Droplinks

[Dan318-is]

Wasn't sure were to post this and thought most people wouldn't be interested except some of you guys!

These came from da US.i today; racing dynamics adjustable front droplinks for those of us who dg]ont have the fortune of having five stud running gear with droplinks that attatch to the struts.

They are height adjustable; the top rose joint simply threads into the bottom half of the link; it has two teflon coated rose joints and some seriously thick bolts holding it all together. I have also noticed that the front U-shaped bracket holding the link and the wishbone together is much thicker and beefier.

[d6dph]

What did they cost Dan? Look interesting

[Dan318-is]

A lot more than i expected! Initial cost was about $51 each, which came to $110 dollars, e.g. £53. Then shipping was about £22; on top of that they came today with a lovely tax of £18 at the royal snail (aka the scum). They are well, well worth the money though; the build quality is unreal; i think they are a must if you are running uprated roll bars!

[fuzzy]

explain to the less technically minded the advantages of these please.

[maxfield]

explain to the less technically minded the advantages of these please.

I believe they mount the ARB's a different way giving more leverage and then there more stiffness from the ARB??

[Dan318-is]

Well to start with there is no normal ball joints; both the bottom part of the drop link (the bit attatched to the arm), and the top half (the joint near the roll bar) are rose jointed; The joints themselves are "teflon coated metal" according to the manufacture and thus last a lot lot longer. This is the reason i bought them; my eibach roll bars minced through a GSF set and a Genuine BMW set of front droplinks in under 6 months. The also have a much thicker mounting plate (the plate that attatches to the arm itself; and larger, thicker bolts (17mm m10 thread rather than 13mm m8 thread) holding the droplink to the bar/arm).

They are a lot heavier and a lot beefier than the old ones!

Here is the adjustable part:

[Simon13]

wind um down as far as they go!

Why no rear ones Dan, student innit?

[mattG]

are the 2 black things poly/rubber?

[Dan318-is]

wind um down as far as they go!

Why no rear ones Dan, student innit?

Doing a rear beam rebuild & doing it all at once simon, still waiting on the rear beam.....

are the 2 black things poly/rubber?

Matt, its sort of a really hard plastic bush that crushes togegher; i think its just meant to act as a spacer. I'll post a pic up of them on the car tomorrow, didn't get time to take pics when i was fitting them tonight!

[handpaper]

Dan, the adjustability on those is for fit, not function.
The only ways to adjust an ARBs effect are either to move the pickup point on the control arm/wishbone (further out = stiffer), or the point where the droplink mounts to the ARB (closer to ARB bush = stiffer);some Eibach and H&R ARBs have multiple mount points for this purpose.
The position of the ARBs (pointing up/down) matters only to the extent that they should not hit anything in operation; as long as the drop links are of equal length, so that the ARB is not stressed when the car is on level ground (or not cornering), all will be well.

[oze30]

What he said!^^^

[Dan318-is]

Dan, the adjustability on those is for fit, not function.
The only ways to adjust an ARBs effect are either to move the pickup point on the control arm/wishbone (further out = stiffer), or the point where the droplink mounts to the ARB (closer to ARB bush = stiffer);some Eibach and H&R ARBs have multiple mount points for this purpose.
The position of the ARBs (pointing up/down) matters only to the extent that they should not hit anything in operation; as long as the drop links are of equal length, so that the ARB is not stressed when the car is on level ground (or not cornering), all will be well.

I have eibachs on there and they are on the stiffest setting; thanks for that bite of information. Andrew also said something about them ironing out the inbalance of weight on a car (due to passangers etc) but not sure if it would make any difference at all on a roadcar.

Either way the random knocking from the front right of my car, were the old balljoint was nailed and the bar was rubbing the bracket has since disappeared with the fitment of these

[1an]

Dan have you got any pictures of these on the car?

would like to know what they are like if they make an improvement or what have you as i could be tempted next year when i uprate my anti roll bars and shocks.

[Kos]

seriously , on a road car going this far into it is not really going to improve your lap times going to tescos. if you you are a track day hero then maybe it will benefit you.

one thing i've learnt over the years that a road car is a road car, if you want to go track days then build a track day car, its not as expensive as you think.

stiffening up road a car with polly bushed, rose joints etc in no good. they dont like harsh surfaces and will eventualy fail.

how ever they are a nice bit of kit, and get you some kudos points dan !

[Dan318-is]

seriously , on a road car going this far into it is not really going to improve your lap times going to tescos. if you you are a track day hero then maybe it will benefit you.

one thing i've learnt over the years that a road car is a road car, if you want to go track days then build a track day car, its not as expensive as you think.

stiffening up road a car with polly bushed, rose joints etc in no good. they dont like harsh surfaces and will eventualy fail.

how ever they are a nice bit of kit, and get you some kudos points dan !

Maybe in your opinion yes, but having to replace my droplinks every 6 - 8 months as my rollbars knacker them out, for £50 a time, gets on my nervers; surely its much better spending £60ish quid on a set that are never going to wear out (certainly not for a long long time). I even started to wear my bmw links away after 6 months and they were £50 quid for two so it was a no brainer. Its a total pita getting them imported; im not bothered about the whole trackday thing and using these is not going to destroy the ride etc!

1an mate, will get some pics up tomorrow!

[Kos]

if you are killing a set or ARB link every 6 months something aint right !

i nevr said it will desrtoy the ride, but i'd like to see how they got on with our lovely tarmac roads .

as i said kudos points earnt on this one

[Dan318-is]

Not the bmw ones; GSF ones got minced on the stiffest setting an i have pics to prove and a receipt of purchase date!

BMW ones were not minced but you can see the link in general is beginning to wear. The balljoint is at a tight angle all the time (as the bar is on the stiffest setting), and the rubber bush down the bottom becomes cracked and misshaped were it is at a different angle also. This will not happen with rose jointed ones as there is no rubber bush.

They are on the RD site advertised as a road product; andy is also running them at the rear; i can't see anything but improvements i hope!

[gareth]

i've just knocked a set of these up for front and rear myself. for the same reason as you dan, i'm sick of replacing the droplinks!

it's the front ones that fail mainly and that's due to the linkage geometry being thrown out when the car is lowered which in turn overstesses the rubber bush.

i've also repositioned the pickup point on the rear arb while i was at it

[Dan318-is]

i've also repositioned the pickup point on the rear arb while i was at it

Pics?

[gareth]

not finished. i'll put some up once it's done.

essentially, it involves cutting the end off the rear ARB and installing a new bracket type affair to hold the droplink. this has several bolt holes to very the effective length

[Dan318-is]

Get some pics up ASAP!

[Dan318-is]

Dan have you got any pictures of these on the car?

[Simon13]

gsf links are crap we all know that old 325i auto 4dr chugmeister done a set in 6 months.

Genuine bmw links are pretty tough like all bmw parts!

[handpaper]

Not sure what that plastic bush achieves - it looks like a spacer to me, maybe a shorter mounting bolt would be better. Is the kit specifically for E30s, or is it a 'universal'?
And you're on the softest setting there....

[Karan]

if you are killing a set or ARB link every 6 months something aint right !

i nevr said it will desrtoy the ride, but i'd like to see how they got on with our lovely tarmac roads .

as i said kudos points earnt on this one

i think they will be fine cos my silvia is 100% rose jointed everywhere and ive done loadsa miles on it and everything is spot on,,,, a problem may be however is the joints dont have rubber boots on them..


main advantage i guess is the lack of rubber bush... which is the main ppoint of rose joints aswell as adjustability

[Dan318-is]

Not sure what that plastic bush achieves - it looks like a spacer to me, maybe a shorter mounting bolt would be better. Is the kit specifically for E30s, or is it a 'universal'?
And you're on the softest setting there....

They are e30 specific but i have myself been thinking about just using a bolt at the bottom. Going to have a fiddle tomorrow.

Yep softest setting just to see what they were like & was easier to fit them there in the pissing rain ; they are on the stiffest now rest assured!

[gareth]

you may be able to use these to keep the crap out?

http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/catalog/in ... _1138_1139

may only be necesary in more filthy areas...

[bmwe30mtech]

They look like a nice bit of kit Dan.

When there fully wound down do they make the ride much firmer than the stock BMW ones? Much difference in length?

[gareth]

the length adjustment does not affect the stiffness of the anti roll bar. that is done by varying the position the bolt onto.

[bmwe30mtech]

I see, so the length is changed simply so it can reach the other positions on the ARB?

[gareth]

yep, the geometry will also be thrown out if the car is lowered and shortening the links will help get the ARB back to the right position

[stratos]

Yes altering the length has no effect on stifness of arb.
These links should be left undone untill all other suspension adjustments have been made ( ride height, camber, wheel alignment etc ).
Then with the car on a level floor connect one end and adjust so that you have clearence throughout the full range of suspension travel.
Then attach and adjust the other end so that there is no tension on the bar. This way the bar will do its job in limiting roll and have no adverse effect on spring rates.

[harry_p]

are they fitted properly?

surely the rubber / plastic bits are supposed to go one either side of the arm, it looks like you've fitted the link with them both under the arm

[northloop]

My input ...........

Looking back at the original pictures it looks like a lovely little earner for someone. A few cobbled together bits and pieces and you pay £100 for it

If it does the job all well and good, but it looks expensive for what you get IMHO


Fair play to the guy for making and selling them though

[Theo]

Considering the cost of of a pair of front droplinks from BMW, these will pay for themselves in no time (on a car driven hard at least). I really want a pair of these, but think I'll wait to see Gareth's DIY ones, before giving more money to the yanks.

BTW the 'guy' selling them is Racing Dynamics - one of the major aftermarket tuners alongside to Hartge, Shitzer etc