034 Motorsport Rear Sway Bar

I recently took advantage of a group buy on Audizine to buy the new 034 Motorsport rear sway bar for the B6/B7 Audi A4/S4/RS4 platform and am quite pleased with the mod and wanted to share some thoughts here, in usual Nick’s Car blog fashion…

I was quite pleased with my suspension setup already thanks to a dialed in set of STaSIS Coilovers with Swift Springs, and for a while I wasn’t sure if I really *needed* to upgrade my sway bar or not, as my suspension was pretty stiff. Like most modifications, it wasn’t really a “need” that drove the purchase, but at a relatively affordable price point (<$200) it seemed like a good thing to cross of the list. When the group buy was offered for a third time, I finally bit the bullet to cross the last item off my list for my S4’s suspension.

The kit comes with all of the hardware and stronger urethane bushings on top of the thicker 25mm sway bar. The OEM sway bar on the A4 is just 16-18mm (depending on if you have the Sport suspension or not), while the S4 came with a 20-22mm sway bar depending on the year. Several aftermarket rear sway bars vary from 22mm-29mm in thickness, so I found the 034 sway bar to be a good “in between.” I know several people who run the 29mm rear sway bar, and I’d heard that it was so stiff it made the ride quality of the car much worse and sometimes even broke or snapped out of place, so 29mm seemed too aggressive for my taste. Many choose to upgrade to the 22mm RS4 rear sway bar, which is what I did my A4, but I liked that the 034 sway bar was a little beefier and also had some adjustability and more robust bushings…after driving with it for a week or two, I can confirm it’s pretty much the “Goldilocks” of sway bars, with no noticeable decrease in ride quality, but a noticeable improvement reducing body roll in hard cornering and aggressive maneuvering.

I am excited to hit the track or autocross soon, as that will really demonstrate the improvements of the sway bar, as well as the Big Brake Kit I had installed (but have refrained on reviewing quite yet, as I haven’t had a chance to really test its capabilities yet either). Like the 034 Motorsport website mentions, this upgraded rear sway bar works quite nicely with the OEM front sway bar, and the car feels well balanced and brings confidence to the driver. I haven’t tried adjusting the sway bar to the aggressive setting yet, but that is also a possibility with this sway bar, which was a nice feature I thought. Below is a picture at my last autocross event, before I had the sway bar on but after I had done my suspension – as you can see, I still had quite a bit of body roll, so I’m excited to see the impact this should make, especially in the more aggressive setting:

Installation was quite easy, with everything you need to install included in the kit, included lube/grease for the bushings. We had to move around the bracket for my Milltek exhaust ever so slightly to avoid rubbing, but otherwise it was a very easy and painless install that can be done in under 1 hour with the right tools.

If you’re interested, check out this part on the 034 website here: http://www.034motorsport.com/chassis-components-audi-a4s4a6s6-034motorsport-solid-rear-sway-bar-b6b7-audi-a4s4rs4-quattro-fwd-adjustable-p-23007.html