Forgive me readers, for I’ve been silly. In an effort to make my little hybrid econobox a bit extra enjoyable to drive and even cooler to have a look at, I ordered up some progressive fee decreasing springs and H&R sway bars from ECS Tuning. There isn’t a lot data on the market on modifying an Audi A3 E-Tron, so I used to be taking a number of leaps of religion right here. In poking round at itemizing after itemizing I discovered most sway bar producers checklist sway bar fitment as “all FWD MQB fashions,” besides I came upon the exhausting method that the rear bar doesn’t match, it doesn’t matter what I do. Let’s get into it.
I awakened on Sunday morning with the required motivation and climate to get some shit completed. The plan was to spend a number of daytime putting in the decreasing springs and each sway bars, however the very best laid plans of mice and males and all that. For one factor my Quickjacks and storage are tied up with a long-dormant undertaking automobile that I posses simply sufficient hubris to consider I’ll get to in the future. So I’m engaged on the Audi within the driveway, on jack stands, in mid-December.
It took me about an hour of finagling to get the inventory rear sway bar out of the automobile. Do you know these items use plastic sway bar finish hyperlinks? That simply gained’t do. Fortunately I additionally ordered high quality steel adjustable finish hyperlinks. As soon as the bar was out, I assumed the exhausting half was over, however then I began making an attempt to suit the brand new H&R bar, and all of it spiraled uncontrolled.
When one thing isn’t going your method whilst you’re wrenching, do you ever simply lay below the automobile dejected and depressed along with your head within the gravel staring into the void? That’s how I felt after the third hour of making an attempt to get the sway bar to suit. With the intention to get extra clearance I dropped the exhaust, took each rear wheels off, and disconnected each rear decrease management arms. Oh boy, this isn’t going nicely in any respect, is it?
It’s tough to inform from the picture above, however the inventory sway bar is a barely completely different form than the H&R bar, and there’s an excellent motive for that. The place the aftermarket bar kinks upward to be out of the under-car airflow and create higher floor clearance, the inventory bar dips down barely. Man-handling the aftermarket bar into place, I did loads of doubting myself. What am I doing fallacious right here? Because it seems, the inventory bar dips down within the center to clear the E-tron’s battery pack, one thing a GTI or A3 2.0T don’t have to fret about.
So at about hour 5 of this horrifyingly elongated job I reluctantly moved on to the decreasing springs and put the inventory bar again in with the brand new steel finish hyperlinks. Buttoning every little thing up ought to have been the work of a second, however I misplaced three items of {hardware} within the gravel driveway, and it took a little bit of doing to search out them. Ultimately, the rear springs went in a lot simpler as a result of the suspension was already blown aside, so I popped them in, reattached the management arms, and bolted the wheels again on.
I feel the lesson right here is that issues don’t at all times go completely, even if you happen to assume you’ve deliberate accordingly. I needed to get all 4 corners of the automobile completed earlier than sundown (which is an admittedly early 5PM lately), however all I managed to do in seven hours is give my Audi A3 a slight Carolina Squat.
I’m considerably extra assured that the entrance sway bar will match, however a stiff entrance bar and not using a stiff rear bar is simply going to make the automobile understeer greater than it already does. It’s attainable {that a} sway bar from an all-wheel drive MQB machine could have a downward dip to clear the rear differential, however with the intention to know for certain I’ll simply should order one and discover out. A extra recognized amount answer could be to import a stiffer rear bar from the Euro-only Volkswagen Golf GTE, the plug-in hybrid GTI which used the identical drivetrain (and thus battery pack) as this A3 E-Tron. No person actually modifies these, so there aren’t many sources on the market. Hopefully my debacle can be utilized to forestall another person from making the identical mistake.
Issues don’t at all times go your method in automobile wrenching. Attempt to not get too discouraged.
