[phowie50]

(I copied this post from the vendor classifieds as it seemed more on point here)

Just installed the Harmon front and rear bars with whiteline end links on both. Chose to drink a few beers in lieu of a test drive tonight. The bars fit great and, as everyone has posted, should work great as well.

That said, I wasn't super impressed with the fit and install of the whiteline endlinks in the rear of the car . Getting the spacers (see pic--pieces of brass on either side of the spherical joint) in place on the lower control arm took a fair amount of work. I actually had to shave 1/8" or so of an inch off one spacer for both the driver and passenger side in order to get everything to fit inside the body of the control arm (pic 2). Even after shaving that much off the spacer, the fit was so tight that I tore two of the dust boots upon installation. Without shaving the spacers the parts would not have fit, no way, no how.

Has anyone else installed these rear links with similar problems? Is there a trick that I missed?

[STI 08]

i had a hard time getting those spacers into the control arm too! i had to really fight them in, i to pull them down and twist back and forth to get them into position. with the rubber boots, i pulled them onto the spacer while i was putting them in, once in i slid the boots off onto the ball joints.
i actually emailed harmman and they suggested loosening the struts in the control arm to relax it, didnt end up doing it though.

[Krusader_08_STI]

im getting my HM sways in next week along with the white line end links (whatever they call them sherical somethin'). I hope the install isn't rediculously technical (shaving parts to doesn't sound fun or simple) I'll reply with feedback after install. How does the car handle now phowie50???

[method]

Group-A has had rear endlinks for a while:

/// Welcome To Group A Performance ///

[phowie50]

Sti 08: Thanks for your post. I too found (too late) that rolling the dust boot up onto the spacer before squeezing it into the control arm (between the spherical bearing and control arm wall) helped with fitting. I was thinking at the time how much the process reminded me of the directions on a condom wrapper, i.e., pinch tip, grasp condom between thumb and forefinger, and unroll... onto metal spacer. Unfortunately, I realized that this helped only after tearing the boot on the other side. I also have no idea how it would have fit without shaving 1/8" off the spacer first. Good job on getting it in there.

Krusader 08: Handling seems improved. I've hit a few backroads and the car is way flatter. The chain reaction is that the car seems to turn with less input. I'll post again after auto-x on the 21st. The upgrade made no noticeable increase in cabin noise during ordinary driving. I only heard/felt slight chatter when I took the car through an uneven dirt lot. I believe this is related to the end links now not having the cushion the stockers had-- everything is just more of a direct link between the bar, end links, control arm, and ultimately the car. The noise doesn't appear 99.9% of the time. The proof being in the pudding- my wife didn't notice that I had changed a thing (nor has she seen the credit card bill)

After reading other posts, I don't know if the Whiteline endlinks can really be said to have much, if any, part in the handling improvement. For me, I just thought that if I was going to be under the car swapping the sways out for the Harmans, I might as well upgrade the links to sturdier bits at the same time. Let me know if anyone else has a problem with the spacer on the rear lower control arms. More solutions like Sti 08s would be helpful to future purchasers.

[phowie50]

Method- I saw those too late. Plus, I couldn't find anyone who had tried them. Tey seem like a more stock-ish type solution and without the "some assembly required" approach of the whitelines.

Originally Posted by method

Group-A has had rear endlinks for a while:

/// Welcome To Group A Performance ///

[method]

Originally Posted by phowie50

Method- I saw those too late. Plus, I couldn't find anyone who had tried them. Tey seem like a more stock-ish type solution and without the "some assembly required" approach of the whitelines.

I'm gonna pick some up when it comes time to do the F/R SB...I'm waiting to crunch some more dynamics numbers before I go ahead and pick out a bar.

[Turninconcepts.com]

If you unbolt the lower strut bolt as well as the endlink bolt the spacers are much easier to install. The lower control arm is not very strong and will flex enough to provide some more room for install.

Tony

[phowie50]

Tony,

Awesome. Kicking myself for not noticing the tension caused by the lower-strut bolt. Good tip.
-P

[kris]

Originally Posted by phowie50

Method- I saw those too late. Plus, I couldn't find anyone who had tried them. Tey seem like a more stock-ish type solution and without the "some assembly required" approach of the whitelines.

I have been running them since May...my thoughts

My 08 Alpine White STI Stage 1, Stage 2+ ordered

[Garrett]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

We have Whiteline rear endlinks for the 08 in stock as well as their camber adjustment bushings for the rear. When we talked to them about the availability of 08 parts, they admitted that they should not have released so much info so early on as many of the parts they spoke about were still in the development stage of life. They are going to work through us to get the info out about new and upcoming parts in the future in a more timely conjunction to when the parts will actually be released.

Stay tuned as there will be some very cool products released soon for the 08 that we got wind of during out meeting that is going to revolutionize the industry.

Tony

Why don't you tell them to modify their website to include "Available" and "In Development" with lots of pictures and descriptions, etc....? Perhaps giving those parts that are in development their own sections, so we can hold off buying "other" products, if we know something of quality is coming don the pipe. ...?

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures...!





-Garrett

[impressive]

does kart boy have already front and rear endlinks? for the 08 how does it match up with whiteline swaybars? thanks

[Turninconcepts.com]

Kartboy's older front endlinks work as they have not changed on the 08. He has a prototype set of rears, but has not released them.

[Turninconcepts.com]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

Kartboy's older front endlinks work as they have not changed on the 08. He has a prototype set of rears, but has not released them.

And just as a follow up - it's going to be a while. Kartboy went into the hospital last wed with chest pain, and actually ended up getting a quad bypass on Friday. He's in the hospital until at least the end of this week, and then he's not allowed to do ANYTHING for 4-6 weeks (no driving, no working, no running the milll...).

-Clint

[pwn]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

And just as a follow up - it's going to be a while. Kartboy went into the hospital last wed with chest pain, and actually ended up getting a quad bypass on Friday. He's in the hospital until at least the end of this week, and then he's not allowed to do ANYTHING for 4-6 weeks (no driving, no working, no running the milll...).

-Clint

hope he recovers alright