Mr. V

I am in need of some advice. My rear sway has started squeaking. I love the way my car handles right now but I'm concerned that after I bring my car to the dealer for the repair that the sound will eventually return. I'm considering changing my sway bars. It was mentioned to me that I should consider just buying urethane bushings for my stock sways. I am hoping for some insight from anyone that has done urethane bushings. I'm also interested in sway bar recommendations.

houtex

Edit: Are you sure it's the sway bars and not the control arms? My rear control arm was the squeaking, the sway bar not so much. I replaced the rear control arms with BMR boxed poly/poly nonadjustable ones. Like them a lot. Just makin' sure there..

Polyurethane bushings are better for wear (and a little more money), but they are harsher for ride, which is why most manufacturers don't use them. Always trying to reduce NVH because people are pansies in their cars and can't handle any roughness (it's. A. PONY CAR, dangit! It's SUPPOSED to be a little rough...)

I am putting new sway bars in (whenever I get get to it, I'm down to one knee at the moment) because sale and I wanted the adjustable fronts and bigger bars. I lowered the car an inch, and I think it'll help things overall. (Eibach setup, if that matters, complete with rear links too. Those are real pretty, btw. Very nice lookin' links. Dang shame nobody much will see 'em, but I'll know they're there. )

My sway bar rubber in the front is shot. Bumps are noisy. I can't freakin' wait.

But there really, honestly, isn't any reason to do the sway bars if you're otherwise happy with the car's sway situation. Just get new polyurethane, IMO, and be done with it. There should be a kit... somewhere... just be sure to measure your current bars with a micrometer to get the right bushings.

They should be *real* easy to fix. In the case of the fronts, as long as the end links are ok, it's just the two middle ones.

The rears you're going to need new links with the poly bushings, or you're going to need new links that have the end caps separated at the bar so you can replace them easier. And the two end bushings. Front and back, it's a total of 8 bushings.

I would take the opportunity to upgrade the bars, myself, but they sell just the links and bushings. I went with Eibach, but again, I haven't yet put them on. Bigger diameter bars are going to help the car not lean as much. There are also adjustable fronts so you can make it less or more stiff. And upgrade the links up front and back too, those are available. Steeda, Whiteline, BMR, SR, all make bars, just do a littel research and make a choice.

This video will show you more, it's one of the better sway bar videos I've found. It's for a 65-66 Mustang, but it doesn't matter the car, they're all about the same idea.


Here's one from Motorz both front and rear, but be aware most rear sway bars and links aren't set up in the rear like Hellwig's are. Those are hecksa fancy.

Mr. V

I crawled under her and checked. It's my sways. I have steeda billet lower control arms. Funny thing is they are very quiet. Lol, I like to look at the lcas too. I agree, it is sad that most folks don't get to see them.

I am leaning towards sway bars. I am just worried I'll spend the money and my car won't be Noticeably better. I don't mind spending money if there is a benefit.

houtex

Well, you can always put in just the bushings, and then if you decide later, get the whole kit.

Bushings aren't that much, and the labor won't be much to do it yourself, in either case, really.

Glenn

I see your running Koni Sport Shocks and Struts. If you are pretty much a street driver I don't think you will notice new sways all that much. If your at the track every chance you get then I would say go for new sway bars. Try a squirt of WD-40 and see if that quiets things down on your current pieces?

lakeguy77

If you don't want to mess around with repairs and don't want to make any changes to how the car handles, get some white lithium grease and give the rubber bushings on the sway bar a shot on both sides. If that resolves it, it's simply a lubrication issue as opposed to a wear issue, or you may have got a little dusty in between the bushing and the bar. It's more of a bandaid and you may have to give it another shot down the road. But it's a quick and cheap way to verify if it's something simple.

Dean Martin

I just did the rear on my 12 GT. I had the horrible "clunk" many get on the driver rear side.

Got a BMR version with ploy bushings on a Black Friday deal, and it has grease fittings for the end bushings and the end links. Clunk immediately gone, super quiet now and easy to service going forward. I used Super Lube synthetic grease FYI.

So happy to have this fixed, best $250 I spent on the car in some time.

tj@steeda

If you are looking to upgrade the sways ... let me know ... I would be happy to send you a discount code for your purchase!

Best Regards,

TJ

Mr. V

My family piched in and picked up the whiteline sways for me for my birthday. I'm getting them put in on Saturday. Hopefully this kills the clunk in the back of my car. I was happy to see that these sways are made in America. I'll post a review after.

Mr. V

So my sway bars are in. Happily the clunk from the rear of my car is done. The handling feels tighter and the it just feels stiffer all around. I've put sways on several of my previous European cars but the difference wasn't as big as it's been for my mustang. In truth, I may have made my car uncomfortable as a daily driver. It's great in the twisty bits but can kind of bob up and down on uneven roads. I'm going to try a lighter setting on the rear this weekend and see if that resolves it. I'm open to any suggestions on how to remove the bouncing feeling I am getting on poor roads.

5.M0NSTER

How firm are your Koni's set to? You could try a softer setting to see if that helps.

magnido45

Congrats Mr. V...I just recently up'd my Whiteline Sways both front/rear from 2nd to 3rd hole from softest because the car still leaned a bit when I pushed it around corners. Now it doesn't lean at all and still corners neutral...lol

Anyway, I did notice a little more feedback on bumpy roads since I firmed up the sways...but I don't mind. I'd say adjust/soften your rear shocks first (like 5.Monster suggested) before you adjust/soften the rear sway setting...you may have to do the same to the front if your cornering is presently neutral, but that would mean that your car will lean more w/ the softer sway setting...or you can just get a Whiteline Watts Link and that'll cure A LOT of the rear end bounce...njoy!!!

Mr. V

Thank you to you and monster for your help. I'm getting used to it a bit. I set my shocks to full soft and it seems to help. I'll see what it does long term. I am considering the whiteline watts. I picked these sways in particular for that reason.

Gear Poet

Ah, I went with the Whiteline sways myself last fall when I redid the perf/pack suspension. Odd to see the rear links and bar-tabs hanging down, but the sways roll-control surprisingly well.

Stevedotmil

I have the clunk and was trying for the life of me to figure out what the heck it was. Thanks for the heads up. So is it the actual sway bar or the bushings that were shot?

Mr. V

I had the same clunk. For me, it was the bushings.

Stevedotmil

Okay thanks. I may have to get some then. Steeda or Prothane?

Dean Martin

Mine seemed to be the end links. It wasn't much more $ to just replace the entire sway, over a new set of quality endlinks. And again, I like having grease fittings so I can service them now.

Stevedotmil

I think I may check them out tomorrow. Thanks.

Mr. V

I thought I would add a review of my Whiteline sways now that I've had everything ironed out. I had some initial noise after the install. I was worried this was the reality of these new sways. I had a clunking noise and some creaking when going over any kind of slope diagonally. My car is lowered, I do this quite a bit. My shop figured out it was my uca. They tightened it and the noises are gone.

Now to the ride. The steering felt heavier after changing the sways. Yes, I know this would happen from my previous cars and modding them but I figured some folks reading this may not know. I switched my steering from sport to standard and it feels about the same as the stock bars on sport. Maybe a little bit lighter. The handling feels amazing. It feels more planted. There is less gitter when I enter the turn or exit. I took it to a mountain road and it was very impressive.

As far as noise, there is more road noise but that seems to be all. The back seems a little stiffer over bumps but it isn't anything that is uncomfortable. Id say the negative impact is minimal.

I love how it looks as well. The gold color of the linkage kind of goes with the yellow of my Koni shocks. It also looks tidier and tucked away. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I'll do a watts but if I do, I'll be doing the whiteline.