Replacing Rear ARB on A3

j4jon

j4jon

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I'm thinking of replacing the ARBs on my A3, the front one seems fairly straight forward although the subframe may need to be dropped, there are instructions on how to do it in the Haynes manual.
The rear ARB on the other hand looks a bit more tricky. The haynes manual says that it can't be replaced seperately and has to be replaced with the whole rear axel.
I know Eibach, H&R, and Neuspeed do uprated bars, and I know several people on here have them. Did anybody fit them themselves? or can anybody send me, or post the section from Elsawin assuming it is in there?

Thanks

Jon
 
The back is easier then the front i think, but both are abit tricky! Depends how confident you are with doing it yourself as to weather you need a garage to do it. Either way if your after them give us a shout and we'll get you a good price! :)
 
I'm a fairly confident mechanic, I've rebuilt engines in the past, and have access to a ramp / lift. But could just do with some guidance on how to actualy change it. It's only FWD so I don't know if that makes it more difficult or not?

On a side note do you know the size of the Eibach ARB's?
 
If it's not a quattro, there isn't a separate ARB at the rear AFAIK - the beam is the ARB. The aftermarket ARBs I've seen attach to the beam to increase its torsional stiffness.

The quattros have completely different multi-link rear suspension and a separate ARB.
 
Fitting an aftermarket rear ARB to a non-quatro/4-motion car is actually pretty easy - sub 30 minutes. I had a Nuespeed one on my Golf, and assuming the 2wd A3 is the same, the steps were something like:
- Swap the couterweight fasteners for button heads (for clearence)
- Attach rubber mounts to ARB and lubricate with special greas
- attach clamps to mounts and clamp round rear beam (2 nuts to do up M8/13mm head)
- Swap lower shock mount bolts for longer ones, and attach rose joints. (2 bolts to undo M10/16mm head, and two new ones to do up M10/17mm head) Getting the shocks to line up with the holes may require a friend to lean on the car while you insert the new bolt.
- Attach the other end of the rose joint to the ARB (2 more bolts to do up M8/13mm head)

This was specific to the neuspeed one, but I guess they are all pretty similar.

Cheers
Mark
 
Oh right so you don't need to remove the one that is on the car to start with then. I assume they will still work if I get coilovers?
Any idea what size I should be looking for?
TDI_boy what size was the one you had on the Golf?
 
I had a 24mm I think - Neuspeed offered two sizes, and I had the smaller one. It was adjustable, and I only ever had it set on medium, and it was superb. Just got to do something about the A3 now :(

Yeah, you don't need to remove the existing one, as it is the axle beam!

Cheers
Mark
 
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