Hello,

I'll make this quick since i don't fully understand much about it. I got Hotchkis sway bars installed about 1 month ago, worked perfectly for 2 weeks then i got a loud popping sound out of the front. The shop that installed them took pictures and emailed Hotchkis. They sent new bushings but they're the same one installed.

Here is the email my shop sent to Hotchkis:
Pictures of front sway.






The bar is obviously moving back and forth... Is it supposed to move that much?

Thanks very much in advance.

-Peter

 

From the research I have done, the sway bar will slide side to side a little bit, but by hotchkis installing the permanent collars, they have taken out a lot of the movement that can occur in the older versions of the sway bar (without collars). I have also picked up the idea, that the grease that is included with the sway bar get very sticky after a while. If you put this stuff on 2 of your fingers, and wiped off the excess with a cloth, you coulnd't slide your fingers against each other easily, it would require a lot of force, they would almost stick like glue.

So, possibly whats happening is since the grease it now almost acting as a glue inside the bushings. Once the bar attempts its normal rotation inside the bushing, the glue holds the bar from rotating until a great amount of force is applied, then bar pops into rotation, and shifts to either side from the pressure.

I would ask the shop if they can un-hook the endlinks, and see if they can easily rotate the bar in the bushings. If not, they may need to use another type of grease.

 

You may be barking up the wrong tree. FWIW, I and quite a few others have solved the clunking by going with aftermarket endlinks.

 

So what did you set the sway bars to, full stiff up front will murder the endlinks in a couple weeks time. One down from full stiff will also hurt the stock endlinks pretty quick.

 

"aftermarket endlinks" Sounds like an expensive fix but hopefully a good one.
+ $300.00

 

^ agreed. Took a few months of annoyance to build up before I finally pulled the trigger but am very happy I did now.

I had to learn the hard way that adjustable sways need adjustable end links or they are no good. My car rode a lot better after the switch as well since the stockers were binding...so the money is not all to just remove the clunk but actually makes the bars function as part of the suspension properly as well.

 

yup, sucks. but its the price we pay....I guess. I personally haven't gotten sways for this reason alone....it bothers me too much to spend 600 bucks on sways...

 

Mine wasn't clunking, but I noticed the side to side movement of my Hotchkis sway bar in the front. To eliminate the movement, I bought some 1.25" PVC pipe, cut two 1/4" pieces of it, slit each piece so I could snap it over the sway bar, and then snapped them in between the collar and the bushing. That got rid of the play and movement. I really like the improvement from the Hotchkis sway bars on the handling, it's much more balanced. For better or worse, I haven't had to replace the end links yet....

 

Thanks everyone for your input... i'll most likely be purchasing new endlinks from Adam at Z1auto.com

Thanks again!

-Peter

 

Stock aftermarket endlinks are cheap (anywhere from $13-21 depending on side). No they aren't adjustable, and yes they are stock and might go bad again. But, if they go bad you could but a bunch before you equal the cost of aftermarket options.

You can find them here:
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...?siteid=214252

 

^ yes, but the problem is unless you use the holes that match the stock swaybar length/mount points exactly, then you will not be getting full articulation from your endlinks which will cause binding.

 

I understand, but no one pointed out the cost of factory end links. Just wanted to help him make a well informed decision. I also thought your statement was a little inaccurate:

Sways are hardly "no good" without adjustable end links. Adjustable links allow one to reap the full benefit of stiffer adjustable bars, but their omission does not render the stiffer sway bars useless.

 

OK, well he already has adjustable sways, so I made the assumption that he would want to adjust them.

If he was shopping for new sways, I may have mentioned fixed/non-adjustables like the Nismo's that are designed with the factory endlinks in mind.

 

I'm still ultra confused as to why people are still breaking endlinks. I'm on my stock endlinks now. I have the front set to the 2nd hole from the end. When the front bar is installed closer to the end of the bar, its pushes for more oversteer. By the bar endlink being installed in the hole furthest away from the bar itself, substanially less force is being applied to the endlink and opposing endlinkg as the total lever length (swaybar + endlink) is longer. So, honestly, no matter what your spring rate or suspension setup, a longer lever in the would induce more understeer, and a shorter would induce oversteer.

Are people setting their bars up to induce understeer?

 

Its pretty simple. After market swaybars are MUCH stiffer than the OEM (thats what she said). When the sway bar is adjusted and are matted with the endlink, it causes an unnatural postion that was never intended for the stock endlink, thus causing more stress and force, that will result in binding and stock endlink failure.

 

The lowest setting on most aftermarket sways is still stiffer than stock.

Also, don't forget that most people are also installing stiffer rear sways as well. That makes for a proportional increase in stiffness front to rear.

 

have you tried tightening the endlink bolt? It always comes loose on mine. I have to retighten about once every 3 months and all the clunking goes away.

 

^ one of mine worked its way off one time, i put some lock tight on it and its been good for a while now

 

Do bad endlinks make a clunking noise on most bumps or only on very hard suspension compression like from a large bump or pothole? In other words does it take a lot of force to get them to bind up and make noise or does it happen all the time if they are bad?

 

I autocross my Z, a lot, and these are the sways I use. You may want to check the bolts that connect the endlinks to the bar. The instructions call for something like 40ft-lbs IIRC, but after tracing clunking problems (with my Brother's Cobb sways on his STi) to these bolts, I decided to go with 60 ft-lbs.

Both the Cobb and the Hotchkis called for the lower torque settings, but 60 ft-lbs fixed my brother's STi. My Z has ran at 60 ft-lbs with no problems also. But the sway bar settings are full soft in the back and one hole from full soft up front. (that might be helping me too.)

Good luck.

BTW. My bar looks just like your pic, at that spot, and all has been well for over a year.