I recently switched from the H&R 22mm swaybar to the Neuspeed 25mm. While the H&R certainly reduced understeer, it left me wanting more. A major downside of the H&R was that I noticed that on full-stiff, the ride tended to be harsh over bumps. The harshness of the H&R did not correlate with the amount of body-roll reduction, as there was still plenty of roll through the corners. These observations were done on the OEM stock sport suspension, so I believed that when I switched to the Vogtland adjustable coilovers, I would harness much more of the swaybar's potential.
I was wrong.
While the coilovers certainly helped with the overall handling, the harshness and inherent understeer and body roll remained. As a test, I removed the H&R 22mm and returned the car to stock. Shockingly enough, the difference between the H&R 22mm and the stock bar was much less than what I felt when on the stock suspension. I can probably attribute this to the aftermarket suspension running higher spring rates and dampening than stock. Upon removal of the H&R 22mm, I also stumbled upon another flaw in its design. While the maintenance-free dry bushings are certainly a selling point, their performance in real-life conditions is poor. After only running the bar for about 8 months, the powdercoat underneath the bushing had rusted. I was not pleased.
Having said this, I opted to give the Neuspeed 25mm swaybar a try. I ordered it from NAMotorsports.net and it dropshipped directly from Neuspeed themselves. The Neuspeed offers four improvements over the H&R: diameter, weight, bushing size & material, and upgraded brackets
First of all, the obvious difference is in the diameter of the bars. The H&R is a 22mm (solid), stock is 20.5mm (hollow), and the Neuspeed is 25mm (hollow). I believe that this directly corresponds to the "harshness" that I was referring to before. The different "stiffness" settings are adjusted on the bars by positioning the sway links more inwards on the bar, making the total bar "shorter" and thus increasing the "stiffness". Since the H&R 22mm was set on full stiffness, the bar was forced to twist more in order to produce the same range of motion. The Neuspeed 25mm did not suffer in this case, and could undergo the same range of motion as stock and still reduce body roll more than the H&R 22mm, because of the improved stiffness afforded to it via the larger diameter.
H&R 22mm, OEM 20.5mm, Neuspeed 25mm
Although the Neuspeed was significantly larger than the H&R 22mm, it actually felt lighter than the H&R. I'm going off of memory here, but IIRC, the H&R 22 weighed 11lbs, the Neuspeed 9 lbs, and OEM 5 lbs. The differences in weight are negligible but I suppose every little bit counts.
The Neuspeed also provided improvements over the H&R & stock in terms of bushing size and material. When measured, the Neuspeed bushing was 4.5cm across in length, when both the H&R and stock measured 3cm across. The increased width of the bushings should theoretically improve the actual usable force and response of the bar. The polyurethane in the Neuspeed was also of higher durometer (stiffer) than the H&R or stock. Unlike the others, the Neuspeed bushing requires greasing. In order to extend grease longevity, the Neuspeed bushings are grooved in order to retain the grease. The grease should serve to improve corrosion resistance over that of stock & H&R at the contact points, although this hasn't been verified just yet.
Lastly, Neuspeed supplies a superior sway bracket to that of stock. I mentioned earlier that the H&R bar suffered from rusting underneath the dry bushing. I believe part of this has to do with the fact that the H&R reuses the stock sway brackets. The H&R bushings almost seem too small for the bar once everything is tightened, and most likely causes binding on a fresh install. As the bar is "broken in" the teflon mesh bonded to the soft poly, wears away and also takes along some of the bar's powdercoat finish. Eventually the poly compresses enough and the bar can move fluidly. On the other hand, the supplied Neuspeed brackets were a perfect fit with their poly bushings. The fitment to the stock mounting points was perfect and didn't cause the bar to bind with the bushings. If anything, it was very secure. I must note that since I received the bar, Neuspeed has switched to a different bushing, for the purpose of reusing the stock sway bracket. I can assume that this was done only for cost-purposes, as it is two fewer pieces that need to be manufactured and powdercoated. The price on the bars has remained the same, despite the cost-cutting measure. I greatly prefer the Neuspeed brackets as they are powdercoated, and do not suffer from corrosion like the stock brackets.
Overall, I felt as if the switch from H&R to Neuspeed was worth it. The car rolls less, response is significantly improved, yet the ride is more comfortable than that of the H&R 22mm. So far, I have left the Neuspeed at full soft. I have yet to try the stiffer settings of the Neuspeed, mostly due to poor roads in New York. At this point, I do not see a need in increasing the stiffness of the rear. As with any FWD vehicle, the A3 still understeers, but push the steering wheel a bit more and I am rewarded with a relatively neutral feel, easily bringing the rear around if needed.
As mentioned earlier, I purchased this bar from NAMotorsports. I could not be any happier with the level of customer service I received from them with this purchase.
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