Lately, there has been a lot of hoopla about sway bar links. More specifically, the lack of support that the stock sway bar links provide the car. The stock links are made of Resin filled plastic. Naturally, this plastic flexes. This means that those wonderful sway bars on our cars aren't really working as effectively as they can be.<P>
Enter Whiteline's Solid Sway Bar Link Front and Rear kits. The kits boast improve sway bar action at lower slip angles. This translate, hopefully, into improved initial turn in.
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But why spend $160 on something so minor? Well, it may be all my fault for lowering the car too much, but I really felt that my car was still understeering. I would notice it the most at high speed approaches to a corner. These links really help cut that down. Of course, there were many other factors I installed at the same time, including an Anti-Lift kit and a Cusco rear bar, but I also raised the car up another 1/2 of an inch (Now a 2 inch drop) and aligned the car to 1/16th of an inch toe out and 1 degree negative camber in the front.
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The car is handling great so far! Now I just need the power to back its awesome corner carving abilities.
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl2.jpg WIDTH=398 HEIGHT=208 BORDER=0 ALT="Front Links">
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Its time to put the car on the lift, and check out the front link kit. Here are all the parts out of the bag, a myriad of nuts, bolts, and washers. The polyurethane bushings also help out a lot as well.
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For the purposes of this guide, we are only photographing the driver's side links. Here is an excellent shot, from the front of the car looking back, of the stock plastic end link. We begin the install by removing both nuts and bolts holding this link in place.
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl3.jpg WIDTH=589 HEIGHT=360 BORDER=0 ALT="Stock End Link">
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl4.jpg WIDTH=600 HEIGHT=357 BORDER=0 ALT="Removed Front Link">
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Same shot, this time with no link attached. I used a rag to wipe away any road grime from the mount locations. The instructions call for you to grease the new end link's yellow urethane bushings to help make them quiet and last longer.
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Now place that greased up bad boy in the bottom cup, and attach your new hardware. Note that both nuts are pointing closest to the tire, and the top uses a washer on the nut end, and between the swaybar and the Urethane bushing. The bottom just uses a washer on the bolt side.
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl5.jpg WIDTH=535 HEIGHT=371 BORDER=0 ALT="White Line Link in place">
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl6.jpg WIDTH=450 HEIGHT=293 BORDER=0 ALT="Rear Link Kit">
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This is the rear link kit. This time I remembered to photgraph the grease pack as well. Heh. Anyways, note that the rear links look like a C shape. New bolts and nuts were also supplied.
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Another good shot of the stock plastic <B>Rear</B> end link. This shot is also on the driver side, but it is looking forward. Begin the rear install by removing all the bolts and nuts holding the plastic link in place. I took both the front and rear links, and all the hardware, and placed it in a plastic bag for safe keeping. You do not need any of the stock hardware.
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl7.jpg WIDTH=563 HEIGHT=339 BORDER=0 ALT="Stock Rear Links">
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl8.jpg WIDTH=385 HEIGHT=359 BORDER=0 ALT="Greased Up">
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Apply liberal amounts of grease to the urethane bushings on your new end links. Once again, Whiteline claims that this will make them quieter. It must work, because I don't hear mine at all!
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The bottom mounting cup for the rear end link was way to small - probably by as much as 10mm! We used a pry bar to seperate the cup a little so we could slide the new end link into place. The arrows are pointing to the sides of the cup that need to be expanded a little bit. However, once you do get it into the cup, its just a matter of threading the correct bolts in the holes, and ensuring, once again, that you use 2 washers on the top (1 between the sway bar and the bushing), and 1 on the bottom.
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl9.jpg WIDTH=589 HEIGHT=427 BORDER=0 ALT="Installing Rear Link">
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<IMG src=/mods/impreza/images/wlsbl10.jpg WIDTH=389 HEIGHT=393 BORDER=0 ALT="Tighten Up">
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Note that now the nuts are facing towards the middle of the car, and the bolt heads are towards the wheel. For some reason, it was much easier to install it this way. As you crank down on the bottom bolt, the cup we pryed open earlier crushes back into place to form a snug fit. Now go out and enjoy the improved handling of your car!
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