Those were also my first guesses. I regreased the bushings to make sure the bars rotated freely, and I also installed collars on the bars so they couldn't move laterally. (They were indeed moving laterally prior to that. I just don't understand why Hotchkis didn't put some collars on their swaybars from the start.) After that, the clunking still continued to get worse in the rear, and later even the front started doing it. It's possible the damage had already been done by the lateral movement, and replacing the stock links with a new set of stock links probably might have fixed it, but I went ahead and grabbed a set of adjustable aftermarket links anyway. (Plus, the ability to neutralize the preload on the swaybars will be nice.) Hopefully this will be the end of it.

 

My Stillen sway bars came w/welded-in collars. When I installed them, I also installed Prothane bushings. For 10K miles, I have had ZERO problems, and have been very pleased w/ the way they perform. My question is:are Hotchkis (or any other) bars so superior to the Stillens that they overcome the absence of welded-in collars and/or justify the extra expense of buying/installing clamp-on collars and, eventually, expensive end links? and if so, why? I am dropped 1.25 on Tanabe Sustec Pro SOC Type I, and track my car about 1x/month.

 

What kinda after market end links you got? where did u get it?

 

can you define rotating freely? I didn't think the sway bars were supposed to rotate? any illustrations ?

I'm trying to learn to do things myself rather than relying on the shop.

 

I have no idea why Hotchkis decided not to put collars on their swaybars at first. (I believe they do now days.) Their design certainly didn't remove the necessity to have collars, since Hotchkis bars (and any other bar I've seen without collars of some sort) will slide laterally all over the place if you drive hard at all. I've seen a lot of posts over time from folks with swaybars that lack the collars, and they all end up sliding to one side or another. As far as purchasing the collars separately, I think I literally paid 5 bucks to get a set online (I forget from where), and they just bolted on. It would've been extremely easy for Hotchkis to just do that from the beginning. Oh well.

 

The only end links I could easily find for sale were the Power Grid pieces. They sell them on Ebay via their Ebay store, and have plenty in stock. Try their website at www.powergridinc.com for more info and the link to their Ebay store. Note that I'm not personally promoting them in any way, since I haven't even received them yet. They were just all I could find.

 

Sure. If you disconnect the end links from both sides of the swaybar, the swaybar should be able to rotate up and down a bit. Sometimes swaybars can get bound up and won't move easily due to bad bushings, lack of grease, etc. The bar doesn't need to be so loose that it swings down when you disconnect the links (they can be a bit tight), but you don't want it totally stuck and immoble.

 

If you still keep destroying end-links than you may have one side of your suspension is binding. This is a little bit harder to troublshoot, but most of the time it is a damaged shock.

 

Odd, I have the Nismo sways and they didn't say anything about greasing the bushings. Mine swing freely using the rubber bushing they provide and they've been on there for 4 years now (imported from Japan). The Nismo's also have a collar, so they don't move laterally.

Personally I think the stock end links are not up to what these cars will do, especially on a track. If you look you will find all kinds of people who are completely stock and have had them fail as well.

One of my fronts failed shortly after a day at the track, two years after I put the Nismo sways on. I then got the Nismo end links when they were available and it's been fine since.

 

You may be right about the stock end-links, just anytime a failure occurs - look to see what caused it - or else if you just replace the part it could happen again.

The end-links I have now are built much stronger than stock and the bearings do offer a wider degree of motion than stock, so it is a good piece of mind. There are 3 things you don't want to fail on track - Brakes, tires, and your suspension. As the old saying goes for track - going fast is optional, braking is mandatory.

 

wow they are certainly not cheaper than any other major brands...

 

Is it just me or do these look a lot like the ball joints in the stock end links. Is this not the failure point in the stock end links? I know it's hard to tell in the pictures so maybe someone who has them can comment. I like how the SPL's, TC Design's and the nismos use traditional spherical bearings.

 

I think the argument is that the heim jointed ones can get crud in them and seize. If it happens it must take a while cause I've had the Nismo's on for 2 years and been to SIR several times without any issues.

 

it is the same design as stock but they do not use stock components...much stronger

My only issue with the spherical type is they tend to get really noisy over time, and it's just not something I am willing to live with on my own car any longer - even it if gives slightly crisper control over things. The SPL ones that I've held in my hands look identical to the Whiteline ones...down to the color of everything and the slittle seals they give to help protect the bearing. I think this is why they don't have fronts yet...because Whiteline has not yet made them either

 

White line fronts are available. Here are links for the front and rear.

https://www.whiteline.com.au/store/d...sp?part=KLC010


https://www.whiteline.com.au/store/d...sp?part=KLC041

 

must have just gotten them done, as they were not available just prior to the holidays when I checked

 

The secret is out Yes we did source them from Whiteline, although we did not get the 350Z specific endlinks. We originally developed some front endlinks in house for the 300ZX, that also fit the 350Z rear. However we had a lot of problems sourcing good quality metric rod ends at a reasonable price. So when Whiteline started offering universal endlinks with better quality rod ends, we sourced the endlinks from them and packaged them with the car specific hardware. This was well before they had the 350Z specific endlinks available.

But we are still not completely happy with the Whiteline endlinks, the articulation angle on those ends I felt made them unsuitable for use on the front of the 350Z. So we are now moving on to the third generation endlinks that will be produced in-house with QA1's massive high articulation rod ends...

 

TC's are slightly cheaper than those and the nismos.

 

I need news ones something fierce, but the powergrids look way to weak IMO. I would like a beefed up set. I really hope SPL or Z1 gets these done soon.

 

I bought the Tc ones last week. I will post a review when I get them installed. Should be next weekend.