Neuspeed ARB review - Wow

speedsix

Leon Cupra R 225
Oct 30, 2004
825
0
Just got the car back, took my guy bloody ages, front was a right ballache. Had to drop the front subframe out to get it in. Pulled into the garage to see the big red bars showing through the rims, looks [B)] Not so noticeable so much in the pics but they are chunky mofos, weigh a tonne, expensive but they look it. Quality is superb.

6a8dbfd9.jpg


Anyway, took it out for a quick thrash, took it gently at first. Rear is adjustable and set to medium stiff. First thing you notice is a bit of extra fidgeting, not so noticeable on smaller bumps but you can feel the side of the car 'drop' into dips more. I also noticed a bit more wheel hop when the fronts broke traction.

First test, into a small roundabout, not so fast, wasn't too sure if the big increase in rear bar will pickup the inside rear and send me into a bush. It didn't, swang right round the roundabout and shot out the other side with a masive smirk on my face :lol: Unbelievably level right through, fantastic.

Shoot down the dual carriageway and with a bit more va va voom pile into the large fast roundabout. The lack of roll means the confidence you have squeezing the loud pedal mid bend just goes through the roof. I found myself sitting quite calmly on the limit, steering the nose with the throttle. Before the lean would limit your enthusiasm but now the hooligan factor can be turned up to eleven. Mid bend balance is excellent without worrying about snappy lift off oversteer, just feels much more neutral. To be honest this wasn't the main purpose of fitting the bars. I really rate the standard suspension but wanted less roll without ruining the ride. Unlikely I'll make the rear stiffer.

Having a thicker rear bar decreases weight transfer at the front which has the pleasant side effect of keeping more pressure on the inside front which is very noticeable exiting the bend under power. The front seems to break away more as a pair and not wildly spinning up the inside. It's improved traction at the front so much I'm having second thoughts about the inclusion of a new diff now. It does make me want to turn off the tcs alot more now because I'm much more confident pushing it hard and playing with the limits.

It's a right weapon now, mid corner/exit speed has shot up. It's so much more exploitable than the nose-led stock setup. I've been down the coilover route before and I'd strongly suggest LCR owners look at uprated bars before ditching the standard kit.

So in short, I am very pleased, they do exactly what I expected them to without having to resort to dropping it on coilovers. 90% of the ride compliance of the stock setup with so much more body control. The thicker bars are definitely the missing link that makes the whole setup come together so well.

Colour me impressed [B)]
 

Rikko

Owner Of The Possesed 1
Dec 19, 2006
214
0
Grimsby
Must agree with you there m8 but i went for the ARB's Coilover package must admit handles lot better and corners awesomely but the crap tyres let me down wornout F1s on front std P's on the rear but soon a new full set of F1's so we shall see.

Rikko

p.s Good write up mate lot of effort[B)]
 

karlosR

TORQUEY, NOISEY V6
Mar 10, 2006
1,469
0
BEDFORD
sweet write up mate. i'm waiting to get my H&R ARB's fitted to my LCR. i went for 25mm front and rear so there should be some improvement on the twisty stuff.
 

Lee M

Guest
Hi mate,

Nice write up, cheers for taking the time :thumbup:

Did you go for 28mm rear and 25mm front? This is what awsome have recomended to me?

Do you have any problems with road clearence i.e. speed bumps, as the rear bar looks quite low?

Cheers mate

Lee
 

AndyHazza

Ex-Awesome GTi Staff
Mar 30, 2005
1,455
0
Bolton
www.awesome-gti.co.uk
Nice write up mate, glad your happy with them :thumbup: and the excellent price you got them at too! lol

Its a good write up for anyone with an LCR wondering about their suspension mods. I've always reckoned some ARB's are just the ticket :)
 

RobM

Back from the dead...
Sep 27, 2006
4,982
3
Southampton
Don't you start! :lol:

In all honesty, a remap and ARB's are the only 'big' things I plan on doing to the LCR. I have a list of other minor bits, but those are the only proper things :)
 

Feel

Veedubya 'velle
Jun 12, 2003
4,918
2
Midlands
See, we told you they were good ;)

Personally, I think the front "pushing" that you're feeling is a result of a too-stiff front, which is why I always said 25mm rear and stock front, but I know Ruddmeister always disagreed. Each to their own :D
 

speedsix

Leon Cupra R 225
Oct 30, 2004
825
0
Yeah bars are 25F/28R, not hit them on anything yet, tbh I didn't really think about clearence being an issue.

Remap, ARBs and some decent rubber are imo the best 3 mods for the R.

Top marks to Awesome aswell [B)]

It's not a cheap mod but changing suspension components never is. My guy charged me £140 fitting which I think may have been 3hrs, maybe more. Factor in an alignment aswell, I can't see why you'd need a full camber check but I'm going to get it done anyway as I'm about to order 2 new fronts at the same time and it's not worth scrimping on alignment.
 

owen lcr

orvil
Oct 10, 2006
1,179
0
montrose, scotland
i feel the same, i put 25f and 28r on my LCR along with a full set of FSD's but i am not really happy with it, when i got into the corner the front end just wonts to push on, so i think i am going to go home tonight and adjust the rear ARB as hard as it will go so hopefully that will help thing, i am not disappointed with the setup i just thought it would turn in alot better than it does, i have F1's on the car but maybe a new set of front would help
 

Ruddmeister

Everything in Moderation
Jun 23, 2003
8,218
1
Weston-super-Mare
en.wikipedia.org
Personally, I think the front "pushing" that you're feeling is a result of a too-stiff front, which is why I always said 25mm rear and stock front, but I know Ruddmeister always disagreed. Each to their own :D

We will agree to disagree once again :D

I agree with Speedsix that the car has a far more 'neutral balance' giving you the ability to adjust the car through the bend on the throttle with far more certainty i.e, not wondering if the back end will snap round and bite you.

IMO the S3 strut brace sharpens the intial turn in a little which also gives more confidence and a better feel as to what the front tyres are doing.

Speedsix - what you will enjoy is watching std civic type-R's and the like follow you into roundabouts and wondering how the hell you went through with no fuss when they are :drive1: .....
 

speedsix

Leon Cupra R 225
Oct 30, 2004
825
0
See, we told you they were good ;)

Personally, I think the front "pushing" that you're feeling is a result of a too-stiff front, which is why I always said 25mm rear and stock front, but I know Ruddmeister always disagreed. Each to their own :D
In terms of the physics of it all, understeer is dictated by the ratio of the thickness of the rear in comparison to the front.

I don't know exactly how thick/stiff the stock front is, it's about 20mm I'd say so yeah a stock front with a new 25mm rear(plus stock rear) would push the balance even further away from understeer but obviously with less roll resistance than 25F/28R.

I never thought the LCR had massive understeer to start with, not off the throttle anyway :whistle:
 

speedsix

Leon Cupra R 225
Oct 30, 2004
825
0
i feel the same, i put 25f and 28r on my LCR along with a full set of FSD's but i am not really happy with it, when i got into the corner the front end just wonts to push on, so i think i am going to go home tonight and adjust the rear ARB as hard as it will go so hopefully that will help thing, i am not disappointed with the setup i just thought it would turn in alot better than it does, i have F1's on the car but maybe a new set of front would help
You need to think about at which phase of the corner you want to improve, shocks only affect balance when the car has some lateral movement, i.e the body is physically rolling and the shocks are compressing/expanding. Springs/ARBs come into effect when the body has settled and the suspension has loaded up, at this point shocks stop having an effect.

So in short, in terms of tuning balance, shocks to tune corner entry/exit, springs/arbs for mid bend.
 

Ruddmeister

Everything in Moderation
Jun 23, 2003
8,218
1
Weston-super-Mare
en.wikipedia.org
I'm sure adjusting the suspension for all of us is going to have slightly different results, when I did my ARB's I used Bilstein PSS coilovers lowering circa 20mm, S3 strut brace, 8inch wide rims (in lieu of std 7.5's) and 10mm spacers all around.

I'm glad people seem generally happy with the ARB's........what size you choose is a matter of taste / comfort etc really.......I did a fair bit of research but evetaully you just have to bite the bullet and try something and hope it works for you.
 

UncleFester

Grumpier by the day!
Apr 30, 2006
4,764
1
Milton Keynes
www.facebook.com
In terms of the physics of it all, understeer is dictated by the ratio of the thickness of the rear in comparison to the front.

I don't know exactly how thick/stiff the stock front is, it's about 20mm I'd say so yeah a stock front with a new 25mm rear(plus stock rear) would push the balance even further away from understeer but obviously with less roll resistance than 25F/28R.

I never thought the LCR had massive understeer to start with, not off the throttle anyway :whistle:

And yet i'm running 25mm front and rear and it's a delight to play with .... very very neutral yet has lost the urge to run wide at the first sign of a corner. I didn't think you could play 4 wheel drift in a FWD car but this is proving otherwise.

I'm still amazed by how much composure it has, bearing in mind i'd already done shocks and springs, front upper and lower braces and a rear brace, the addition of the ARB kit transformed the handling - that combined with a full bush kit - i'm happy with it :)
 

pete8tch

Full Member
Nov 1, 2005
38
0
first time i did anti roll bars was on my vr6, the lift off oversteer was really bad till i softened the front shocks on the koni adjustables that were on it and it was brilliant then, the only concern i have with them is wet weather as racers soften arb settings for rain, suppose thats really stiff settings tho to be fair, will be fitting mine fri so looking forward to loadsa fun.
 

RobM

Back from the dead...
Sep 27, 2006
4,982
3
Southampton
.....as racers soften arb settings for rain, suppose thats really stiff settings tho to be fair, will be fitting mine fri so looking forward to loadsa fun.

They will have the cars setup to the extreme though, to get every last available drop of performance from the car. They also don't worry too much about ride comfort ;)
Plus, they have a team of people to change things like this for each and every race.

In the real world, none of that is possible, so people tend to find a happy medium between comfort, practicality, handling and looks (not so much looks with ARB's though) and stick with it :)
 

speedsix

Leon Cupra R 225
Oct 30, 2004
825
0
A front engined, fwd is never going to be an oversteer monster. Inappropriate shock settings are more likely to catch you out than an overly stiff rear bar.