Hotchkis sway bar (arb) install on a 2003 rs6

[skyegtb]

About 6 months ago I fitted a Hotchkis uprated sway bar kit (ARB - Anti roll bar as we call them in the UK) on my 2003 RS6. I imported these from the USA myself as at the time I was not aware of any UK supplier.

The installation is extremely easy so long as you have access to the basics – trolley jacks, axle stands, a flat hard floor and some metric tools. Most keen DIY’ers should have all of this stuff at hand.

When you buy the kit it comes with everything you need and the whole thing is extremely well packaged. The kit includes front and rear bars, bushings, mounting brackets and all necessary nuts, bolts, loctite and grease. The kit also comes with full fitting instructions, so in some way it makes my write up here a little obsolete, but I thought it might be of some interest to show people who are planning to purchase the kit what was involved. Also, I did not follow the installation instructions to the letter, as they suggest the job could only be done with the car raised on a ramp with the wheels on and suspension fully loaded.... This is not strictly true as I will prove below.

OK, first step. Jack up all four corners of the car and place axle stands at the marked support points on the sills. I removed the wheels but this is not actually necessary, I just did it so I could see what I was doing better and to allow more access.

Starting with the front bar, remove the plastic undertray from below the engine. This is held on with a number of fittings, a few of which require access from under the wheel arch. When removed place to one side.

With the undertray removed you have full access to the front bar, and can see it is secured by 2 inner brackets with bushings (held on with 2 nuts each), and on the outer ends by a single nut and bolt connected to the outer ARB link.

Removal of this bar is simple, just undo the inner and outer connections and lower the bar to the floor.

Comparison pictures of the original and Hotchkis front bars:
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Installation of the new bar is the reverse of the removal procedure but remember to grease up the new inner bushings.

The only difference with the outer connection of the bar is that the Hotchkis one has a threaded hole in the end that connects to the ARB link whereas the original has a flat end and a hole that requires a nut and bolt. To connect the end use the original bolt, but remember to apply loctite (thread-locker) before installing.

Front bar installed
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[skyegtb]

OK, moving on to the rear bar. The fitting of the rear is a little more involving as it requires dropping the exhaust to allow clearance for the bar to be fitted. My car has the MTM exhaust system fitted and I am not sure how this compares to the standard exhaust or other aftermarket exhausts that are available, but for me I simply removed the back boxes to gain full access to the anti roll bar.

The alternative is to unbolt the back box hangers from forward of the rear bumper, then support the middle section of the exhaust from below. You would then have to disconnect the middle exhaust hanger and allow the exhaust to drop a few inches to give the necessary access. The front flexi-pipe on the exhaust would allow enough movement to accommodate this drop.

Comparison picture of the original and Hotchkis rear bars:
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Back boxes removed:
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When you have dealt with the exhaust and have access to the bar you will note that the rear bar is attached in much the same way as the front. The only difference is that the rear inner brackets also support a DRC hose on each side. My car has KW V3’s but I still have the hoses there, albeit they are blanked off. If you still have DRC you will need to take care when swapping the hoses on to the new brackets.

Removal of the rear bar is the same as the front, but you will see from the pictures below that I used my trolley jacks to raise the suspension on both sides; this is to take some of the strain off the bar and the outer links and it makes removal / installation a lot easier.

Installation of the new bar is the reverse of the removal, but the other point of note is that the Hotchkis bar has 2 settings – ‘stiff’ and ‘very stiff’! There are 2 holes at the end of the bar, the outer is ‘stiff’, the inner is ‘very stiff’. I used ‘very stiff’.

On the next thread I will attach the installed pics.

[skyegtb]

Rear bar installed. You can see the support for the DRC pipes, and also the 2 holes at the ends of the bars. When the bar is fitted, you can put the undertray and exhaust back on, and the job is done.

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Now go for a drive and feel the difference!
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[DuckWingDuck]

nice!

how do you like your movits?

[skyegtb]

nice!

how do you like your movits?

They are truly excellent brakes, but the price is astronomical - I replaced the front discs and pads only at the same time as doing the ARB's and the cost was around £1600!!!! I would have been cheaper getting the 390x36mm RS6 C6 conversion done... Maybe next time.
I am currently looking for an alternative supplier for the rear discs, Movit discs are around £1000 for the pair - they are 342x32 discs. I am hoping to find something close and adapt my caliper brackets to fit them.
If I find a suitable replacement I will put the details up here.

[Erik]

Great post. Thanks!

[skyegtb]

Great post. Thanks!

No worries! I plan to put up a few more 'how to's' in the future, hopefully they will prove useful to other members of the forum.

[Jani]

I am currently looking for an alternative supplier for the rear discs, Movit discs are around £1000 for the pair - they are 342x32 discs.

You can change just the disc and re-use the old hat, Movit allow that to happen once, if you give them the manufacturing number of the hat. Then the price will be about 100 - 150€ lower per disc.

They do worry about corrosion of the hat, so you have to change it at least with every other disc change.

Thanks for the write-up.

[skyegtb]

You can change just the disc and re-use the old hat, Movit allow that to happen once, if you give them the manufacturing number of the hat. Then the price will be about 100 - 150€ lower per disc.

They do worry about corrosion of the hat, so you have to change it at least with every other disc change.

Thanks for the write-up.

Interesting! I was not advised about this when I purchased the new front discs from the sole UK supplier... I still have the old front discs in my shed and the hats are in excellent condition.
Thanks for the info.

[800088]

I hope not.

[skyegtb]

I hope not.

I am afraid it is. MTM tuneable quad tail pipe exhaust system. This is where it came from.
http://www.qstuning.com/display.php?...l=12&engine=54

[R1]

wow how did your rotors got so rusty ...

[DHall1]

Sitting on an island with salt water all around?

And BTW, cheers to another very good DIY writeup. I like how the group is taking to getting this stuff documented and putting a proper subject title on the thread. Very good search resource.

Thumbs up!

wow how did your rotors got so rusty ...

[Erik]

And BTW, cheers to another very good DIY writeup. I like how the group is taking to getting this stuff documented and putting a proper subject title on the thread. Very good search resource.

+1

Searchability is the key!

I know searching old threads from 2002 and onwards, can be really good and fun sometimes.

I have been thinking about making a master thread with links to DIY posts...

[Benman]

Thumbs up!

Ditto that. Thank you for the informative post.

Ben

[DuckWingDuck]

+1

Searchability is the key!

I know searching old threads from 2002 and onwards, can be really good and fun sometimes.

I have been thinking about making a master thread with links to DIY posts...

+15!!!! That would be great and very, very helpful!

[skyegtb]

Sitting on an island with salt water all around?

And BTW, cheers to another very good DIY writeup. I like how the group is taking to getting this stuff documented and putting a proper subject title on the thread. Very good search resource.

Thumbs up!

Exactly correct! Also those pictures were from early January this year, outside temp about 3°C and a lot of salt and grit on the roads etc. In Northern Scotland our cars suffer a lot of abuse from road treatments and being constantly wet etc. Since those pictures I removed the rear discs, re-drilled the holes, soaked them is rust inhibiting fluid and had them skimmed. They are now a lot better looking than in the pictures, in fact, like new again.
Thanks for all the positive comments. For me the real fun in forums is seeing people carrying out thier own work and especially custom upgrading and so on. Having a how to' section in a motoring forum is also a great idea, as sometimes this narrows the number of posts one has to trawl through to find the info they are after.
I have a few jobs coming up on my car and will make a log of the work, and heres hoping others start to do the same!
Cheers, Angus

[uncfrk]

This is extremely helpful since I'm going to install the same kit this week. I'm probably going to try to do the front first then the rear. Jacking up one end at a time, keeping 2 wheels on the ground at all times.

Thanks again