Well after about 5 years and about 60k miles I've decided to remove my jabba rear anti roll bar.

Why? Well my driving style has changed alot in the last 5 years. Yes you could say I've calmed down but it's mainly due to following the roadcraft style of driving, well trying too anyway ;( Plus I was bored and fancy trying something different

So do I regret it? Honestly, no. In fact on my daily commute to work which is a short motorway journey followed by A/B roads I've not noticed much difference.

So what's changed?

Steering has gone noticeably heavier which I like. VCDS is still set to the max for steering weight.

Turn in is less keen and you do find yourself having to turn the wheel that little bit more.

Ride has improved over the rear axle. As mentioned in another thread this is probably down to the rear axle now being more independent. Less of a shudder from the back when going over bumps. I always found this was very noticeable when pressing on round fast corners.

Grip. So far I've not noticed any difference with my driving style. I am expecting a decrease in traction when accelerating hard out of corners and also a reduced amount of total grip on the front axle. This I believe to be due to the increase in weight on the front outside tyre and a decrease in weight over the front inside tyre. Will I experience this on the road? Who knows. On track I'm guessing a big yes but as I've not done one for a while I'm too bothered.

Moral of the story. Learn to drive

Moral of the story. Learn to drive

Agreed. By accelerating that fraction of a second slower/smoother out of a corner and more precision (less aggressive) on turn in one can compensate for the rarb imo. Then again, the point of handling mods are to essentially improve handling I personally think can drive faster with less effort put into it if I have the rarb on, slight hit on comfort is acceptable for me.

I still dont really understand the point of an anti-roll bar on these cars as the rear beam is solid across the car which makes the rear suspension only semi independent, correct me if im wrong. Therefore the arb only acts to stiffen the rear beam and doesnt actually do the job of an arb in a traditional sense.

Either way, a rear arb is not for me. The handling on coilovers is very neutral for me on the roads. For track I would have one to stiffen the rear, plus buy a much thicker one for the front.

@ the OP, slow corners or turns where you've slowed on medium-hard braking, turning across T junctions (?), the car will pitch diagonally onto the rear outside tyre without the RARB. This is what unloads the front-inside wheel. You'll notice it most in damp or wet weather.

@Pleb, The RARBs work, there's no doubt about that. The rear beam provides some RARB effect as it twists, but not enough. The method of attaching the RARBs leaves a little to be desired in my opinion (I think they should attach to something more stable than a twisting beam). The answers found by both Jabba and Whiteline seem to work reasonably though, pragmatic engineering?

IMO: The RARBs have more effect on standard or minimally stiffened/lowered suspensions. Reason for this is the car rolls more loading up the RARB more.

J.

I still dont really understand the point of an anti-roll bar on these cars as the rear beam is solid across the car which makes the rear suspension only semi independent, correct me if im wrong. Therefore the arb only acts to stiffen the rear beam and doesnt actually do the job of an arb in a traditional sense.

You're correct that a torsion beam isn't fully independant. OTOH you're quite wrong about how an ARB (any conventional metal wire/tube bar) works. They're all torsion springs which work by increasing the spring rate "across the axle" when one wheel moves up or down relative to the other. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-roll_bar refers.

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=57625

I find this helpful when understanding weight transfer. Stiffer springs/roll bar reduces weight transfer on the opposite end.

@ the OP, slow corners or turns where you've slowed on medium-hard braking, turning across T junctions (?), the car will pitch diagonally onto the rear outside tyre without the RARB. This is what unloads the front-inside wheel. You'll notice it most in damp or wet weather.

For it to pitch onto the rear outside, don't you mean accelerating through the corner? If your braking through a corner the pitch would be onto the front outside would it not?

For it to pitch onto the rear outside, don't you mean accelerating through the corner? If your braking through a corner the pitch would be onto the front outside would it not?

Yep, I just re-read my post. I omitted the important bit. It's acceleration out of tight corners or manoeuvres that causes the car to sit back unloading the inside front tyre.

Cheers,

J.

You're correct that a torsion beam isn't fully independant. OTOH you're quite wrong about how an ARB (any conventional metal wire/tube bar) works. They're all torsion springs which work by increasing the spring rate "across the axle" when one wheel moves up or down relative to the other. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-roll_bar refers.

I dont know what OTOH means but yeah sorry, I didnt explain myself properly I dont think. I am aware of how an ARB works and I guess an aftermarket ARB still works as it should but since there is a solid beam across the car, the twisting of the beam acts as an ARB so its kind of built in on these cars but obviously not enough for some people as vindaloo said. I think people fit aftermarket ARBs to reduce the roll when stiffened springs would do a better job in this case.

Edited 11 August, 201114 yr by Pleb

Yes their is an anti roll bar built into the rear beam but it's not possible to change. So additional bars are fitted.

An anti roll is normally the last thing you change after you've chosen your spring/dampers. They can be used to increase spring stiffness but also used to alter weight distribution which is why I fitted one in the first place. Not to reduce body roll.

Edited 11 August, 201114 yr by faboka vrs

I dont know what OTOH means but yeah sorry, I didnt explain myself properly I dont think. I am aware of how an ARB works and I guess an aftermarket ARB still works as it should but since there is a solid beam across the car, the twisting of the beam acts as an ARB so its kind of built in on these cars but obviously not enough for some people as vindaloo said. I think people fit aftermarket ARBs to reduce the roll when stiffened springs would do a better job in this case.

OTOH - On The Other Hand

For track stuff, I agree with you about the springs. Though for a road car, it's possible to have too firm a ride (no honestly, seriously, when you get to mid 40s it starts to matter ).

For the price and simple method of fitting it, either RARB available seems the cheapest way of transforming the handling/entertainment of the car.

J.

Anti roll bars.....hhhmmmmmmm........an anti-roll bar is a (link) bar solid/hollow that connects both sides of the same axle together in such away that if one side tries to move in the opposite direction to the other side it will be resisted. This also means that a solid rear axle is also an RARB...on the Fabia tho the rear beam although is "semi-trailing arm"......actually it is also the RARB!

Very good suspension design does not need ARBs......Lotus under Colin Chapman didn't like them to much.......trouble is that some people say that the car is "to lively" and it means that all the other components need to be engineered/fine tuned better. So with all the compromises in weight, cost etc...an ARB is fitted.

Me personal recommendations......first play around with the tyres (widths, profiles), fit better dampers, upgrade the bushes......then fit different RARBS........what ever suits you....me....RARB is not for me...I like the way the rear has "drop" in it as the way my car is set up it is very neutral and I can "play" with a bit of oversteer and get the rear to work for me!

For the price and simple method of fitting it, either RARB available seems the cheapest way of transforming the handling/entertainment of the car.

J.

Totally agree. Much cheaper than springs/damper fitting and at the time I much preferred the anti roll bar over my eibach springs/dampers which I sold to pay for it.

Totally agree. Much cheaper than springs/damper fitting and at the time I much preferred the anti roll bar over my eibach springs/dampers which I sold to pay for it.

Ah, I retained the Eibachs/Sachs pro-kit/pro-damper setup.

J.