Did you find a ARB?

What was the Std size?

What size did you change to?

Did it remove some of the higher speed loose surface over steer(slight)?

Happy Days.

OP, great post and it would be interesting to found out how much this benefits the car. There are many people here with blinkers on who need to think outside the box to evaluate something that many positively benefit a vehicle. Cars are generally set up to behave in a generic mass market pleasing way and there is nothing wrong with this. However things can in general be improved upon and many people now won't think twice about remapping their turbo engine.

You would think that an Octavia VRS would handle well, and it does (it's no sports car but it's generic family/sporty setup up is pretty good). Most people would be happy with it and wonder why you would want to alter it. I uprated the RARB on mine and the difference to the handling is mind boggling. The turn in and precision on the car now is drastically improved, there are no negative effects, only positive ones. I can place the car better and it responds quicker and it is a lot more fun to drive.

I can see why you would want to do this to the 1.8 TSI as it must already be great fun to drive. Good luck with the research

An update (for those that are interested, in a positive way!)

I believe I've now established that the Golf R ARB's both front and rear should in fact be a direct fit. So... I have the Golf R H&R front and rear three way adjustable ARB's currently on order and expected to arrive in a fortnights time. :-) I'll be sure to bring the feedback back to this post. :-)

Keep us posted please!

Yes please. Thoughtful and considered modifications are always interesting. My Leon Fr Tfsi was vastly improved by Eibach springs and Koni dampers and AP brakes.

I'm considering the fitting of the larger front brakes to my 140 when pads and discs approach the end of their service.

An update (for those that are interested, in a positive way!)

I believe I've now established that the Golf R ARB's both front and rear should in fact be a direct fit. So... I have the Golf R H&R front and rear three way adjustable ARB's currently on order and expected to arrive in a fortnights time. :-) I'll be sure to bring the feedback back to this post. :-)

Cool, thanks mate.

Most 4wd cars have a tendency to under steer. Installing a ARB in the rear actually reduces traction because as the vehicle rolls toward the out, more weight is lifted from the inside wheel. The benefit is as lifted weight is lifted quicked from the rear inside wheel, more weight remains on the inside front wheel which causes more traction in the front.

Car manufactures intentionally build cars like this because its safer for a vehicle to under steer. As the vehicle under steers the driver usually backs of the accelerator causing slowing of the vehicle and forward weight transfer and regaining of front end traction.

Having a vehicle that has a close even front and rear balance requires more input and control from the driver.

Early WRXs had a very close to even balance which resulted in very good handling, and sometime too good for some drivers. The result was some that crashed were very big crashes as the vehicle had used 100% of it's traction before it started to slide. By that time no the vehicle was too far into the corner that no slowing would gain enough traction to make the corner.

Later WRXs had a under steer tendency which reduced the number and severity of crashes however it also hampered handling. Most people who know anything about WRXs, know about anti lift kits. By changing suspension geometry in the front of the vehicle the anti lift kit allows the front wheels of the vehicle to fall quicker. The ant lift part actually refers to stopping the wheels lifting and this allows the front of the vehicle to lift more, under acceleration, without lifting the wheels and allowing them to keep better contact with road, and increasing front end grip.

I suppose the best way to explain it is, if you have a 50/50 balance of traction, when you run out, you run out at both ends at the same time and you have no where to go. If you have a 45/55 (F/R) balance, when you run out of front end traction (reaching 45%) and the front starts to slide you still have 10% (55%-45%) more traction left in the rear, backing off the accelerator will cause weight and therefore traction to transfer to the front. At this point the front has started to slide because the cornering forces have exceeded the 45% of traction in the front and given the cornering force is even front and rear you have only used 45% front and 45% rear total of 90% of the vehicle traction before the vehicle has indicated you are near the limit.

I don't want to make it a super rigid road car but it would be nice balance the car a little and as I prefer my vehicles a little on firm side I think increasing the rear ARB a couple of mm should give me the result I want. I just don't want to go too far.

I just thought of another car I owned. I had a 1994 Suzuki Swift. Back then i wasn't quick as knowledgeable with mechanical things and just went out and had a "Group A" rear ARB installed. When it would lose traction, even on dry bitumen, it would spin at least 3 times. I would just push it harder and harder until it let go then I would slow my corners a bit and then start building corner speed again. The rear bar just made finding the limit and keeping it there so hard as the limit was so fine.

After all this talk of road cars I suppose the question is why do this to a Yeti. Well I don't see the Yeti as a 4x4 like a Land Rover Defender or a 70 series Toyota Land Cruiser but I see it as a handy capability to follow a mate up to his back paddock to give him a hand chopping fire wood or just getting a little off the road for a picnic. We have a lot of dirt roads in Australia that are far from off road but still have a very slippery surface and this is where I want the Yeti to shine.

Happy Days.

Keep us posted please!

+ 1

FocusZetec - presumably your fitting ARBs at the same time as the Porsche brakes you PM'd me about.

Are you investing in Eibach springs at the same time; having got them fitted myself IMHO they go quite a long way in working on the 'anti-roll/dive' front.

+ 1

FocusZetec - presumably your fitting ARBs at the same time as the Porsche brakes you PM'd me about.

Are you investing in Eibach springs at the same time; having got them fitted myself IMHO they go quite a long way in working on the 'anti-roll/dive' front.

I cant really afford to reduce the ride height, or more specifically the under 'belly' clearance but the thought was still lingering in the back of my mind...

Yes, the ARB's are on the same 'to do' list as the brake upgrade. :-)

I believe I've now established that the Golf R ARB's both front and rear should in fact be a direct fit. So... I have the Golf R H&R front and rear three way adjustable ARB's currently on order and expected to arrive in a fortnights time. :-) I'll be sure to bring the feedback back to this post. :-)

All this talk of changing anti-roll bars got me thinking about what's involved, mechanically speaking and checked through on ELSAWIN.

Rear anti-roll bar is a doddle, probably no more than a 20 minute job and easily DIY however, the front anti-roll bar is much more involved needing a ball joint extractor and engine/gearbox jack for starters, disconnecting this and that and ultimately dropping the 'assembly carrier'.

I think that if I do change anti-roll bars it will be rear only, primarily to tweak the handling balance and reduce understeer; as opposed to providing an overall flatter stance when cornering.

I think that if I do change anti-roll bars it will be rear only, primarily to tweak the handling balance and reduce understeer; as opposed to providing an overall flatter stance when cornering.

+1

All this talk of changing anti-roll bars got me thinking about what's involved, mechanically speaking and checked through on ELSAWIN.

Rear anti-roll bar is a doddle, probably no more than a 20 minute job and easily DIY however, the front anti-roll bar is much more involved needing a ball joint extractor and engine/gearbox jack for starters, disconnecting this and that and ultimately dropping the 'assembly carrier'.

I think that if I do change anti-roll bars it will be rear only, primarily to tweak the handling balance and reduce understeer; as opposed to providing an overall flatter stance when cornering.

Yes, the front one is a time consuming s*d! The rear very easy as you say. An uprated rear, something like a rear Golf R one would be ideal I'd wager. I'm going to primarily try my bars with the front set to soft (should still be stiffer than the standard factory one) and the rear to medium and see how that goes. :-)

Keep us posted-I have a very good wrench wielder ( he works out of hours on his employer's premises with their consent) but would need base settings to work with. I am an almost entirely road driver-off road for me means pub car parks! I find the on road handling of my Yeti astonishingly good for the type of vehicle it is but can see there is significant room for improvement.

Yes, the front one is a time consuming s*d! The rear very easy as you say. An uprated rear, something like a rear Golf R one would be ideal I'd wager. I'm going to primarily try my bars with the front set to soft (should still be stiffer than the standard factory one) and the rear to medium and see how that goes. :-)

Hi Lee,

Quick question; did you get to measure/check the size of the OEM antiroll bars on your Yeti before deciding to upgrade?

Hi Lee,

Quick question; did you get to measure/check the size of the OEM antiroll bars on your Yeti before deciding to upgrade?

Yes.... but for the life of me I cant remember what they were now! Iirc the rear upgraded bar was about 3-4mm thicker than the standard rear one... If I can get under there this week before she goes in for the work I'll let you know what the standard ones were. Maybe 22 front, 21 rear - dont know, cant remember,sorry. :(

Yes.... but for the life of me I cant remember what they were now! Iirc the rear upgraded bar was about 3-4mm thicker than the standard rear one... If I can get under there this week before she goes in for the work I'll let you know what the standard ones were. Maybe 22 front, 21 rear - dont know, cant remember,sorry. :(

OK; but don't bust a gut.

I'll have mine up on a ramp at the weekend changing to winter tyres so will be able to measure the OEM bars then. I was basically wondering whether the OEM bars on the Yeti are the same or different, from a thickness point of view, to the Golf R ones.

Golf R ones are thicker hence my recomendation above about putting one on the rear as a quick fix. I *think* there was a 2mm difference in thickness on these and the aftermarket one was a further 1-2mm thicker.

Golf R ones are thicker hence my recomendation above about putting one on the rear as a quick fix. I *think* there was a 2mm difference in thickness on these and the aftermarket one was a further 1-2mm thicker.

That's awesome to know. I'll try and sauce (LOL) a Golf R ARB.

Happy Days

Some measurements would be useful -if it wasn't drizzling furiously I'd nip out out and measure - like bahnstormer vrs, it'll be winter wheel time soon - good opportunity to size the job up.

I note some of the aftermarket Golf R rear ARB's are up to 27mm diam (and very pricey!) - and there are comments to the effect that results in an over controlled rear for road use?

More research in hand....

Merlinman - do you mean the factory throws out the R with different rear ones or are you referring to aftermarket ones for the R?

Aftermarket - not had chance to check std Golf R one yet.

Aftermarket - not had chance to check std Golf R one yet.

I'll be checking my OEM (Yeti) ones on Saturday morning.

I thought the aftermarket ones were adjustable, therefore you could soften up the effect to avoid anything too severe happening?

I thought the aftermarket ones were adjustable, therefore you could soften up the effect to avoid anything too severe happening?

They are; mostly.

Certainly; I had a 25mm Neuspeed rear bar on my Octavia vRS TDI which was 3-way adjustable but I did not feel that it was quite strong enough for the TDI engine's weight in the nose (will have been OK on a TFSI vRS).

So I swapped it for a 27mm APR rear bar that gave 3-way adjustment offering 90%, 135% or 200% increase in stiffness over an OEM bar (21 or 22mm).

I found that I couldn't use it on the 'soft' as it knocked on the suspension (remembering it was designed for Golf Mk V, not Octavia), 'medium' was good, perhaps too much so, but 'strong' was too much as it gave leery oversteer - eek!

Hopefully an H&R 26mm bar, designed for Golf R, will be just right on a Yeti. I particularly like the idea of the Urethane/Teflon bushes on the H&R bar as this was pain on my other bars as they needed frequent greasing.

That's very interesting (to me at least!). So the adjustable ones on soft allow MORE flex than the standard bar? I'd have thought they would be equal or slightly firmer on the softest setting than the OE bar. I may revise my plans of goin soft on the front and medium on the rear..... Then again, the rear being on medium may make the overall difference, allowing for the front being set to soft.

Please don't misread; the 90%, 135% or 200% is an increase in stiffness over and above the stiffness of the OEM bar. i.e. the 'soft' setting @ 90% increase is nearly double the strength (which would be 100% increase) of an OEM bar.

The Neuspeed bar gave something like 50%, 85% and 130% increase over OEM - IIRC.