Coupe quattro rear tie rod lengths. 20v vs 10v

[steve briance]

This sunny afternoon I removed the rear subframe from my cq20v in preparation for it going off for galvanising. I even had a spare rear subframe off a 10v quattro to go back on and keep me on the road.

I knew there would be no rear anti roll bar mounts in the 10v but could live with that for a couple of months, i wasn't expecting the rear tie rod mounts to be in a different position.

It seems they are 20mm further out each side than the 20v set up. There isnt 20mm of adjustment in my tie rods in order to shorten them by 20mm each so hence my quest for info on tie rods lengths...

My car has the 'bent' rear rods but I know there is a straight version out there which may be.more for b2 than b3 (not sure) however, the straight rods look longer which is the opposite of what I need.

I would happily fit a different rear tie rod and put the 10v subframe back on for a couple of months but I don't seem to be able to find info on which one to look at.

My o/s/r rod has maybe 15mm of adjustment left and n/s/r in the order of 5-7mm. Way too little, there would be an awful lot of toe in happening.

Ideas?

[M2ki]

B3 has 2 variants, one for rollbar, other without. Outer bent parts are the same, inner parts have different length.
Both variants are NLA, no lemförder parts also anymore. Only on tradition or aftermarket from ak or 034.
Straight ones are on B2.

[steve briance]

Thanks for the fast reply. I've just been sent some pics by another audi friend and yep, it seems the inner bits on mine are indeed longer by around 3cm. ,

This will be the difference. Annoying but good to have an answer, now I just need to track down a solution (till my original subframe goes back on)

[M2ki]

I used E36 front tie rod, made M14 extension for it and reused the inner parts.
If you have some threaded M14 rod and welder you can make it fit. E36 tie rods cost next to nohting, 5 pounds for a new one.

[Error404]

The length of the tie rod has quite a big influence on the dynamic geometry, the toe change on compression and droop - my guess is the engineers changed the tie rod length primarily to affect this dynamic toe behaviour.
I expect they wanted to improve stability with the addition of the rear anti-roll bar. Would need to analyse the lengths & pivot points to determine what effect their changes had.
Of course what the Audi chassis engineers often do is not conducive to a particularly exciting drive
Keep in mind the OE curved roads are curved for a reason - to avoid the rod hitting the chassis on heavy compression

[steve briance]

Interesting work around with the e36 front tie rods.

I'm leaning towards the car being off the road for the time it takes to sort out the galvanising. I dont really want to be spending yet more money on it for the sake of 2 months service. At least there are ways to sort things for the future, with the galvanisng investment I'm hoping the future will be a long time

[90quattrocoupe]

Chinese late one. Comes up as a match for Lemforder 13698 02. Audi 893501499B

[steve briance]

If it was genuine lemforder, that would be a good buy but sadly website says in small print that it is no longer available.

[90quattrocoupe]

Earlier one comes up as Audi 893501499A.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AUDI-REAR-T...-/331782532899

[90quattrocoupe]

If it was genuine lemforder, that would be a good buy but sadly website says in small print that it is no longer available.

Sorry, did not see the NLA. My Bad.

[steve briance]

It is pretty small smallprint

[90quattrocoupe]

Here is a web site that shows the number for some companies that make this tie rod or maybe used to. Might be something to check out.

https://partinfo.org/quinton-hazell-qdl3175s/

[varia]

buy adjustable, call it a day

[90quattrocoupe]

You know I check all these companies and not one of the shows up as available. Only Audi Tradition.

[steve briance]

After market fabricated does seem to be the way forward these days - genuine and pattern parts are NLA.