Can someone explain in Leymans Terms what Droplinks are and what they do.

Thanks

MarkW

Here goes: They link the ends of the anti roll bar to the suspension. As the car rolls into a corner the anti roll bar is designed to prevent this (hence it's name) by linking one side of the car to the other.

While rolling one side of the car will be compressed and the suspension will, via the drop link, try and pull that end of the anti roll bar up. The other side of the car will have risen and therefore tried to push the other end of the anti roll bar downwards. With one end lifted and the other end pushed down the anti roll bar will be twisted along it's length and will therefore resist this movement.

If the drop links aren't strong enough they will bend themselves and put less movement into the anti roll bar which means it can't do it's job as well as it could with rigid droplinks.

Thanks :thumb:

Original one

http://www.stefanostadal.homedns.org/images/cars/mods/sus/dl_rear_01.jpg

And here's a picture of a Whiteline solid one = better.

http://www.stefanostadal.homedns.org/images/cars/mods/sus/dl_rear_04.jpg

A picture paints a thingy....

^^wot he said^^

:D :D

Also, as replacement ones (Powerflex, Whiteline etc) are generally "shorter" than the OE ones, they preload the anti-roll bar so that the ARB starts working quicker when you go round a corner - they don't alter the strength of the ARB, just take some of the "slack" out of the system :)

Nice one Stefan :thumb:

Also, as replacement ones (Powerflex, Whiteline etc) are generally "shorter" than the OE ones, they preload the anti-roll bar so that the ARB starts working quicker when you go round a corner - they don't alter the strength of the ARB, just take some of the "slack" out of the system :)

They may or may not be shorter, but it would make no difference, the anti-roll bar would just rotate in it's mounts to meet the shorter links and work the exact same. Remember, when both sides are compressed the same amount (regardless of how much) there is no load on the anti-roll bar so it doesn't matter how long the links are (within reason, the bar will start to hit things if it's too high or low.)

What does make the anti-roll bar start to work quicker is that the new links are stiffer, so instead of the first part of the wheel travel compressing the link, before going on to work on the bar once it it loaded up more, it is working on the bar straight away. This is what gives the effect you are referring to.

And they're usually slightly shorter as this means they can be inherently stiffer without having to be too thick and adding extra weight. Although with a 1300kg car you'd have to argue how much difference a few grams would make.

Stefan