DIYs

034 Motorsport Adjustable Rear Sway Bar Install Guide

A step-by-step guide for the 8J/8P AUDI TT, A3/S3/RS3, MKV/MKVI VW R32 & GOLF R

I picked up the 034 Motorsport rear sway bar during their Black Friday sale, and had some downtime over the holidays to finally install it. I had an 034 rear sway bar on my S4, so I was excited to check out the product for the TTRS, especially since I still experienced some understeer on the car that this product is known to help out with…and given all of the success I’ve had with other 034 products for my TTRS, I was pretty confident this one would be a winner too. 034 Motorsport provides installations instructions for nearly every product on their website, but I found the install guide for the TTRS to be a little less detailed than I hoped; I had never installed a rear sway bar before, and their guide had no pictures, so it took a little longer than it should have as I had to figure some things out as I went along. I documented the process in detail, so that other MK2 Audi TT owners could benefit; I believe that the majority of the process is the same for the other vehicles this part works on which includes the A3, MKV-VI Golf, and their higher performance variants. You don’t really need any special tools you don’t have already, but a set of triple square sockets will help a lot, as do Rhino Ramps.

Installation Guide

Start by raising your rear – ideally with Rhino Ramps, as you want the suspension to remain compressed and under load. If you need to use jack stands, then you’ll want to find a way to prop up the wheels – cinder blocks, jacks, etc. so that the suspension has some load on it.

Start by removing the factory rear sway bar, starting with disconnecting the end links using a 16mm wrench and an M6 triple square bit from your triple square socket kit. I didn’t have the M6 triple square in my tool chest and was eager to get this installed, so I found a 5mm allen key that did the trick. The torque specs on these bolts are not very high, so it’s pretty easy to break free. You just need to remove the lower bolt of the end links, you can leave the top bolt secured that holds the end links to the car itself. Both ends of the rear sway bar should now be free.

Next, remove the rear sway bar brackets; they’re pretty easy to find and access. Use a M10 triple square, but if you don’t have one an 8mm allen or T30 bit is about the same size and should work just fine. Again the torque spec isn’t very high, so you should be able to break these loose pretty easily. Once you remove all four bolts (two per side), the sway bar should come right off the car.

Next, unbox the 034 RSB and admire the difference between factory and aftermarket setups. Not only is the 034 bar thicker, but the hardware and bushings are significantly improved. Slide the 034 back into place where the factory bar is, which is a little tricky but just keep playing the angles until it slides into place.

Start with installing the two brackets first, and do the end links last. Be sure to slide in the backing plate behind the sway bar brackets, which is a component that didn’t exist in the factory setup but helps give the setup a more solid feel. Thread the bolts on by hand for now, as you want some play to get the end links in place.

The end links are a little tricky to get lined up, so use a jack if you need help pushing the ends of the sway bar up and into place. Keeping the brackets loose will also help. The front settings are still 362% stiffer than factory and recommend for most drivers, so I went with that – it’s also easier to install, which is a plus. Once all of the bolts have been threaded by hand, start by tightening the two brackets, then move to the end links last. Tighten each one with your socket wrench until they’re pretty tight, but don’t crank on them. The specs are just 15nm for the brackets and 30nm for the end links, which isn’t very tight at all – remember how easy it was to break these loose? They should be tightened to that amount too, and over-tightening can lead to them stripping or cracking.

Once everything is tightened, drive the car off the ramps, and go for a spin! After a few spirited drives myself I can tell little to no adverse impacts to the ride quality, which I was most concerned about…from a daily driver perspective it drives as comfortable as stock. On the upside, body roll and understeer on hard cornering is definitely and noticeably improved. I took my favorite 270 degree freeway off ramp at speed with traction control off and the car handled on rails, limited more by driver talent/confidence than by suspension dynamics. If anything, there is slight oversteer in the right conditions now. I have the MSS Kits street springs installed, and these two mods together make the car a lot more neutral and less prone to understeer, which is perfect for my build goals of a street car that tracks well, and vice versa.

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

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