clunking noises/ broken sway bar bolt

boosted180

I was getting a clunking noise for a very long time whenever I go up/ down driveways and the car is unevenly loaded left to right. It happens almost every time. But when I put the car on a lift and try to find the cause, nothing comes up.

Then recently while going down the driveway I heard/ felt the "clunk" again, but this time it was really loud and immediately afterwards, a sound of a piece of metal like a bolt hitting the muffler. I got out of the car and sure enough, the sway bar bolt broke off on the rear bar. Since then no more clunking noise, at least in the rear.

But if the car is unevenly loaded enough then the front makes the exact same noise the rear used to make.

I'll need to get a new bolt, but what's causing the noise? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the sway bars. I have Eibach aftermarket sway bars (I think... it's been so long, I don't remember)

By the way, where do I get a new bolt (or set of bolts)? I've been away from the hobby for a really long time and haven't been keeping up. I really miss track days, but just been way too busy with other stuff in the past few years...

Thanks.

DR_

You don't get just the bolt, you get a whole new endlink. The rear endlink is a know failure point with larger swaybars. You might be able to get a lightly used endlink on the forum here for cheap as many of us go aftermarket when we go to larger swaybars.

kenchan

check with rusty on the endlinks he used. i forget which ones.

Chuck33079

Buy SPL endlinks. The Whiteline ones are crap. It's less that $200 to get ones that won't break. And the clunking was the balljoint screaming in agony.

__________________
2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

boosted180

What can I do about the ball-joint to keep it quiet?

I remember my endlink breaking once before and I replaced with aftermarket, but don't remember which brand. So this would be the 2nd time. Too bad I cannot buy just the bolt b/c the link itself looks fine.

Wonka2581

I would check to see if you got SPL endlinks, because if you dont I would get some they are the best.

__________________
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat""Winston Churchill"

boosted180

I see why no one replied to my question of whether I can just "replace the bolt". Haha... I finally had time to get under the car and remove the old broken endlinks. You gotta just buy the entire endlink. They are Moog, which replaced my OEM, when that broke years ago. My sway bars are Hotchkis.

So where can I get SPL links for a good price?

It's been forever since I've worked on cars. But it was nice to get my hands dirty again. Maybe I'll get back out to the track or an auto-x one of these days too. =)

Sh0velMan

Just google SPL Parts.

I may be putting together a design for a competing product at a lower price... We'll see.

__________________
Buy My Car! | Build Thread