Endlinks for 18 forester? - to tighten up the handling
('14-'18)
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End links cannot tighten up anything. They are only links. If you want to "tighten up" the suspension, you need to replace the active parts like springs, dampers and anti-sway bars. What little "give" there may be in the end link bushings is inconsequential to non-existent when it comes to overall handling.
GD
GD
There are a few companies that make adjustable endlinks, but those are expensive and designed more for custom suspension setups. These ones are just beefier to handle stronger sway bars, and adjustable to compensate for extreme lifts/drops. As Green said, endlinks don't really tighten anything up, they just connect the components. To tighten up handling you need to upgrade the actual active parts.
The 2 fastest and cheapest ways to "tighten up" the handling on the Forester are to upgrade your rear anti-sway bar to a 19" or 20" STI one, and install a Steering Dampener Lockdown. Those made a huge difference on my 2017 XT.
The 2 fastest and cheapest ways to "tighten up" the handling on the Forester are to upgrade your rear anti-sway bar to a 19" or 20" STI one, and install a Steering Dampener Lockdown. Those made a huge difference on my 2017 XT.
I put a 19mm on my 2018 and love it, ride is pretty much the same, corning is greatly improved! You could go to the 20mm if you want it tighter but I can't speak to the overall ride quality. Most (except 1 post) who have gone 20mm have not complained about the ride.
This! This! This! The 20 mm sway bar and the Perrin Steering Dampener Lock Down cured the frightening body roll and the 'sloppy' steering feedback I experienced on my '17 Touring. Best money you can spend on performance realized to dollar invested.
Which TS suspension part did you feel has the biggest enhancement?Installing all the TS bits will tighten things up great
That would be tough to say. Probably the struts/springs would be the biggest but that's a big first step to take. Maybe start with something like the front strut tower. It has a bearing in the middle to allow certain movements but then locks up like a solid bar for side to side movement. Other things like the underbody braces and the flexible rear subframe will be harder to tell but together they add up to a better ride, but not really a harsher one.
Just wanted to clarify that you can use adjustable end links to increase your roll stiffness.
Normal, equal length end links transmit 0lb when the wheels are even, and transmit increasing force as the wheel travels differ. If you corner scale the car, you can use adjustable links to balance your corner weights. As a bonus, your roll stiffness starts with some initial tension, so you don't start at 0 lb, and increase from that new value instead, transferring more force per wheel travel difference, adding roll stiffness. Additionally, you can change the mechanical advantage of the link on the bar by shortening or lengthening both links the same ammount, which changes the angle between the link and the arms of the bar bar, which will add or subtract stiffness. On a road car, I'd expect you'd wear out the links and bushings quite quickly though, so I do agree with everyone else and suggest getting a bigger bar. Intelligently picking your alignment numbers might help too. Factory alignments pretty aggressively promote understeer.
Normal, equal length end links transmit 0lb when the wheels are even, and transmit increasing force as the wheel travels differ. If you corner scale the car, you can use adjustable links to balance your corner weights. As a bonus, your roll stiffness starts with some initial tension, so you don't start at 0 lb, and increase from that new value instead, transferring more force per wheel travel difference, adding roll stiffness. Additionally, you can change the mechanical advantage of the link on the bar by shortening or lengthening both links the same ammount, which changes the angle between the link and the arms of the bar bar, which will add or subtract stiffness. On a road car, I'd expect you'd wear out the links and bushings quite quickly though, so I do agree with everyone else and suggest getting a bigger bar. Intelligently picking your alignment numbers might help too. Factory alignments pretty aggressively promote understeer.
I recently added the 20mm and it made a big difference. If you add the Perrin lock down will you see any benefit from the STI front tower brace? I know they do different things, just trying to figure out where to throw my money first.
You are correct in that they do different things. The steering lockdown tightens up the feel and response between the steering wheel and the front wheels. This affects driving at all speeds. I noticed a huge difference!
In my experiences with past cars, the Tower Brace is only noticeable at moderate to high speeds when doing very hard cornering. Anything slow or moderate just doesn't tend to generate noticeable body/strut flex.
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