My Whiteline ARB arrived today from Awesome GTI There is some info on fitting on Briskoda but I thought I would do a guide for the Ibiza as no-one else has yet..
Can you beleive it...one of the smaller washers is the wrong size! I phoned Awesome and they are going to source a replacement for me but I was already half way through fitting when I noticed. Apart from that, it all looks good...the ARB feels very solid. It is much heavier than the Seat strut brace for instance.
Tools I used:
Put the car up on ramps or raise and support on axle stands at bottom of suspension struts (the weight needs to be on the suspension as usual).
Undo the bolts on the bottom of the shock absorbers using a 16mm socket and adjustable spanner (or another 16mm socket or ring spanner).
The shocks will slowly drop down when the bolts are removed.
Fit the droplinks and washers onto the wheel-side of the shock mounts with the supplied nuts and bolts. You will have to apply a bit of pressure to push the shocks back up to their original position.
Tighten everything back up with a 17mm ring spanner. The other ends of the bolts are rounded and have hex heads so you will need to use a 8mm hex bit to do these up.
Next, apply plenty of the included grease to the insides of the bushes.
Fit the bushes onto the ARB. There didn't seem to be any kind of mark indicating how far along the bar to place them. I took a guess and did mine about 10cm from where the bar starts to curve.
Place the U-bolts over the rear beam. They don't quite follow the shape of the beam too well but end up sitting quite secure facing down and towards the back of the car.
Put the saddles over the bushes and offer up the bar to the U-bolts and secure with the remaining 4 nuts. Tighten up loosely with a 15mm socket. They need quite a few turns before they are tight.
Now you just need to secure the ends of the ARB to the droplinks. The bar will swivel quite easily in its bushes and the droplinks pivot so you can adjust the stiffness. I chose the softest setting for the moment but it is very easy to adjust. Use a 16mm socket on the head and 17mm ring spanner on the nut.
Tighten everything up and you're done!
The back of the car feels more flat going round corners. It still understeers a little when taking a fast corner but then I do have it on the softer setting. I can feel quite a difference when taking slowish corners quite fast (like turning into a side road). I did fit a front strut brace at the same time but I think the rear ARB is doing most of the work.
Now I just wish I had coilovers..I'll try the stiffer setting at the weekend I think.
Can you beleive it...one of the smaller washers is the wrong size! I phoned Awesome and they are going to source a replacement for me but I was already half way through fitting when I noticed. Apart from that, it all looks good...the ARB feels very solid. It is much heavier than the Seat strut brace for instance.
Tools I used:
- 15mm deep socket
- 16mm socket
- 17mm socket
- Medium sized adjustable spanner
- 17mm ring spanner
- 8mm Hex bit
Put the car up on ramps or raise and support on axle stands at bottom of suspension struts (the weight needs to be on the suspension as usual).
Undo the bolts on the bottom of the shock absorbers using a 16mm socket and adjustable spanner (or another 16mm socket or ring spanner).
The shocks will slowly drop down when the bolts are removed.
Fit the droplinks and washers onto the wheel-side of the shock mounts with the supplied nuts and bolts. You will have to apply a bit of pressure to push the shocks back up to their original position.
Tighten everything back up with a 17mm ring spanner. The other ends of the bolts are rounded and have hex heads so you will need to use a 8mm hex bit to do these up.
Next, apply plenty of the included grease to the insides of the bushes.
Fit the bushes onto the ARB. There didn't seem to be any kind of mark indicating how far along the bar to place them. I took a guess and did mine about 10cm from where the bar starts to curve.
Place the U-bolts over the rear beam. They don't quite follow the shape of the beam too well but end up sitting quite secure facing down and towards the back of the car.
Put the saddles over the bushes and offer up the bar to the U-bolts and secure with the remaining 4 nuts. Tighten up loosely with a 15mm socket. They need quite a few turns before they are tight.
Now you just need to secure the ends of the ARB to the droplinks. The bar will swivel quite easily in its bushes and the droplinks pivot so you can adjust the stiffness. I chose the softest setting for the moment but it is very easy to adjust. Use a 16mm socket on the head and 17mm ring spanner on the nut.
Tighten everything up and you're done!
The back of the car feels more flat going round corners. It still understeers a little when taking a fast corner but then I do have it on the softer setting. I can feel quite a difference when taking slowish corners quite fast (like turning into a side road). I did fit a front strut brace at the same time but I think the rear ARB is doing most of the work.
Now I just wish I had coilovers..I'll try the stiffer setting at the weekend I think.
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