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 take a look at, I ordered up some progressive charge decreasing springs and H&R sway bars from ECS Tuning. There isn’t a lot info on the market on modifying an Audi A3 E-Tron, so I used to be taking a couple of leaps of religion right here. In poking round at itemizing after itemizing I discovered most sway bar producers listing sway bar fitment as “all FWD MQB fashions,” besides I discovered the laborious means that the rear bar doesn’t match, it doesn’t matter what I do. Let’s get into it.
I awoke on Sunday morning with the required motivation and climate to get some shit performed. The plan was to spend a couple of daytime putting in the decreasing springs and each sway bars, however the perfect 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 sooner or later. 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 this stuff 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 laborious 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 means when 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. As a way 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 purpose 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 a number of doubting myself. What am I doing flawed 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 all the pieces 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 seek 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 believe the lesson right here is that issues don’t all the time go completely, even for those who suppose you’ve deliberate accordingly. I wished 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 with out a stiff rear bar is simply going to make the automobile understeer greater than it already does. It’s potential {that a} sway bar from an all-wheel drive MQB machine could have a downward dip to clear the rear differential, however with a purpose to know for positive I’ll simply need to order one and discover out. A extra recognized amount answer can 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 all the time go your means in automobile wrenching. Strive to not get too discouraged.
