stock swaybar endlinks - likely lifespan?
 

If you drive the car fairly aggresively and occationally track or auto-x (say 4-5 times a year) do we have any idea how many miles they stock swaybar endlinks will last? Assuming you drove the car like a grandma, how about then?

Don't know. I have the Whiteline sways and they are on the OEM endlinks. Talked to the guys at DPE and they told me they'd put a few hundred miles of track time on their RX-8 with the Whiteline's and the OEM endlinks are no worse for wear.

Ditto, Whiteline adj sways, perhaps fun 300-350 miles on track, no problems whatsoever on stock links. Even if they were to fail at some point, I would just buy some more, they are so cheap compared to 3rd party.

I've heard a few stories about bent endlinks, which scared me into getting the racing beat ones to go along with my RB sway bars. The endlink nuts caused me lots of headaches, probably from my own doing. I first didn't tighten the nuts enough, which led to suspension pops, then I overtightened them, which stripped the nuts, causing more popping, forcing me to call a friend to drive me to autozone to pick up replacement nuts, some of which I also overtightened and stripped before getting both sides nice and tight.

Bottom line is, I would stick with the stock endlinks if you suck at tightening stuff like me.

my sways are making a creaking sound. its a very scary and bad sound. it might be my shocks though. Damm United states postal service ( screwed up my coilovers) long story short they arrive 5 min from my house and say it cant be dropped off so they ship it back to canada. funny how ups, Dhl, Fedex has no problems shipping to my friends shop.


sorry about the rant


anybody have a clue why i hear creaking and sounds like my chassis is flexing.

have you lubed your sway bar bushings. we are finding that these need to be lubed up occasionally, this will get rid of that squeaking. Mine are doing it now, and will be lubed up in about a week. Especially if you have aftermarket sway bars installed.

Buy the sway bar bushings with the grease nipples on them...saves pulling them to lube them :)

What kind of grease can you use?

Silicone is best...but anything will work.....

The RB front bar, combined with r-compounds, killed my endlinks after about 7 events. I had another set of OEM links put on and it has held up for about 15 events so far. If they go again, I'll buy the RB endlinks. Caution: the RB endlinks require drilling to fit, and are only somewhat stronger than stock. RB themselves will tell you that the bullet-proof solution is full-race endlinks, which cost a pretty penny.

Where can I get these?

I have the MS sways and I just replaced, last night as a matter of fact, the endlinks for the rear sway bar. The endlinks were bent (90 degree angle!) and I don't understand how this couold have happened.

I tightened everything up when the car was in the ground but I still don't see how the previous set would have been bent to begin with. I discovered this when I was trying to get the car aligned and the endlinks were hitting the lower arm.

Any explanation perhaps?

Carlos

As the sway bar is free to move in it's travel range without obstruction, and bending force from the bar is not enough to bend the end link, I would guess you had the sway bar mounted in some way incorrectly.

A picture of the offending bent end link and a picture of your sway from one side looking underneath the car would help in a diagnosis.

it will buckle and bend if enough compression force is placed on it's end axis, not to mention that it doesn't stay perfectly inline as the suspension moves through it's range of motion

http://www.efunda.com/formulae/solid...umns/intro.cfm

Doesn't matter if the relationship between the swaybar and the control arm changes - the force axis will always be the axis of the endlink as long as the ends move freely.

If the ends aren't moving freely then yeah, things could buckle because a torque will be applied across the endlink.

Check the shock body for any signs of rubbing with the endlink. Haven't seen it on the rear, but I did have that happen on the front with a drilled stock bar. The new hole relocated the endlink just enough for some minor interference to occur. If this had bent the endlink even a little, then the bending you described would have occured quickly.

What I think happened is that the sway bar rotated 90 degrees rearwards and then under compression, the lower control arm hit the endlinks thus bending them since they have no place to rotate.

I indeed found the endlinks sitting against the lower arm (resting on the arm) and thus bent 90 degrees.

With the new MS suspension and these new endlinks I just installed this week, I made sure the bolts are properly torqued and endlinks in the correct alignment.

Carlos

Or your current install - What youn describe does not sound possible if installed correctly - maybe the bar is installed upside down or offset laterally? An easy mistake to make - Pics please.

Pics...
 

This is what I am talking about. Rear Sway bar "rotated" close to 180 degrees backwards...

Endlink on top of lower arm.

I am sure the bar was not installed properly, the dealer did this installation BTW, and when under compression the endlink could not avoid the rotation of the say and ended up hitting the lower arm.

I have already installed the sway correctly as well as the endlink...

Perhaps another explanation?

Carlos

yep, installed backwards, surprised it was even functioning