BMW E30 Sway Bar Installation Guide [Front & Rear ARB] How To Fit Eibach Anti Roll Bar Review | 041

BMW E30 Sway Bar Installation Guide [Front & Rear ARB] How To Fit Eibach Anti Roll Bar Review | 041

In this video, I show how to fit front and rear anti-roll bars to a BMW E30.

Here is what I used:

A standard BMW E30 has boat-like handling and rolls a lot in the corners. This was even true of the E30 318is I had years ago which came equipped with the full 325i sport suspension with larger front struts. I remember wishing it would corner a bit flatter, but it was too clean and original to modify.

With this 316i E30 build project, I'm planning to make it my ultimate version of the E30 and a real B-road blasting missile. I don't want this car to be so stiff that it rattles your teeth out, but I do want it to be firm and confidence-inspiring as I swerve across the Yorkshire countryside at pace.

To achieve this, I opted for larger front and rear ARBs for the car. Known as sway bars across the pond, there are a few companies that provide ARB kits for the BMW E30.

As my car is a poverty spec facelift 316i, it actually came equipped from the factory with an 18.5mm front sway bar, which is rather skinny. Further to this, it didn't come equipped with a rear sway bar at all. I suspect when I get the M52 engine in and drive the car spiritedly it would be rolling in the corners badly.

A BMW 325i sport would have come equipped with 20mm front and a 12mm rear sway bar.

I considered the most aggressive upgrade which would be to a pair of Whiteline ARBs, these are 24mm in the front and 16mm rear, but I fear this size on a light chassis would make the handling a bit too stiff, so I settled on the E30 Eibach Sway Bar Kit 20mm Front 16mm Rear (E2003-320). These bars are adjustable and I'll be surprised if I end up on the stiffest setting. I will start them on the softest setting and I can dial them up from there.

One of the big benefits of the Eibach kit is that it can come with the complete fitting kit included. This particular kit came with the 2 bars, their polyurethane bushings, the correct grease, OE rear ARB bushing brackets and their screws, and even the rear ARB links. I sourced mine through Vision Racing Developments (VRD) and thanks again to Rich for supplying the kit.

Fitting the kit was quite straightforward, but first, it's worth noting that a major weak spot on the E30 is the front subframe ARB mounting tabs, these are commonly known to rip off, especially if you're fitting stiffer sway bars. In a much earlier video, I welded on the reinforcement plates to mine which I'd strongly recommend.

I started by fitting the E30 front sway bar, threading it above the front control arms and across the car. I had a real issue getting the bushings fitted so ended up sanding them down a bit using the finger sander (powerfile).

They fitted up a treat. I went ahead and fitted Ford Mondeo Estate Mk3 rear ARB links which are a great upgrade to use as the front links on an E30. These are a bit shorter to help account for a lower ride height too. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to use these due to the way my front control arms had moved when I did my 5-lug swap using the SRS Concept front control arm bushings but turns out they fit nicely and even hold the sway bar nice and parallel to the ground. At least when the suspension is at full droop.

The rear anti-roll bar fitting involved taking out a rear spring, which I did by unbolting the bottom of the rear strut and letting the rear trailing arm hang down. With this spring out of the way, I was able to feed the rear ARB above the differential and over the fuel filler neck into position. Remembering to route the diff's speed sensor plug wiring below and away from the roll bar.

The rear diff poly bushings fit perfectly, as did the new brackets and screws. I also went ahead and used the E30 rear sway bar links provided in the kit which fit up perfect and also look like they will allow the bar to remain parallel when all four wheels are on the ground.

I had a great experience with the Eibach E30 sway bar kit and can recommend it. As for its performance on the road, you'll have to wait for my comments down the line.

As an addition to this video, I went ahead and bolted my Record Vise to the workbench, which was long overdue.

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#bmwe30 #e30build #e30

[BBGBITW]

Really fun to follow this build, reminds me about what my racing team did many years ago.
We rebuilt a standard (very rusty) E30 318, completely stripped it for min weight, M3 suspension, GAZ E30 cup coilovers, limited slip diff with different ratio, tuned M20, sport headers etc.

[CubanSwagWizard]

Incredible fan service with the vice at the end 😂 I’ve watched through this whole series and just wanted to say you’re doing a fantastic job with this car. So much love and attention to detail going into this E30 plus great quality and consistency on the videos. Thanks for sticking with it and continuing to share your progress with us!

- Nathan

[shanechiddy]

Great job as usual.
LOL, love the post credit scene.
Won’t miss the wobbling vice 😂

[mixymand]

Top job, so happy to see new episodes

[dhilankerai]

Great video. I don’t plan to change sway bars as I have a sport with 20mm front and 14.5mm rear. Do you think poly bushes would help reduce body roll?

[ajbrar]

To get the front ARB bushes in you should have used a locking grip plier to pinch the tab of the bracket to the subframe, this was the only thing that worked for me. I don’t think shaving them was the best idea as this may affect the durability or stiffness of said bush. Also enjoying the videos, keep them coming! 👍🏼👍🏼

[bogdandnila]

Great job I have doing the same with my e30. Very helpful video

[vagkos]

Awesome video !! Keep up the great work you are doing !! Your work worths more subscribers for sure !!

[jimmyjamal]

Great job ... getting thete wanted to know the colour of your brake callipers....look good !! and did you refurbish them yourself

[brintacornflakes]

Hey there best bmw e30 YouTuber 🙏🙏

Uhm i have an h&r swaybar kit.. Wich looks similar to yours.
But im now concerned about my end links.
Wich one do u got?
Do u perhaps have a part number.

Because i have the rear end links for the original rear swaybar.. Wich just has a rubber top.. And the original swaybar has a male end.. Wich just pushes into the rubber link

But I have to do as you.. With a bolt and nut into end link and the swaybar.


Hope u can help

With kind regards
Sander
Netherlands

[CarlosKrumm-ry]

Will that kit fit a standard 316i that didn't come with a rear sway bar?

[polloloci]

Thumbs up for bolting that vise down. 😬

[bgok]

New sub 👍 ... Nice work ... I know the pain of installing those eibach oversized arbs 😅 got an E30 project myself ... M60b40 w/ITBs its gonna be a bit of an animal ... Eventually.

First vid ive seen of yours will check back catalogue... Good luck with the project progress 💪🐻

[gtj]

What engine are you planning to go with? An M42/44 with itbs and tuned to 180/190bhp would suit it imo but it's probably much cheaper to put a 6 pot in which would give you way more torque and driveability. The engine bay looks mint with the fresh paint.

[xelad]

I was wondering when you were going to bolt that vice down after the last video haha! Nice tip on the mondeo drop links, im hoping that because i went with the E36 M3 front 5 stud swap that i can bolt the ARB to the strut which is a bit better i've read, if not i'll definitely be using the mondeo drop links for sure.

[georgeclements]

Schoolboy maths tells me that the circumference of 21mm bar is about 3.15mm larger than 20mm: if you add the thickness of the bush, it would make a big difference to the required diameter of the cap to hold the bush. So, if your front roll bar is oversize, it could account for the problem in fitting the cap. Hopefully your solution will work o.k. Regards.