Swaybars

#1

Has any run the UCC Motorwerks bars? Better or am good asmthe Irelands?

#2

Meant to say; as good as the Irelands? Fingers are not working tonight.

#3

BimmerWorld has a new F&R bar coming out soon (ie within a few weeks) I believe. Should be better than what is available now.

#4

Jimmy, Help me understand how anything could be better than what we have? The damn thing just sits there between the shock towers maintaining the space that should be. What makes it better?

#5

The mounting hardware is what I’ve complained about but I think there are some other benefits as well. Those clamp fit brackets will wear out given time.

Personally I have two hose clamps on either end in the rear and safety wire holding them tight. It works but you have to keep an eye on them. Before that I’ve noticed sudden dramatic understeer only to look under the car to find the bracket had slipped off.

I like the infinite adjustablility but that is a downside of the IE bar.

I’ll ping James he can describe / give a better product description that I can.

From the home office:
In production now, should be shipping shortly. Front will fit a large majority of headers (generic E30 not spec specific issue). And can be drilled for additional adjustment (also generic E30 not spec specfic). Rear is the ONLY bar with the proper geometry that doesn’t droop limit the suspension when stiffened.

#6

Gasman - swaybars (aka stabilizer bars. anti-roll bars), not stress bars (strut bar, etc).

I have no experience with the UUC bars, but the Ireland is decent… but… A couple of problems make Ireland’s less than desirable. First, if you tighten it too far (rear), as James wrote, it’s “droop limited” meaning when you put the car back down, the links will flop over and bend/break. And second, as Robinson mentioned, those aluminum clamp blocks will wear out and start to loosen/break as well.

#7

I agree the IE bar has limits and you do have to beware of droop problems. That is why I was looking around for some alternatives. Anyone ever use the Suspension Techniques setup? An infinite adjustability usually can not be felt by the driver, so adjusting holes are fine with me.

#8

I’d be interested to hear if anyone runs the rear bar stiff enough that droop limiting is a problem. I find that I tend to run mine full soft at pretty much all the tracks.

The real hot package is going to be the DeVinney Engineering® sway bar assortment (patent pending). Since the rules only define the bar diameter, I am working on several different bar lengths (i.e. longer and shorter ‘legs’ of the U) to come up with adjustment for the front bar.

Sure, swapping in and out a whole bar is a pain, but if it’s the only way to get adjustability…

14 sets will be available to the public.:wink:

#9

you have to keep the same bar mounting locations, and there are limits on the angle from the bar to the hanger attachment point, so how much can you vary the lever-arm length?
bruce

#10

DeVinney, you are soft, so it fits your profile.

I’d drive with mine stiffer if I could (thats what she said), but no can do.

#11

leggwork wrote:

[quote]you have to keep the same bar mounting locations, and there are limits on the angle from the bar to the hanger attachment point, so how much can you vary the lever-arm length?
bruce[/quote]
There are limits on the angle if your link is a typical straight heim-jointed, barrel-adjuster style. My bars will come with somewhat unconventional “links provided with the bars from the manufacturer.” :wink:

PS - Geegar - I am surprised you can even run with your bar hooked up given the power of that cheater motor. :woohoo:

PPS - At this point, my posts are tongue-in-cheek. If the commercial real estate market comes back, I’m going to prototype some softer front bars. Should be a good race between the rule loophole closing and the market improving. :laugh:

#12

I’ve not used the Ireland bars personally - for many reasons - but I’ve been selling/installing the UUC bars since early last year when they came out. Prior to that I dealt with the Suspension Techniques set up. They are far and away much better than the ST bars. There are several key features which make them a much better deal than the ST specifically.

  1. A complete kit including front and rear links and ALL reinforcements. The ST kit does not include the trunk area reinforcement so you end up buying that separate and the ST kit costs more for less adjustment, no front links, lower quality rear links, and fewer features.
    1a. We at Elephant include the better type of rear trailing arm reinforcement as well, the style that attaches up the vertical portion of the arm instead of just the flat triangle.
  2. The UUC kit is very easy to install, even the rear. Because of the style of mounting bracket, it is installed loosely and then tightened. For anyone who has installed an ST kit this is MUCH easier than trying to get one side started only to have not enough room on the other to get it started. Gawd I hate that sh!t. The UUC kit is an easy one man operation and I’ve received the same feedback from other shops installing them.
  3. The UUC kit uses Aurora heim joints in both the front and rear links. They seemed quite nice and so far have been quite sturdy.
  4. The UUC front bar has their typical positive stops on either end such that lateral motion is limited. This is a really nice feature and it really matters. The rear does not but it has no room on either side due to the bend.
  5. The rear bar has 3 positions of adjustment.

So overall the UUC kits costs more but in the end it costs less than at least the ST kit as it features all the extra parts you’d end up buying anyway. And it’s a much better design to boot. From what I know of IE bars the UUC kit is similar pricewise but from what I’ve seen it’s much better done overall.

As for the incremental (not infinite) adjustment of the slider type…that’s a really neat feature but consider the actual value in that. First, we all understand that no one at this level will actually be able to notice the difference in say, 0.5" of adjustment one way or the other. Second, if you look at the contribution to roll couple distribution overall of the rear bar stiffness…um yeah, if you can feel that, SpecE30 is well beneath your calling. ; )

For me personally as an engineer, I’d have to see a strong sample size showing the variation in rate of the IE sway bars for a given mounting position for me to believe that the incremental adjustment is consistent and repeatable. It’s a neat idea but I don’t see the value in this application, too many variables.

As for droop…the UUC rear bar allows for quite a bit of droop but I did not notice any particular issues. The links didn’t bind up. The droop is limited by how far down the bar can turn and then the link length but I’ve not seen any problems with it.

Anyway, overall the UUC kit is very well done. It’s very complete and it utilizes good quality parts with some nice features. Very easy to install, excellent instructions, definitely top notch.

Hope that helps. Cheers.

#13

I installed a set of UUC swaybars over the winter break and was able to test them at Roebling Road last weekend. Was very pleased with the upgrade in performance over my previous bars and the ease of installation.

#14

epalacio19 wrote:

What bars were you using before the UUC upgrade?

Jason

#15

mahoneyj wrote:

[quote]epalacio19 wrote:

What bars were you using before the UUC upgrade?

Jason[/quote]

Previously had the ST bars.

#16

what kind of upgrade in performance given that they’re the same diameter bars?
thanks
bruce

#17

Jack,

You are a good salesman! I am in the market for a set of sways for my spec e30 build and was convinced that I was going to buy the IE set. I’m glad I waited! Now, you have me reconsidering and pondering plunking down the cabbage for the UUC set. I even like the name…swaybarbarian. It connotates the idea of extreme strength :lol: Remember Conan the barbarian?

#18

When using the ST bars I had some issues with the control arm tab and end links. I ended up breaking both of the over the course of two trips to CMP. Going into the 5,6,7 complex and having ungodly understeer was not a personal favorite of mine. I ended up buying a reinforcement for the tab I broke only to find out after the next trip had the end link broke that next weekend. So I ended up picking a set of UUC bars, with these heavy duty looking end links,up and noticed an interesting thing with the bushing that connect to the chassis. You could see where the grease that had been between the bushing and bar had been about an inch on either side of where the bushing was located. It looked as if the bar had been sliding while under load. Reading about the UUC bars they actually have a stop guide to prevent the sliding. For the rear bars the bar turns down and acts as its own stop. Apparently when the bar slides it reduces the stiffness of the bar and loads up one side of the car more than other. With the stop,or bar acting as the stop, the bar stays in place and stiffness is kept. I was able to bolt up to the UUC bar to where the ST bar was hooked up (regarding the holes) and felt a slight increase in the rear stiffness and the car felt great midcorner and on acceleration around the swooping RRR. With these cars rolling as much as they do I guess every little bit helps to combat it.

#19

interesting, thanks

#20

Just ordered a UUC swaybar, together with some other in house parts that they offer. Everything they make seems to be very well made.

Last year I used IE and found them hard to adjust and the angle that it had under some setting seemed severe on the end links and pushrod, whereas the UUC is going to be quicker to adjust and be more linear when a change is made.

Also I have heard nothing but good things about them even from demanding people. Since we have so few suspension tuning tools I find the swaybar very important and during my research the UUC swaybar came out on top for this year.

I will know more as the season progresses, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.