BMW F2x F3x Rear Sway Bar Installation

This video will show you how to install a rear sway bar on your BMW F2x or F3x chassis car. The method is the same for sDrive and xDrive cars, and the rear bars are interchangeable between those two drivetrains, unlike the front sway bars.
Index:
0:35 Side panel & F31/34/36 bracing before raising vehicle
1:45 Wheel & rear damper top mount removal
2:31 Camber arm cover & driver's side damper removal
3:31 End links unfastening
3:58 Under body panel removal
4:45 Chassis stiffening plate & bracing removal
5:48 E-brake line unfastening
5:57 Exhaust lowering
6:49 Heat shielding removal
8:14 Center support bearing loosening
8:53 Subframe bracket unfastening
9:11 Rear central jacking point
9:40 Unbolting & lowering the rear subframe
10:55 Rear sway bar removal/replacement
15:08 Rear subframe raising and securing
16:30 Center support bearing securing
16:47 Heat shielding installation
17:28 Exhaust raising & securing
17:54 E-brake line fastening
18:05 Chassis bracing installation
19:08 Damper installation
20:07 Underbody panels installation
20:31 End links fastening
20:51 Camber arm cover installation
20:59 Wheel installation

[@m.d.6649]

I upgraded to H&R Bars in my F22 M240i and this Video helped me out a lot. Thanks Very much! Ìt was a good opportunity to add the Powerflex black bushing inserts as well. Handling really improved you can feel the cornering forces now much more lateral than in a Body roll. Just be aware that this will take you one day when doing it alone. I find the Front Install has less steps but more adjusting and fiddeling around with the Aluminium Crash absorbers. Thanks again for this Video, very helpful!

[@hanhtruong7414]

Thank you for taking the time to record these steps. Extremely valuable for enthusiasts DIY community.

[@Herbotis]

Thanks for the video! I’ll be referencing this when I do my swaybar. Also want to note to NOT lubricate the bushing!! It’s designed to be used without lube.

[@claudioagmfilho]

Hi there, I am from Recife, in Brazil South America, thank you for the sharing these two videos, front and rear installations of the anti-rolling bars. It helped me quite a lot....

[@FaRKle0079]

Glad I could help you across continents!

[@marvinzhang3734]

thank you so much!

[@marvinzhang3734]

I was finally doing the rear sway bar today. The end link nut does not want to move at all. lol. mission failed

[@washableaxe]

Hey Farkle, thanks for the video. I know you have a diesel as well as an xDrive, but I just wanted to point out that if you have a RWD car the process is significantly shorter / easier. For example, you don't need to touch your rear dampers or control arms at all.

[@Vindettta]

Thank you for this video

[@littleroller]

Excellent write up! That looked extremely painful. I just bought a swaybar front and rear kit. Not looking forward to the rear installation.

[@williamwallace4375]

Hello faRKle. I just (5/30/22) installed a KCDesign rear sway bar on my 2014 F31i M Sport to help overcome understeer. Currently the suspension has Eibach pro springs, Dinan shockware, and 245 tires on staggered rims. I haven't had time yet to get on a track or parking lot course. Will the sway bar adequately get the car to a balanced ride or even slight oversteer? I just had an alignment as you outlined in your F31 build blog. Will these changes provide enough oversteer to allow me to return to the factory provided 225/255 tire setup? How about connecting the rear sway bar to the inner holes if the outers don't provide enough response? Thanks for your install and background info videos to date!

[@chriskamen2152]

Hey Farkle, I have a 2018 F32 440i xDrive with KW DDC coilovers. I am trying to determine what ARB to use as the car is daily driver and I am thinking H&R on the softest setting to remove any understeer and avoided too much loss in suspension independence...

[@claudioagmfilho]

Hi there, I from Recife a city in Brasil, South America, and I have a bmw 320i m sport 2018. So if you please, my question to you is: Since my car is not an x-drive, do I still have to do this sub frame drop thing? I mean, can I just install it right away, or do I have to lower the sub frame as well? Thank you for your time!!!

[@FaRKle0079]

There's no difference between sDrive (RWD) and xDrive (AWD) for the rear sway bar install, so you'll still need to drop the sub frame. sDrive and xDrive vehicles use the same rear bars.

[@claudioagmfilho]

Thank you.

[@FQ1998]

what are the benefits of installing rear / front sway bars ? Thank you

[@FaRKle0079]

Sway bars help prevent the body from rolling over/leaning in a corner. The car feels flat kind of like a go-kart. That said, they reduce grip from the end of the car they're on, and reduce suspension independence, so you need to find the balance of reducing roll, but not reducing grip or suspension independence too much.

[@baymoe1]

Great instructional video! Would the rear bushing be replaceable without entirely dropping the subframe?

[@FaRKle0079]

Unfortunately the rear subframe must be dropped a bit in order to have enough clearance to undo the bolts holding the bar and bushings to the subframe. You don't have the take the subframe completely away from the car though.

[@baymoe1]

Darn, was hoping to avoid all that work lol. Another question, on my X3 F25, the car has this side to side sway on perfectly flat highways. Alignments can't seem to correct the issue. Any hunch what it might be? It's driving me bonkers

[@FaRKle0079]

@@baymoe1 Hrm that sounds strange. If you have a proper alignment (with toe in to keep the car straight), maybe a dead damper could be inducing some thrust angle?

[@ginlopbo]

I did it, with a flat torx wrench. Only the rear sway bar strongflex bushes, without removing subframe

[@argenjung1436]

Hello, Mr ~ Thank you for your helpful video. I just wonder that is the grease on rubber sway bar mount is required? I saw the BMW ESTA document that notices "be clean on sway bar and rubber mount from grease or oil". However, I think there are necessary on sway bar rubber with grease. What is the best way?

[@FaRKle0079]

For the OE sway bar the rubber bushings BMW uses are bonded to the bar, and are intended to keep it at a certain position during normal ride height. No grease should be used with those. If you replace the OE rubber bushings with aftermarket polyurethane ones (or get an aftermarket sway bar), then you should use grease to allow the bar to rotate within the bushings as they're not designed to hold the bar in a certain position.

[@argenjung1436]

Thank you for quick reply. :) I have F30 320d. As I know front sway bar rubber bushing is bonded with sway bar but rear one is seperated between rubber and sway bar. So I am still confused which way is correct grease or not. T.T

[@FaRKle0079]

@@argenjung1436 No grease on either 👍

[@argenjung1436]

I see...I really appliciate for you ~~~:) Oh I have just one more question, how can I determine a position of that sway bar to fit normal ride height?

[@kat0197]

I've done mine with unscrew 3 bolts to lower subframe and two bolt from droplink.

[@JackGE]

Without all the exhaust and driveshaft steps? What series was this on? S-drive or X-drive?

[@terrancecollins2696]

Sick … but I’ll pass on this mod lmaoooo maybe just do adjustable end links 😭😭😭

[@albertorla]

Hi! I've really appreciated the great video, very detailed and informative. Would you recommend an upgraded rear sway bar on bmw f2x? How do you like it? Thanks

[@FaRKle0079]

Yup an F2x vehicle can benefit from a rear sway bar just like an F3x one. The thing to figure out then is how to not go too stiff. For stock spring rates and only street driving you probably don't have to worry too much about that, but once you start going to stiffer springs or coilovers, and driving the vehicles at the limits (on a track) then you'll need to try and figure out whether bars will be too stiff. I've had a rear bar that was fun on the street, but on the track at the limits showed that it was too stiff for the springs I had.

[@albertorla]

@@FaRKle0079 what is the suspension setup you are currently driving on? I believe I've seen some ohlins stuff on your video, not sure it's your car though :)

[@FaRKle0079]

@@albertorla I have a custom setup that you can't get off the shelf. It's a mixture of various springs and custom Fat Cat Motorsports dampers. I designed/specified it for my use cases. That said, the principles I used to design it apply to everything and transfer to other F2x/F3x and off the shelf options.