This issue has been discussed before, but I never really saw any solid conclusions. I figured I'd post a new thread and see if anyone got anywhere with it.

I have a set of Hotchkis swaybars. Ever since I installed them I've had a small clunking sound on occasion. It mainly becomes apparent when I'm travelling slowly going at a diagonal over uneven surfaces such as speed bumps, or going up driveways and such.

My mechanic and I have taken the car for a drive and listened intently, but we can't figure out exactly where it's coming from. We also put it up on the lift and checked every nut and bolt that has anything to do with the suspension and sway bars. Everything is tight. I have since even installed new suspension, which gave us an opportunity to *really* check all the nuts and bolts. All tight. Clunking still appears with the new suspension just the same as it did with the stock suspension.

Per another thread that came up, I have installed a set of anti-slide collars on the bars to prevent them from sliding around in their bushings during hard cornering. That didn't help the clunking, though.

What the heck is causing this? As the pirate with a steering wheel attached to his crotch said, "It's drivin' me nuts!"

 

I don't know what caused it but Zcargarage in San Jose fixed it. You can call them on monday. I think it was a tower adjustment or something. 408 452 0350

 

Do you know if their problem was with the Hotchkis bars, or another brand? I just don't see what the Hotchkis bars would be doing that any other bar wouldn't do. If it's simply the fact that I'm using a stiffer bar than stock, then why wouldn't every aftermarket sway bar do the clunking? Weird.

 

Sounds like the bushings need to be greased. Try marine grease or axle grease.

My 350Evo rear bars gradually developed a clunking sound under similar conditions as you're describing, and thoroughly greasing the bushings did the trick.

 

I don't have a clunking sound but a slight squeaking when the car twists like pulling into and up my driveway. I'm thinking it's the sway bushings need geasing again. When I get the next oil change I'm going to have them lube the bushings (rears). Sure wish the fronts had the grease fittings so you wouldn't have to take them apart.

Hotchkis recommends re-lubing every 5k miles.

 

I had the same thing.

Try moving the drop links back and forth by hand and see if you get a similiar noise. I had the same problem and couldn't figure it out until I moved my stock links by hand and discovered that it made a light clunk.

I replaced them with the Nismo heim jointed drop links and the problem has gone away comletely. The Nismo drop links are expensive but you can replace with stock ones pretty cheap. You may have to be prepared to replace them again however...

 

Here's a link to another thread where the clunking looks to have been caused by the stock end links:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....hreadid=109732

 

I have the same noise and was hoping to find the answer. IT doesnt seem to affect the handling of the car though

 

same here. i just installed mine yesterday and already aware of the issue. is there any fix to it?

 

i had the same problem and it went away after regreasing them.

 

Just last weekend I adjusted my rear Hotchkis swaybar from soft to medium, and the clunking has pretty much gone away. While we were adjusting the sways, we did as 'ksj' suggested up above in comment #6 and tugged around on the stock end links. Sure enough, they were causing the clunking. I figure that with the Hotchkis bars set to soft, there was just enough angle on the end links to cause some weird stresses, which exacerbated the problem and made them clunk. Now, with the sways set to medium, the end links are more vertical and probably aren't subjected to the same forces, and are thus no longer clunking. Either way, it would seem a quality aftermarket set of end links would fix the problem no matter what swaybar setting (or brand) was used.

 

could also be the sways moving on you, i put locking collars on both sides of the sways to stop this. it was discussed a long time ago and i got the part number for the collars from the post. Try searching again, there was a pretty lengthy discussion on it, and it persuaded me to by the collars, so far no problems for me.

 

That was my initial thought long ago when it first started happening, so I did indeed install those collars. Didn't fix it. I really do think it was the end links at this point. As I mentioned earlier, we did tug around on the end links when we were adjusting the bars, and the links did make some clicking noises. I imagine with the full weight of the car tugging around on them (instead of little ole me) those clicking noises would become a more significant clunking. Regardless, it's gone for now (after setting the rear sways to medium), so I'm happy. If it starts up again in the future, I'll look into some aftermarket links.

 

Thats probably true, mine was set at med-med from the beginning so maybe thats why i never had that problem.

 

just installed the front yesterday and was quiet then got a little clunking sound on the front left and then it went away this afternoon not really sure why, good to know that end links should be put on the list of stuff to buy

 

I think I have the same issue. I doubt it's the endlinks because I have the SPL endlinks installed. I have the sways on for about a month now, and have been to a shop to make sure everything is tight.

 

mmm, I thought i saw, Upgraded Endlinks was the fix?

 

Apparently not in my case

 

It might be grease. I have SPL endlinks too and the clunck is there. Haven't had time to take the bars off and grease the bushings

 

I know of a cpl ppl who had this same issue. In all instances it was fixed when they trashed the stock endlinks for aftermarket endlinks. only bad part is they'll run you as much as you paid for your sways.