308 anti-roll bars: any solution besides Saner?

Absolutely. I had that done to mine several years ago and it's been fine since.

You know you can use some spacers to help somewhat with that heim-link angle. It's not the right way to do it, but a least it can make an improvement.

 

LuckyDynes was talking about it... I don't know if he did, and I don't know of anyone else making them. I don't even know if Saner is still in business... their sanerperformance.com website is merely 'parked' when I went to check just now, but Google's cache from 20 days ago shows their site as being active then, with email contact info as [email protected] with phone as 772.324.1339

I always thought that it was a bit strange that if these were specifically designed for 308s, that they weren't sized slightly differently. But they certainly make a difference that you can FEEL, and it feels GOOD.

 

I have Saner bars too. Be advised that there is an interferance problem at full lock with the bars and the tie rod. I was under boost and full right steering and heard a violent pop and subseqnently poor steering and alignment. Further investigation revealed the interference problem. I have talked about this with LuckyDynes and he agrees there is a problem. I have not heard of Saner making iimprovements to their bars? I talked to Bob Norwood's fabricator and he said he could do the bars. He made my rear 288 style rear control arms for my 308. Normal driving is ok but i dont want to take another chance with my new suspension.

Cheers

 

With mine, that doesn't happen at full lock unless it's also full droop... I'd have to be flying through the air with the steering wheel not pointed straight! At that time I have much more serious concerns to deal with

By the way, I think I might have been the first to voice that concern on the Saner bars here in FChat, in this thread http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39712 starting with post #47 and continuing in #49. It appears it's not really the anti-roll bars that are the problem... it's the replacement/upgrade shocks that allow more drop than the factory Konis did (see #49 as mentioned)

 

It happened on the stock suspension not the Qa-1 setup. In my case, It is the design of the bars. I had no interference with the stock sway bars and drove the car in the same corner under boost at full lock many many times and i was not flying through the air!

congrats on reporting it first.

Cheers

 

I don't know... my mechanic had the car. I suspect he had a welder come and do it on the car, but I don't know for sure.

 

Hahaha

 

That's actually quite interesting. Yes, the design of his 'standard' sway bar was slightly different than the one he made to exactly match my stock bar. It's that stock-bar remake that Greg has. I'm surprised it would cause issue with the otherwise stock suspension.

 

More than interesting! I guess i have the "STANDARD" bars than? I will get another one made from someone who can do it correctly. I got my bars from Tristram in 2004 i believe? I dont know where that falls in the Saner production? all the other aftermarket sway bars I bought for various cars never had interference problems.

Cheers

 

I too bought my Saner bars from Tristram. I doubt i would have been able to get them built or shipped without his help.
Upon receiving the bars, i al so noted that they were too narrow for the rear suspension and that this would cause the vertical drop links to slant significantly outward to their top mount o the a arm. This angling of the drop links was AFTER installing Saners very thinwall sleeves to help the links approach vertical. The sleeve wall thickness is something like Maybe .020 - THIN. I was and am concerned about chrushing the sleve during tightening, which was why i requested BUT never got a torque spec for attachment.
My front bar links bottom spherical joints had holes too small to fit over the stock bar mount. I called but got no response, so i reinstalled the set i had earlier built to fit another bar.

Back to the rear fitment problem, I think the solution to getting the link vertical is to incorporate "safety washers", as used by most formula cars to keep the link from seperating totally from the attachment. This washer, shaped like a cone would do a much better job of spacing out the lower end of the link. If it could be sourced long enough, (roughly 3/4-7/8ths), this should make the link vertical.

Obviously anyone with a lathe could turn a sleve with a taper on the end to prevent binding during operational misalignment - and i believe Sean did just that. But it would be nice if there were a safety washer that could do the job off the shelf.

With regard to the reattachment of the lower arm bar attachment, i wonder if a bit of reinforcement would be possible, like an extension of the bar across to the front of the lower arm, sprengthening both the mount and the arm.

I am looking forward to trying the rear bar on full "hard" to reduce some of the power on understeer.

chris

 

Chris,
You really should increase your rear spring rates 50 pounds or so to counter your power on understeer. Stiffening the bar may do it albeit less effectively.

Spang

 

Hi Greg,

Here is a photo, i think , of Sean's spacer. Notice the stout diameter of the spacer and the taper machined on the end so the spacer won't interfere with the link on misaglinment.

It still looks like it is tilted out a bit, so i would think a longer spacer would be the answer, along with a longer bolt. I know this puts an additonal torsional load on the bar, but what the leck, it is spring steel.

With a stouter bushing, you can really tighten the bolt. The thin sleeve that saner provides doesn't look like it is going to be happy getting torqued to anything more than about 40 foot pounds.

hth,
chris

 

Here you go guys.
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Interesting that the rear bars are too narrow….but I think I can tell you way they are that way. When you put the widest tires and wheels that fit in the stock wheel well you quickly learn that the rear sway bar hits the edge of the wheel. Mine’s been off the car since I did the wheel change 5 or 6 years ago. I bought some rod ends and short Nyloc nuts that I’m pretty sure would let me cut enough off the end of the bar to get it to clear the wheel, but I’ve been too busy to try it. A slightly narrower bar is exactly what is required.

Honesty, with the stiffer springs all around , the stock bar on the front and no rear bar the car seems pretty well balanced and as I was already struggling with grip issues in the rear out of turns I never made the time to fit the rear bar thinking it would only hurt the grip problem. I’d like to get a stiffer bar on the front, maybe a touch softer springs in back and get a rear bar back on the car…..if I ever get the engine running.