Author Topic: Sway bar mount failure. (Read 3360 times)

D. Clay · « **on:** November 01, 2006, 11:39:37 PM »

Anyone ever have a rear sway bar mount go? What happens and how do they fail? What rips out? Would love to see a pic.

Alpine003 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 02, 2006, 11:05:27 AM »

I've never had one on this particular car but it basically rips out where the "D" cup attaches to the frame by the 1 or 2 bolts.

I've only seen them rip out on cars running "R" compound or very sticky street tires(ala Toyo RA's) with thick sway bars and not very high spring rates on an autocross course. I haven't personally seen any street failures although I'm sure it is all dependent not only on your setup but also driving style.

e9nine · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2006, 06:10:53 PM »

As said above...that's teh weak point. That's why the reinforcement pieces strengthen that area. Sadly I have no pics

YOu have something up your sleeve ay?

Pierre · « **Reply #3 on:** November 02, 2006, 07:18:03 PM »

The sway bars have ripped off their mounts on the FRONT of my stock car. I do drive it hard but the tabs on the front subframes ripped right out. IE has reinforced mounts for the front too.
I got a replacement subframe which I will reinforce. I also have a set of ST springs, bilstein sport shocks and offset bushings. (Control arms need replacing too.) I also have a set of M3 sway bars but I have not decided if I will use them yet. Maybe just the rears. As I understand, the 318is front bar is pretty beefy already. What about bars from a 325is? Or a convertible? Opinions?

Alpine003 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 02, 2006, 08:39:38 PM »

Good combo if you wanna stay with factory bars is the cabrio front bar with m3 rear bar. Or you can weld in attachment point directly to the struts to effectively "increase" your current bar stiffness.

Once again this might be a good balance on the street but some regular auto-x guys prefer to run without a rear bar as they prefer a little flex in the back to achieve better grip around smaller courses with tight transitions.

IMO, bigger bars really benefit road racing or track days on longer sweepers or high speed turning on streets.

Then again, you'll always encounter the age old debate on whether to use stiffer springs and have sway bars be more supplemental vs. bigger sway bars and softer springs.

If you look at the early Saturns for example, they were able to achieve a decent and comfortable ride while having good handling on the street by using softer springs but huge sway bars. This would be the latter school of thought. While a lot of fwd Honduh and Acura guys tend to use crazy spring rates on the track like 800f and 1200r.

BTW, is this Pierre from 2002faq? If so, hi there. I almost bought a set of rims from you at one point.