lansere

TLDR Questions at the end..

So yeah, I got the classic FSB-clunk sound.

Story so far:
I replaced the sway bar bracket bushings a long while ago. Didn't help the noise. Replaced shock absorbers, engine mounts, end links. Didn't help the noise.

I'm getting real tired of the constant clunking, so I lifted the car up and tried twisting and turning every moving part. Absolutely nothing moved or made unruly sounds.

..Except for the sway bar. It's still banging against that water pipe! I tried to tighten the brackets, but they were tight (over 40lb/ft).


Skip to the end..
Excessive tightening resulted in a snapped bolt here:


1. Can that bit be hammered out? From searching I understand it's held on by a couple of spotwelds.

2. How the hell can the sway bar move so much, even with very tight brackets? Was it designed that way? Will new brackets help? Will polyurethane bushings help? Will a lighter/smaller sway bar help, like the Whiteline FSB?

edit: Gah! Can mods please fix title to say "Front sway bar bracket bolt snapped"? Thanks!

lansere

Damaged bolt.


That's the sway bar on the left and the suspect coolant pipe on the left. Note the remains of gaffer tape on the coolant pipe, which leads me to believe someone's been working on this problem before.

What I really don't understand is how the sway bar could move that much? Sure now it moves since I've butchered the bracket (and that's how I reproduced the all too familiar clunking noise), but surely it couldn't move around that much with everything tightened up to spec?

Right?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

The bushings wear out....get some Energy ones...they come with a new bracket as well....and a Zerx fitting so you can grease them

As for the bolt....it likely will come out with an air chisel...then you can put in a new one....Any suspension shop should be able to do that easily

lansere

Will do, thanks.

Just occurred to me - could my ebay-endlinks just be not good enough? Is there a noticeable quality-difference in endlinks?

lansere

Yeah, I was just educated on the basics of how a swaybar functions.

I'm gonna get some polyurethane bushings, new brackets and some proper endlinks from Whiteline or OEM. After fixing the damn bolt, obviously. And hope to never return to this topic again.