I don't even know if this is the right place to post this, so Mods, please move to the right place when you have a chance.

I was wondering what the consquences of having bad rear sway bay end links was and is it a hard fix? Sorry but suspension is way beyond me.

Also, what is a good brand of endlinks to go with and where did you get them from? The problem is that when you hit the brakes, you can hear the links clang together like a bunch of pennies. I wanted to do them myself but don't know where to start.

Should I get a new rear sway bar and bushing while I'm back there? I would like a car that can brake and handle like my mother in law's BMW M5.

Can the endlinks do something bad? Does it effect braking in anyway? Do they help the launch?

 

The end links are easy to replace. Skill Level 2 (need wrenches and arms).
You can get them at any auto parts store is you want the OEM replacement rubber ones. But now may be the time to upgrade to Poly. They would be slightly stiffer but last longer.
AutoZone has the bushings from EnergySuspension availible seperately as does most mail-order places. Also if your hardware (bolts/washers/nuts) are corroded and in bad shape, you can just get the endlink 'kit'. Not real expensive to do.
They recommend using all Poly or all Rubber and not intermixing them. So maybe a good time to upgrade the front and rear endlinks as well as the swaybar mounts also at the same time. You will need to determine what diameter your swaybar is B4 getting the bar bushings.

The issues are noise, causing irregular steering feedback/issues during cornering and it could snap the bolt if its corroded and make the front of the bar fall down.

 

Thanks for the response I was looking for. I don't have a caliper so do you know the diameter of a rear sway bar for a 89 formy 350?

What will happen if I leave this be for another week?

Where can I get a good rear sway bar that is better than stock?

Thanks again for helping me cause suspension makes me tarded.

 

There are a couple of ways you can go about measuring a sway bar...

• use a metric wrench until one fits snug. just make sure all the gunk is cleaned off the bar, not that you have an extra 2mm of dirt and you buy the wrong bushing (yeah, even 1mm matters).
• wrap some string around the bar and use a formula to calculate the diameter of the bar.
• buy a caliper... the one I bought from harbor freight was $35. It converts from english to metric and can be zeroed out and the whole sha'bang. It's also accurate to something like 0.001"

Try the junkyards for other rear swaybars or check out the parts for sale board. If you are looking for a front bar as well, I have a 36mm bar (largest factory size and I think it's the largest even in aftermarket) already painted and ready to be installed. Contact me if you interested.

As far as driving for another week without changing anything... you can, but if you think it is bad enough that the bolt will break then just pull the swaybar off the car. However, pulling it off will create a lot of understeer... the front end wants to plow through the turn.

Making your car handle like your mother-in-laws M5 isn't hard at all. It may not be as smooth when the mods are completed, but these cars can easily out handle an M5. I think there is actually a guy on these forums that pulls 1g on his daily driven car with street tires.

 

X2.

There are quite a few that it could be. I suspect a 34MM front.
32mm, 34mm and 36mm are the common Formy/TA bars up front. Mine was a 34mm. 36mm is common on a 1LE car which you probably dont have.
Out back there is 23mm and 24mm I beleive it was comon to the Formy and TA. I got a 23mm out back. 24mm would be 1LE as well I beleive.
Mine were stock sizes as it came from the factory....34 and 23.
You only need diameter info if you intend on upgrading the mount bushings.
Heres a link to Energys application section for Camaro.
http://www.energysuspension.com/pages/cam1.html

They dont list the 36mm bar since they are a little more rare to find. 30mm would be a V6 bar I think.
There is the part number for the endlink kit. You can still get the actual bushings seperately BTW.
There is an EnergySuspension dealer site on E-bay which usually has the parts cheaper. Copy down those part numbers and compare them around at mail order places and such. I did that on my ZQ8 S10 bushing upgrade and found the e-bay store for ES to be cheapest. Shipping was fast too.

There are aftermarket companies like Suspension Techniques, Hellwig and others who make replacement upgrade bars.

Another thing, GM used Metric diameter sizing. Aftermarket typically uses SAE. Do a converter to compare them. Some Metric and SAE sizes cross reference too.

 

Unless your one of the people that only want new parts on their car, I would say stick with OEM swaybars. They are a ton cheaper (about $50 shipped for OEM vs roughly $150+shipping for aftermarket for the front bar), and like I said earlier, the only aftermarket bar bigger than the 36mm bar up front is larger by I believe 0.0625" and the back is larger than the stock 24 bar by 0.055".

Just to give you an idea of how stiffness changes with the different diameter bars, take a look at the chart I made. However, please take note that this assumes the same kind of bushing is used. If you swap to poly from your worn rubber, those numbers will be even larger/smaller. Also, where it says "old swaybar," that means "current swaybar."
Attachment 166025
Oh, and anything below 10% typically isn't a seat of the pants difference... that is, unless you have a really sensitive rear.

Mike

Edit - Does anyone know the wall thicknesses for the front bars? I'm not willing to cut apart my swaybars. If I can get those dimensions, I can make a chart comparing the front swaybar stiffness's.

 

Stock?? IDK. My 34mm bar is hollow. Wasnt there alos some Solid bars in 34mm?

 

Yes there were some solid 34mm front bars. They were the stiffest front swaybars ever made for our cars. However, they were only made for the factory race cars and therefore there are only about 50 that ever existed... good luck finding one.

 

i have found, though i cannot seem to remember where, solid 36mm fronts, aftermarket of course, as well. i do know that if your suspension is ws6 then you would also have 36mm front and 1in. rear. this is the stiffest combo and perfectly match to help each other. my sway bars are stock and the front is hollow. i also read on tgo that sway bars themselve do not go bad. only the bushings do. the only upgrade would be if you have smaller bars and want bigger or if you have big hollow bars and want solid. it still always will depend on what you are looking for and planning to do to your car. hope this helped