Why do (aftermarket) sway bars make noise?
 

A few questions on sway bars:

do heim-jointed end links such as the tarrett ones make noise by themselves, even when used on late stock-style bars such as carrera sway bars?

can a car be corner balanced reasonably well with stock end-links and carrera sway bars? obviously if there was any sway bar preload it would have to be adjusted either not at all or with bending.

What other stuff makes noise on aftermarket sway bars? Weltmeisters have a reputation for making noise, but which parts are making the noises?

Steve Wiener said this in another thread:

As I understand it he is using collars inside the fender on a through-body sway bar to keep the bar from knocking back and forth (moving along the axis of the bar itself).

Also, if you have aftermarket bars of any brand and they are silent in street use, please say so!

Ideas?

Cheers,

with the welts, I believe it is the plastic bushings that make the noise...they aren't a perfect fit, so you get some creaking. My Smarts up front don't seem to make any noise at all.

SmartRacing bars are very quiet. It has to do with the tolerances the bars are made with. Weltsheister bars have side to side play in them and you notice when your car is in a turn. Steve is just adding stops on the bars on the inside to prevent this. I had AJUSA brand bars on, but they slid back and forth also.

so 89, you think that the whole bar moving is most of the noise? I think steve was saying he did this with smart racing bars, but I could be wrong. the original post wasn't super specific.

What about the Tarrett/Elephant bars? They are a little cheaper, are they quiet too?

The bar slides side to side and hits the inner fender well. The SR bars fit tight and have spacers to custom fit if there is any play. I don't have any experience with the other brands up close. And, yes, SR bars are overpriced but seem very well made.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1107994816.jpg

The bar also could be moving around in the hole through the body. If anyone else has worked installing the SR bars, getting the holes to line up with the spacers and the bar and then have it fit without binding is a job in of itself.

They look very nice. Thanks for all your input, 89. I see you changed your location ;)

The Tarret ones have locking collars on the outside of the front bar and the inside of hte rear bar. They are quiet on my car.

Jeff

Weltmeisters are quiet on my car.

Unbolt the drop links and see if the bar is free to swivel. If the sway bar mounts on each end are not aligned, they will tend to bind and squeak more.

Sherwood

I have the racers group bars on our car and they also have front and rear locking collars to prevent side to side movement.

The only noise that I have noticed is that when you have the preload set correctly (no preload at all) the heim joints on the front have a tendency to rattle just a little when going over bumps at slow speeds.

Thanks, guys. with the collars, and keeping any polyurethane well lubricated, perhaps the only other thing would be some thin rattle-damper sleeves between the bolts and the heim joint centers, if there is any slack there.

Sherwood, any special tricks to make the Welts quiet, other than aligning the ends? do they have side-to-side limiting collars or endlink noise?

Much appreciated,

Andy,
On the rear sway bar, you can install a hose clamp on the inside of each mount to limit how far the bar drifts. Has anyone mentioned installing zerk fittings to supply grease to the innards? A small grease channel can also be created inside the PU bushing to distribute the pressurized grease.

If the rod bearing rattles, that might indicate the bearing is worn. Remove it from the bracket and verify. I'm pretty sure the supplied rod bearing is of fairly low quality (inexpensive). You can try a higher quality rod bearing with teflon lining which will tighten up the play.

On the "needs improvement" end, the WM uses a 5/16" rod bearing and a skinny 5/16" allen head bolt that screws into their spring plate adapter. This is not the strongest setup although I haven't destroyed it yet; others may have different stories.

I would prefer something like the Tarrett-made adapter (or equivalent) for the spring plate attachment. The Tarrett adapter has the same shape (eccentric) but uses a 3/8" through hole which allows using a beefier nut and bolt and a 3/8" rod bearing. The drop link arm has to be slightly modified to accept the larger rod bearing.

Sherwood