work or not with your car and wheel combination is to measure between the two inside rims on the front. 51" won't work 52+" maybe.

hacker-pschorr

IMO this is really a non issue. I'm not trying to take sides, so I hope nobody takes it this way.

IMO a hand made, low production multi-bend, anti-roll bar that has a variance like this is a non issue. It's unfortunate for us the 928 has such tight quarters up front. A variance which would be a mile wide on most cars, is a slight rim rubber in our world.

I feel most around here have not dealt much with non-OEM performance parts. I've helped friends spend hours making what should be simple pieces fit. These were parts form major names, big $$$ items, that fit for sh*t (not talking 928 stuff here).

I love this community, but sometimes we are just a bit overboard. These bars are a work of hand made art and I cannot wait to get a set for my 81 (I'm holding out for Mike Simard to make me a copy of his front bar for my track car).

Hell, I'm thinking about ordering a couple sets to put in storage next to all the other 928 parts I may never use. Just in case I buy a 3rd car and want to upgrade the suspension.

ROG100

Well we tried adding two 3mm spacers to the front wheels. Increased distance between rims by approx. 1/2".
No go and still hits both wheels badly on close to full lock.

It looks like an 8" wide wheel with correct offsets is also going to have the same problem.

Looking more closley at the bar it may be possible to grind off 0.1" from each side.
Better still bending the bar inwards may help a lot bringing it back towards the original width of 44".
Jim has done some research and it looks like this may be possible but I will call addco to double check.

The handling with the new bars is awesome but I just have to make them fit without binding.

SeanR

ROG100

Hacker,
This is NOT a non issue but a serious issue and I am suprised you brush it off so lightly.
I will repeat - DR sway bars are the best and only option we have for our cars (I have tried the others). The handling is awesome apart from when you start to turn the wheel more than 70%. My car is a daily driver and yes I go to the shops, bank and post office. Have you ever tried parking without full lock?
I paid good money for an excellent product only to find the design had changed and that it does not fit my car when the original did. The inside of my $5k rims are now pretty badly gouged and the wear on the tire at 70% full lock is alarming and could cause a blow out.
I have called to ask DR for help but the promised return call has not happened after 4 days.
So no support from the supplier - OK I will have to live with that.
We are now finding that possibly an 8" wheel with the correct offset may also have a problem with binding. Hopefully we can do a test fit on Chuck's car tomorrow to confirm.
So what happens if they do not fit an 8" wheel?????????????
Would you suggest we all move to a 7" wheel?
Lets all buy them and stick them in the attic as an investment.
I don't follow your gist.
I am not taking sides but trying to help in my normal manner.
Not once have I flamed the supplier in any way but offered help by providing information to rectify an issue.
AGAIN - DR Sway Bars are the best - as long as I can get them to work on my car and I will one way or the other.

SeanR

Just measured the inner distance with the wheels straight, 51.something inches. Wheels are 8" with less than ideal offset (as were all the sets of wheels I've had) Don't think these will work for my car either.

Will measure Chucks when his car gets here in the morning. If his is like these two, he's going to pawn the bar off on me to see if I can modify it to fit my car and he will stick with the Ott links. I think if we took 1/2 inch off the knuckle we can make it work.

I don't think Hacker is taking it lightly, he has a different application for his, so it's a non issue for him.

auzivision

Just curious, has anyone out there successfully installed the recently rereleased version of the DR/Addco sway bar? Looks like procrastination (cough, lack of funds) may have paid off in this case. I sure hope they get this figured out because of all the rave reviews!

SeanR

Kurt, I know of several who have purchased and have not installed yet. One did, but doesn't want to talk about it here. There are three sets here in DFW and thus far I'm the only one who has installed. They have been waiting for me to figure this all out first.

A few people are afraid to chime in publicly due to it being a DR product and don't want it to sound like a Texas bash of them, which is not the case. Just trying to get our heads around it. Been wanting these bars for a long time.

AO

So your 9" wheel which has an offset of 78mm (just re-calculated it) and it rubs. From the face of the hub this extends 192 mm inward.

Adding a 3mm spacer to each side gives you effectively a 75mm offset, so now the inner edge of the wheel is 189 mm inboard. Still hits.

An 8" wheel with a proper 57mm offset extends inboard 158mm - a full 31mm or 1 1/4" less on each side.

If the new bars are a full inch wider (45" vs. 44") that means it should only protrude a 1/2" (13mm) out further on each side, right? Since Jim's does not rub with the older 44" wide bar, even with just 1mm clearance, that should mean any wheel that does not extend more than 178mm (192-13-1= 178)beyond the face of the hub, should be fine.

The Carrera III's with the 57mm offset sit about 158mm inboard, but with a 235 tire, the tire sits inboard about 174mm. So it "should" be fine with the newer bar.

I wish I had my car here. I'd go an measure the gap between the wheel and the bar at full lock just as a refernce point.

My suggestion to Roger is to to invite Jim over for a cocktail, and slip him something in his drinl to knock him out. Then while he's passed out, swap bars. Problem solved.

ROG100

The damage from less than 20 miles of driving