As the title states, what setting do you guys run for aftermarket adjustable sways? I have a set of Stillens and was wondering what is the best setup to run to reduce body roll yet not causing understeer. Also, are aftermarket endlinks a necessity or more of a show factor?

 

Start soft, work up to get understeer or oversteer where you want it.

 

From my personal experience, the aftermarket endlinks are necessary. I say this after owning my '03 since brand new and being really familiar with it, and snapping two OEM endlinks over the years. I have Hotchkis sways, and the problem is that when you install the links under pre-load the OEMs don't allow proper adjustments to, for lack of a better term, 'square.' So while they are bolted on, they are fighting a losing battle of being binded up when they need to articulate until the point they break.

This segues me into a good type of aftermarket endlink, I started with SPLs, and while they look awesome, even for a weekend/occasional SCCA car like mine, they make noise. I wanted to experiment with something else, and since it was an experiment I didn't want to drop a ton of cash on endlinks, so I bought Concept Z endlinks, they are crap. So during my research I've found that what allows endlinks to make noise is the heim joint, it's a weak spot, not in terms of safety or performance, but noise. That point of articulation will make noise, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they eventually will. So that led me to other options, which is Powergrid, they use basically a ball and socket fit that doesn't need service, this connection allows articulation but won't make noise, at least from the joint. But, by that point I'd already sourced military spec nuts bolts and joints that created a Frankenstein endlink that I don't have any problems with. But the problem with that route is the cost of the hardware. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought Powergrids from the start and been done with it.

 

Thanks for the good response Watkins

 

Good info. Circuit Sports links are also crap. They made noise and stripped at 40ft*lbs. Concept Z didn't do shti for me. But that's another story.

 

I ran stock endlinks for 80k miles, they are fine unless you believe that sways need to be set full stiff.

 

I have the stillen sways as well and I run my OEM links…If you want a specific look than swap them out but if you're looking for purely function than the OEMs are fine. Some people may have problems with them breaking but there are many factors that contribute to that.

 

I'v been tossing around the idea of throwing on new endlinks when I pick up some Hotchkis sways in the next month or so. I'm a firm believer in doing something once and the right way, though I figure (being on college drop-out budget haha) that if it ain't broke don't fix it! My plan and suggestion is to just slap on those sway daddies and ride until the break. More incentive to get new sh** when it's broken!! lol

 

^^^ If you don't set your sway daddies to stiff your stock end links should survive for a while.

 

I generally don't run adjustable end-links unless the car is on coils really no point. The bind Watkins mentioned doesn't make sense you shouldn't have any bind across the bar unless you are installing your end-links incorrectly or running coils with some really uneven ride heights.

-Ron