Why are sway bar bushings bad for your car?
Sway bar bushings are pretty simple in terms of design and construction. They’re really not much more than rubber dampers, and therein lies their weakness. The underside of your car is exposed to high heat, freezing temperatures, road salt, water, rocks and a lot more.
When to replace stabilizer bar links and bushings?
It’s a good idea to have the front stabilizer bar links and bushings fully replaced at the same time that other front end work is being completed.
What’s the role of the sway bar in a car?
The responsibility of keeping your car stable and handling smoothly under diverse driving conditions falls on the stabilizer, or sway bar as it’s often referred to as.
What to do if your stabilizer bar is failing?
A great opportunity for car owners to be proactive about keeping their stabilizer bar and front suspension protected from significant damage is to ask a certified mechanic to inspect them during a front brake pad replacement, tire replacement, or other front end work.
How do you replace the bushing on a sway bar?
You may have to remove the sway bar end links to get the sway bar to move enough to replace the bushings grease the bushings properly with wheel bearing grease or another heavy-duty grease to keep them quiet. Make sure you tighten the bushing bolts completely. It should compress the bushing slightly giving you a nice quiet ride.
Why do my sway bar bushings keep cracking?
The underside of your car is exposed to high heat, freezing temperatures, road salt, water, rocks and a lot more. Over time, this will degrade the rubber bushings, causing them to shrink and crack. Eventually, they can’t do their job and you lose some of the benefits of your sway bar (stabilizer bar).
When do you not need a sway bar?
Usually, the thicker your sway bar or the longer the lever arm the flatter your vehicle will stay in a corner. The only time you really don’t want a sway bar doing its job is if you’re a serious off-roader and want all 4 wheels to have maximum flex independent of each other.
Where are sway bars mounted on a car?
Just about any front or all-wheel drive vehicle will have a very similar procedure to install new bushings as sway bars are usually mounted just behind the front axle. Before we give you a few more quick tips, let’s talk about what a sway bar is: What is a sway bar? The sway bar on your vehicle reduces sway, hence the name.