Rear ARB now fitted to an A2

So drove the car in a more spirited fashion this morning to make up for sitting in traffic for 30mins - the Whiteline is quite impressive.
Initial turn-in is faster - the front end is more "pointy" if you know what I mean.
Mid-bend body roll is better controlled.
And the most noticeable thing is how much of the plough-on understeer characteristic has been altered. If you're mid-bend (say on a big roundabout), you'd normally start to feel the front moving straight on, meaning you then either slow down or turn in more (and watch the ASR kick in). With the Whiteline, the nose keeps turning - you actually feel that the back end more and you can balance the car better. Excellent.
I have it on medium setting of course.
 
I had mine fitted couple of years ago and a great improvement. In combination with FSD's, OE (SE) rear springs and -30 Weitec on the front and on the stiffest setting it has given me upto 10mph additional entry/exit speed on some bends (on familiar roads ;-))......
 
I'm now ruing having held off so long in installing this bar - it's transformed the car's handling. It's just more fun to drive now :) I expect my MPGs to fall for a few tanks...
 
putting 16 back on helps the handling too. When I had the 15 winters, they were great for comfort but a little sloppy under compression. My rather hard Falken 912s on SE 16s are back on the car and I kind of miss that sharpness. Must come and have a ride in yours Dan!
 
Hmm, I'm hearing a little knocking sound from the rear of my car now - I'm suspecting it's the exhaust, or exhaust heatshield, around where the Whiteline mounting bracket is located. Does anyone else with a Whiteline have clearance issues? I'm just wondering where else you might have fixed the brackets? I've put the left-side bracket to the right of the exhaust if that makes sense.
 
This happened to me and i found it was the rear spring rubbers, it was something i never changed when i fitted FSD's as i left the rear springs std

Phil
 
Solved my knocking issue - seems I had slightly bent part of the exhaust heatshield during fitting and it was knocking on the new axle bracket. Bent it out of the way and now all appears well again. Gave all the nuts a quick tightening check too as per the fitting recommendations.
 
Dan,

Good results all round then.

I have found that my car handles very much like the old Mini Cooper S, as though it were on rails, when driving on country roads. On some really nice S-bends out my way I watch many other cars behind me, and in front, cut the bends with a "racing line" approach if there's nothing coming the other way. If something is coming the other way, most have to back off. It's great fun to sit with cruise set to 60mph and drive the bend, on the correct side of the road, without even a hint of under steer.

I don't get ASR kicking in and the whole car feels perfectly planted.
I am running 205 40 section Conti Sport 3 17's with the very heavy TT Ronal rims, but the feeling is amazing.
My ARB is also set at the middle.
I did set it to the hard setting to try and overcome some rear tyre rubbing when I had the -30 Weitec's on the rear, but it didn't help. As I wasn't going to take it around the track I moved it back to the middle setting the same day, so I'm unsure what the hard setting would be like for daily use.

I'm sure, as you say, your mpg will suffer a little until the novelty wears off.

Cheers

Jeff
 
I'm wondering if my MPG might improve as I'll be able to take certain bends/ roundabouts at a higher entry speed and maintain the speed through the bend, and so therefore don't have to brake and accelerate through - burning fuel :)

Yeah right, who am I kidding!

I have to say I wasn't wholly convinced the Whiteline would make all that much difference before I installed it as I couldn't see how it could provide additional stiffness compared to the solid axle already there, but it certainly does work!
 
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