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View Full Version : Improved Racing Adjustable Swaybar End Links - Could use some improvement.



jnshk
08-17-2014, 09:34 PM
12406

Improved Racing Adjustable Swaybar End Links
SMA-120 (kit) [SMA-116 (front) + SMA-117 (rear)]
Rating: 6/10
URL: Improved Racing Web Store - SMA-120 (http://www.improvedracing.com/sway-bar-end-links/adjustable-sway-bar-links-for-nanb-mazda-miata-mx-fr-kit-p-67.html)

Full Review:
So I had an endlink fail (bushing removed itself from link) and decided that it would be a good time to upgrade to an ajustable link, since I am moderately lowered. I had planned to go with the SuperMiata endlinks but--as is often the case--they are not currently in stock at 949 Racing. I looked at a few of the other brands offered by various vendors and each one had at least one drawback compared to the 949 Racing design, and then I found the Improved Racing end links. At a glance, the design is somewhat comparable to what Emilio offers, the price seemed very competitive, and they were in stock and ready to ship.

Once I got my hands on them and went to install them, I did discover a couple of concerns/frustrations.

- The first surprise was that they have chosen SAE rod ends rather than metric. I assume that this was done for supplier convenience and cost reasons. This is a frustration because it requires SAE wrenches, whereas nearly everything else on the car is metric. This is also a potential product weakness/failure-point because the studs/bolts are smaller diameter than the original hardware, which allows "slop" inside the mounting points. In theory, this is probably diminished by properly torquing the links down, but it's not very good from an engineering standpoint. Related to this: they only include one washer for the lower control arm mounting bolt, which left me concerned about the stress placed on the bolt head by the larger bore of the mount. Given that OEM is a flanged bolt, I opted to dig a couple of stainless washers out of my bins and add one to each side so that there would be a washer on both the head of the bolt and on the nut.

- The second surprise was that when fully compressed, they are perhaps 1/4" shorter than OEM end links, which means that nearly all of the adjustable range serves to make them longer, but not shorter. This seems kind of silly to me because the standard modus operandi for a sports car is to lower a stock vehicle, not lift it. My car is not substantially lowered at the moment, and even with adjusting these to their lowest position, the sway bar is still not horizontal. That's a bit of a disappointment. In hindsight, I should have paid more attention to their website (since they have the range-of-length stated on the product page) and measured one of my old endlinks for comparison. This is what I get for assuming.

- The third surprise is related to the last: The jam nuts used are very thin, which is generally a good thing, but even when using my thinnest wrench, I had to lengthen the end links by about 3/16" total in order to get the wrench on the jam nut without also catching the adjustment hex. So basically, these "adjustable" end links are only 1/16" shorter than stock at the shortest length I reasonably set them.

They do offer a shorter set (SMA-114 (http://www.improvedracing.com/sway-bar-end-links/short-sway-bar-links-for-nanb-mazda-miata-mx-front-rear-p-439.html)), but its range is significantly on the shorter side, so I would once again be at the limits of its range (though on the long limit rather than the short limit) and they still use the same SAE rod ends.

Aside from these design issues, the quality does appear to be very good and the instructions are very clearly written, but knowing what I know now, I probably would have gone with the Racing Beat units as an alternative to the SuperMiata end links.

TLDR Review:
Quality? Good quality, but design could be improved by using metric rod ends and altering the design to make a more useful "range" for the links.
Was it an easy, transaction? Very smooth transaction and quick shipping.
Install problems?, missing parts?, Bad fit? See my notes in the full review.
Post Install? I haven't installed the fronts, and probably won't unless the OEM links fail (a distinct possibility). I plan to get my hands on some SuperMiata units whenever they are available again. For now though these work perfectly fine, even if not the ideal final solution.

Sean5294
08-24-2014, 06:12 PM
I have these on both the front and rear. So far so good. :D