No. Its the actual beam that's just very easy to bend. Nothings wrong with it though as both other 86c polo's i checked had the same story. Just seem very easy to flex.

Being a track wizard hayesy, have you not found room for improvement?

I've got nylon bushes and mk1 golf coilovers at the back of mine. There's definitely room for improvement but I don't find it too bad. Weight imbalance between the front & rear is the main thing I'm wanting to sort out next, picking up a fibreglass bonnet soon and moving the battery. I'm sure if I press the brakes hard enough it'd do an endo now!

Mine has a gt/g40 axle with the roll bar thing on it though.

That's what I would have said, just stiffen the springs if you can instead of adding an ARB.. it will more or less do the same in the middle of a corner, except an ARB is more likely to pick up the inside back leg?

Might have got this wrong, but maybe the ride is bad because of your dampers and the springs aren't actually as stiff as you thought? What are the spring rates do you know?

And when you say the back is all over the place, do you mean skipping out or just rolling alot?

Nylon rear beam bushes you talking about? heard there abit tempremental on a road car though and would need replacing more frequently.

Any pictures of the anti roll bar?

That's what I would have said, just stiffen the springs if you can instead of adding an ARB.. it will more or less do the same in the middle of a corner, except an ARB is more likely to pick up the inside back leg?

Might have got this wrong, but maybe the ride is bad because of your dampers and the springs aren't actually as stiff as you thought? What are the spring rates do you know?

And when you say the back is all over the place, do you mean skipping out or just rolling alot?

The springs are as stiff as you can get, but that's never gonna stop the weight of the car in a corner, you'd have to make them solid to stop the roll mate.

An anti roll bar will help stop the axle mounts flexing in relation to the actual cross member of the beam, and that's what i need.

That's what I would have said, just stiffen the springs if you can instead of adding an ARB.. it will more or less do the same in the middle of a corner, except an ARB is more likely to pick up the inside back leg?

Might have got this wrong, but maybe the ride is bad because of your dampers and the springs aren't actually as stiff as you thought? What are the spring rates do you know?

And when you say the back is all over the place, do you mean skipping out or just rolling alot?

The springs are as stiff as you can get, but that's never gonna stop the weight of the car in a corner, you'd have to make them solid to stop the roll mate.

An anti roll bar will help stop the axle mounts flexing in relation to the actual cross member of the beam, and that's what i need.

Oh, so you don't want the ARB just to stop it rolling, you want it to basically act as an extra control arm? Wouldn't sorting out some better bushes do what you want, if it's just to stop the whole beam moving about laterally when turning? Or would it never be as good?

Uprated bushes will just get rid of any play in the beam mountings, not stop it flexing. I think the bushes are pretty new too.

Its the actual twisting of the beam i want to improve on, because it that, thats causing the excessive roll you get on a standard non-gt/g40 rear beam.

MikeyMK has fitted a custom ARB and he says it works wonders, completley sorting on the rear of the car when stuff gets twisty.

Uprated bushes will just get rid of any play in the beam mountings, not stop it flexing. I think the bushes are pretty new too.

Its the actual twisting of the beam i want to improve on, because it that, thats causing the excessive roll you get on a standard non-gt/g40 rear beam.

MikeyMK has fitted a custom ARB and he says it works wonders, completley sorting on the rear of the car when stuff gets twisty.

So by beam, you mean the part that joins each trailing arm component together in the middle? And by that flexing, you mean when looking at the car from the back, when one wheel is lifted higher than the other and the beam is flexed, almost twisted, like when rolling in a corner?

How would adding a stiffer spring to the corner that is being lifted not help cure this? Cause if you're adding an ARB, that is basically just increasing the spring rate of that corner, like adding in another spring, is it not? Sorry if my confusion makes no sense lol

Putting in some ultra stiff springs and dampeners would help no doubt, but mine are allready hard enough and i don't want the ride any worse!

And thinking about it, i dont think that would be good enough.

You could try the French approach and use soft springs with stiff dampers. Works well on the front of the 205 GTi.

Edited 11 July, 201115 yr by yeha

Hmm, standard chopped springs with uprated shocks?

To be honest I think I'm gonna save up for a H&R cup kit, and build my own rear arb set-up.

Hurry up with them pics mikey!

Id tried the stiff approach,hated it. Mine is a road car see,and a compliant ride is favoured. I like to enjoy driving on various road types,in various conditions.

So i like the rear quite soft,until i take a corner - then i like the rear to hold up even under acceleration,so it has absolutely no tendancy to squat,actually making the car dive and subsequently keep the inside front tyre pressed down. For this,soft suspension and stiff anti-flex of the rear beam (so the inside rear suspension assists the outer) is the way forward for me.

Certainly, can you get any pics of your set up on here then mikey?

^^ Think we've already covered this issue?

Your new one!

I think he means he said he'll post them up from his phone when he replaces his screen. I'd like to see the set up too.. haha

Aye, but he said he would update the other thread that he originally posted on, but this thread has more relavance to the subject so it should be here :-D

I consider this a repost,yet another topic regarding the rear beam - if one had used the search function, one would've have found my one given the banter about rear ARB's in it.

And until people continue to write 'rover 400' in other topics and fuck up the search function completely,it'll remain easy for us to find the link.

So i'll update my existing,and better,topic when i can do so

I consider this a repost,yet another topic regarding the rear beam - if one had used the search function, one would've have found my one given the banter about rear ARB's in it.

And until people continue to write 'rover 400' in other topics and fuck up the search function completely,it'll remain easy for us to find the link.

So i'll update my existing,and better,topic when i can do so

You don't have a thread about this topic , searching for a decent thread on this proved worthless...

The ONE existing thread that has some relevance to this subject is cheys03 asking for help fitting a ARB, not about structurely improving the rear beam itself.

I didn't realise that fitting a rear anti roll bar didn't count as stiffening up the rear, or count as a rear beam modification.

In which case you're clearly not talking about rear ARB's.

Therefore,as stated,further details of my latest ARB will be in that topic not this one.

I have not yet modified the rear beam itself,such as weld additional metal to it,so i shall exit from this topic altogether - just to say though,that Heg123 did weld additional bracing to his old MK2 rally car 'Goldie' which can be found in the members gallery..

I didn't realise that fitting a rear anti roll bar didn't count as stiffening up the rear, or count as a rear beam modification.

In which case you're clearly not talking about rear ARB's.

Therefore,as stated,further details of my latest ARB will be in that topic not this one.

I have not yet modified the rear beam itself,such as weld additional metal to it,so i shall exit from this topic altogether - just to say though,that Heg123 did weld additional bracing to his old MK2 rally car 'Goldie' which can be found in the members gallery..

Yeah i've just spotted that, looks similar to what i thought about doing...

Having had another look at the thread your talking about i can now see that it does have a lot relevance to rear ARB's ,

But to be honest, i wouldn't class a custom rear ARB as structurely improving the rear beam, but that's all down to opinion.

you say tomato, i say tomata!

that threads in the FAQ anyway, so your searching argument is flawed, its better to consolidate all the information in one place, and its hardly a point worth lingering over.

If you want Mikey to update the thread with new pictures, how about you just say thanks and patiently wait instead of poking him with a stick =/

Fitting a separate ARB or making the rear beam stiffer pretty much has the same effect.

Fitting an Arb would be better as you can then have adjustments on how much it comes into play.

Fitting a separate ARB or making the rear beam stiffer pretty much has the same effect.

Fitting an Arb would be better as you can then have adjustments on how much it comes into play.

Yeah an ARB is better in that respect, but getting an ARB set-up that's suitable and that actually fits might be abit tricky. God knows how mikey worked out that the rover400 ones and the one he's using now fits perfectly

Also, it's probably much easier to strucurely stregnthen the beam to stop the flex, but its a bit more pikey and less professional.

Have you not thought about any improvement on the rear set-up mark?

Nice input grungeisdead

Edited 14 July, 201115 yr by MaxMax

God knows how mikey worked out that the rover400 ones and the one he's using now fits perfectly

Same way as i worked out how to fit bike carbs to a 6n engine and put it into a MK2 Polo several years ago - isolated,unassisted initiative combined with accute bravery,self belief,intelligence and effort.

Finding a suitable ARB took me 15mins in a breakers with a tape measure.

The benefit with an anti roll bar is controlled spring rate. Absolute rigidity suggests bad news,an initial touch of flex offers damping required to prevent skittishness,with the spring rate building up progressively.

How much resistance you want from the bar requires calculation. The bushes on the Rover item made it particularly forgiving on the coarse surfaced roads.

Absolute rigidity suggests bad news,an initial touch of flex offers damping required to prevent skittishness,with the spring rate building up progressively.

Which spring rate are you saying is progressive now? The rear beam or an ARB? I find it very hard to follow the terms you're using to justify your suspension set up Mikey lol