Eibach anti-sway bars
 

Way back in Nov 1998, I installed both front and rear Eibach anti-sway bars on my S5 non-turbo. I bought the anti-sway kit, which included PU bushings as well as all the mounting hardware. I think that I bought the kit from Tire Rack, but my order history doesn't go back that far.

Late last year, I rebuilt my front suspension (i.e., control arm bushings, inner/outer tie rods, ball joints [I'm using S4 control arms] and R&P bushings) and while the anti-sway bar end links were off I wasn't able to rotate the anti-sway bar. I tried forceably, but didn't use my entire body weight. Clearly, the bar should be firm in its mounts, but should also swivel when a reasonable torque is applied. It was like the bar was frozen in its mounts. I thought to myself that something is not right here. I'm looking at replacing the front bar mounting hardware with the greaseable PU bushings and mounting hardware. That is, these greaseable mounts that have zerk fitting allowing periodic regreasing. Well, in order to buy these new mounts, I need to know the exact diameter of my bars.

While under the car the other day, I decided to measure the diameters of the front and rear bars with a pair of digital calipers. I was unable to get a precise measurement due to condition of the paint on the bars (i.e., the paint was somewhat blistered due to the age of the bars) and the confined location of the bars didn't give me full access. I measured roughly 29-30 mm for front bar and 19-20 mm for rear bar.

At that point, I decided to research the web looking for more information. Well, the Eibach anti-sway bars are apparently NLA for the FC. As a matter of fact, I wasn't able to find any specs on these bars by Googling. Nothing to be found out there! I then called Eibach technical service about the specs for these bars. The Eibach tech service guy searched and after stummblig around told me the bar diameters were front 28 mm and 17 mm. The front number might be plausible, but the rear no way. The rear is so much off from what I measured.

Bar diameters from other manufacturers:
Suspension Techniques: Front 1-1/8" (28.5 mm), Rear 3/4" (19.1 mm)
Racing Beat: Front 1-1/8" (28.5 mm), Rear 0.625" (15.9 mm)

Within my possible range of interest, greasable front bushings are available for 28, 28.5 (1-1/8") and 29 mm diameter bars. I'm thinking that my front bar diameter is probably comparable to both the RB and ST bars. It's probably 1-1/8", but I'm not 100% sure. I guess, as a last resort, I could buy all 3 sizes and return the ones that I didn't use, but I hesitate to do that.

Is anybody running Eibach anti-sawy bars in their FC? If so, than any info on the diameters? Does anybody have any info on these Eibach bars?

Why does everything so simple always turn out to be a PITA?