H&R Front ARB only!

[Cheese]

I have my 2010 S3 in at AMD Woking at the moment for a few bits including a full turbo-back exhaust and a front and rear ARB upgrade. I ordered the front (24mm) and rear (26mm) H&R.

I have just had a call from the garage to explain that everything has been fitted except for the rear ARB. The reason given was that with the new exhaust the rear ARB wouldn't fit. But apparently this is OK because it they discovered that the rear ARB that is on the car is actually thicker than on the older S3 models.

Now I am a bit confused because I was advised that installing the ARBs (front and rear) would reduce understeer and improve handling. However, my understanding is that a stiffer front ARB will actually increase understeer if the rear ARB is not also uprated! I am picking up the car tomorrow morning!

 

[quattro81]

Dude.. You are right there.. You would be better off keeping both standard, than just fitting a thicker front.. It's gonna understeer dramatically otherwise. As for their comment that it has a thicker one anyway and doesn't need it, that sounds like a typical mechanic trying to get out of doing something to me! I'm surprised at AMD, they're normally pretty good.. Out of curiosity, what exhaust have you fitted that won't allow the arb to go on?

 

[Cheese]

Milltek TBE resonated.

 

[jungleman]

wtf it doesnt fit... thats bo**ocks! S3RYE has got the same set up on his and fit perfectly and it was fitted at AMD, so they are chatting rubbish!

to be honest the front ARB doesnt need changing, ideally you only need to do the rear one, as quattro said if you only do the front one you will be chasing hedges the second you go into a corner fast!

 

[Cheese]

I am pretty displeased - I specifically asked for an upgrade that would reduce understeer - I actually went in to enquire about an uprated Haldex controller and was told the front and rear ARBs were a better option.

H&R Stabilizers/Anti-Roll Bars
Anti-Roll Bars F&R 24/26 mm (4WD) - JBS

"...FA stabilizer may also be used without rear stabilizer. In this case vehicle might tend to understeer..."

Says it all really. I am going to give them a second chance to explain tomorrow when I am there in person. It would be helpful if I could go armed with the Audi part numbers of the OEM ARBs but I can't find them on the web anywhere. I am pretty ****** off - they have had the car for 2 days and I need it for work on Monday.

The guy from AMD said he has done similar setups on S3s before and when I took it in he had a kitted out 8P2 up on the ramp. I am wondering if maybe the resonated exhaust actually won't fit with H&R rear ARB - a resonated exhaust is physically larger as it has a resonating chamber on it! Maybe I will have to get the res. section swapped out for a non-res section...

Thanks for spotting that S3RYE's set up is the same (except for the exhaust) - this is great ammunition.

 

[jungleman]

which AMD have you gone to, the one in essex?
na Rye's is the same, hes got the the h&r's with the full milltek TBE and his is also an 8P3 so they have got no excuse!

 

[Cheese]

Nah - I went to Woking. Still no excuse though. It is plausible that the res vs. the non res makes a difference but I am sceptical. To be continued...

 

[S3RYE]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm not good

PM'd back Craig

 

[quattro81]

I am pretty displeased - I specifically asked for an upgrade that would reduce understeer - I actually went in to enquire about an uprated Haldex controller and was told the front and rear ARBs were a better option.

This doesn't really follow either mate.. Granted the haldex pc works better with uprated arb's, but I wouldn't say they're are directly comparable as they do two totally different things.....

 

[Cheese]

This doesn't really follow either mate.. Granted the haldex pc works better with uprated arb's, but I wouldn't say they're are directly comparable as they do two totally different things.....

What he said was get the ARBs rather than the Haldex if you are only going to get one or the other..

 

[Cheese]

***UPDATE***

I went down to pick up my car today at AMD Woking. I am guilty of misunderstanding what Simon was trying to explain to me on the phone yesterday. Although in fairness, he wasn't being that clear. It is pretty lear now I have seen it with my own eyes.

I explained my dissatisfaction so we got the car up on the ramp to inspect it. Simon showed me how the rear ARB actually has a kink/curve up and over the exhaust. He then showed me the replacement rear ARB that does not have the kink and then a photo of the H&R ARB in place with out the exhaust.

We then measure the diameter of the old ARB and the new - both 22mm! That explains why he thought the one Audi were fitting as standard was larger - on visual inspection the H&R and Audi ARBs look to be the same diameter! I hade gone armed with part numbers and specs from the H&R website and we agreed the replacement ARB should be 26mm.

Now, he also had a FWD TDI up on another ramp and it looked like the H&R ARB would fit that fine. So what we think has happened is H&R packed the wrong rear ARB in the F&R ARB kit - probably the one for a FWD, not a quattro.

Simon is sending off part numbers and photographs showing the the ARB just has no hope in hell of fitting and I am keeping the standard rear ARB until he is able to ge this resolved (hopefully by next weekend). In the mean time I just need to try not to understeer in to a tree!

S3RYE, quattro, jungleman - thanks for your advice yesterday.

 

[S3RYE]

***UPDATE***

I went down to pick up my car today at AMD Woking. I am guilty of misunderstanding what Simon was trying to explain to me on the phone yesterday. Although in fairness, he wasn't being that clear. It is pretty lear now I have seen it with my own eyes.

I explained my dissatisfaction so we got the car up on the ramp to inspect it. Simon showed me how the rear ARB actually has a kink/curve up and over the exhaust. He then showed me the replacement rear ARB that does not have the kink and then a photo of the H&R ARB in place with out the exhaust.

We then measure the diameter of the old ARB and the new - both 22mm! That explains why he thought the one Audi were fitting as standard was larger - on visual inspection the H&R and Audi ARBs look to be the same diameter! I hade gone armed with part numbers and specs from the H&R website and we agreed the replacement ARB should be 26mm.

Now, he also had a FWD TDI up on another ramp and it looked like the H&R ARB would fit that fine. So what we think has happened is H&R packed the wrong rear ARB in the F&R ARB kit - probably the one for a FWD, not a quattro.

Simon is sending off part numbers and photographs showing the the ARB just has no hope in hell of fitting and I am keeping the standard rear ARB until he is able to ge this resolved (hopefully by next weekend). In the mean time I just need to try not to understeer in to a tree!

S3RYE, quattro, jungleman - thanks for your advice yesterday.

LMFAO!!

Excellent news! happy your all sorted now mate!!

 

[quattro81]

:thumbsup:

 

[Cheese]

Definitely understeers a lot, but not always - just had a hairy moment coming off a motorway slip road! Strange thing is it actually turns in harder to start with. The handling is just a bit weird - you can feel the weight shifting around a lot more at the moment. I don't like it. I will have to slow down for a while...I guess I'd describe it as twitchy and unpredictable...

 

[Cheese]

Exhaust is swwweeeeeeet.