Front Suspension Re-Vamp

[teen ti]

So after auto crossing the ti this past weekend, the car had a lot of vibrations and rattles so I got it up and had a look. What I found wasn't pretty. The entire left front suspension is basically shot, all the bushings need to be replaced, the wheel bearing is bad, the tie rod is shot, the engine mounts need to be replaced and the biggest issue of all is that the front sway bar is really messed up. It looks like the PO ran over something and bent the sway bar assembly up and it appears that it is barely if at all attached to the body. So first things first Ive got to get it to a body shop to have the assembly replaced and re-welded to the body. After that, since the car is going to be autocrossed I figured I'd beef up the suspension. With that said Im looking at a better sway bar, new shocks and other various tid-bits. My question is what should I replace these with? I'd like to keep the car in the G-Stock so I can't upgrade the springs but I can do whatever I please with the sway bar and shocks. Also can I still buy the OEM M-Tech sport springs? Thanks!

Edit: Crappy cell phone pics of what I'm working with.



Right side, not too bad




Left side that could be an issue

[BimmerBum]

Your best path is a set of Koni S/As, stock sport springs, 22mm rear sway (leave the front alone), a zero toe front alignment. and a set of A6's... Not sure what your G Stock field looks like but I cannot imagine you not being right at the top with that set up.

[teen ti]

I technically can't do anything to the rear of the car but you're saying that the stock front sway bar is good and that all i really need to do is shocks?

As for G-Stock competition, theres a Golf GTI driven by an complete novice, and not much else so winning the class itself isn't much of a challenge but doing well in PAX the real goal in our region, unless you're in SM or STX there isn't too much competition within the classes. When I run the 325ci in D-stock, I go up against a WRX and a Speed 3 and land smack in the middle.

[BimmerBum]

Originally Posted by teen ti

I technically can't do anything to the rear of the car but you're saying that the stock front sway bar is good and that all i really need to do is shocks?

As for G-Stock competition, theres a Golf GTI driven by an complete novice, and not much else so winning the class itself isn't much of a challenge but doing well in PAX the real goal in our region, unless you're in SM or STX there isn't too much competition within the classes. When I run the 325ci in D-stock, I go up against a WRX and a Speed 3 and land smack in the middle.

You should run the car in STX, competition make autox a thousand times more fun. The ti will probably do well in STX... I'm in 2nd place in STX with my wagon, first is a lightly modified ti.

I thought you could either do the front or rear sway bar in stock class now? I know it used to be front only.

[teen ti]

If I read this years rulebook correctly, much easier said than done, I took it as the only suspension mods you could do in Stock are front sway bar and shocks, the springs and rear have to stay stock.

As of right now dads running the ti and I'm championing the ci. While Im getting killed by the WRX in D-Stock I like the challenge of trying to improve my driving skills more so than the car to get closer and as of the last event I beat everybody in STX in raw times anyways. The ti is probably gonna end up staying in G Stock if my dads driving but we plan on using the ci for track days as well so we might really beef that up and move up to SM for the challenge. Either way I have a blast doing it and everyone there is my kind of person, into cars and really nice.

[teen ti]

ok, so i got the sway bar off today and this left me with a question. Since the stock sway bar on the sport models was already pretty beefy its not really necessary to upgrade because a bigger sway bar could mean more understeer. Amnyways I was wondering if the stock sway bar looks like its in good enough condition to be put back on (pics below) and if not should i just go for a 27 or 30mm H&R or Eibach one?

[BimmerBum]

Sway bars don't really go bad. Clean it up, hit it with some rattle can paint, replace the links, bushings, and broken mount.

I would go with a larger rear bar over a larger front bar on stock or stockish suspension.

If you need help with new front end parts let me know.

[J!m]

A used M Roadster rear bar is a good fit on the ti...

Slightly larger is the M Coupe rear bar, but that might be pushing it a bit with stock sport springs.

I second the opinion to clean up the front bar and replace all the bushings, clamps and end links.

[spidertri]

For autox I've found less rear bar to be better. Some guys totally disconnect it to help get the power down sooner. However, most run stiffer rear springs to compensate for the lack of bar. But you could try it, it's only two nuts and a couple of zip ties to hold the endlinks out of the way.

[BimmerBum]

Originally Posted by spidertri

For autox I've found less rear bar to be better. Some guys totally disconnect it to help get the power down sooner. However, most run stiffer rear springs to compensate for the lack of bar. But you could try it, it's only two nuts and a couple of zip ties to hold the endlinks out of the way.

I have found that you need the rear bar unless you have really stiff springs and struts. If you are running stock or anything close (like a bilstein/H&R set up or even just Koni S/A's with stock springs) the bigger the rear bar the better. Once you get into coil overs you can go without or go smaller on the rear bar.

I think the 19mm MZ3 rear bar is perfectly acceptable on stock suspension. There is a member on here running the MZ3 rear bar (per my suggestion) on a non-sport stock suspension and they really like it.