Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
Originally Posted by velociabstract
I highly stress my suspension on a regular basis. I'll take a photo of mine for comparison purposes.
Les
Les
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
I'm sorry it took me so long to get under the car. Here's what my severely stressed sway bar bracket looks like. You can see that I still have interference problems with the camber arms. They hit the sway bar and force it into the body seam, or vice versa. I've got to problem solve on the issue.
Les
Les
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
I too have this sway bar problem! Had my 2005 Crossfire since new. Drive it very gently on our Australian roads which are not ideal (read rough!) suburban roads & certainly no "Dukes of Hazzard" driving from me! I've had 2 independent opinions, a mechanic & a panelbeater who both state that it is likely to be metal fatigue as it is not the bracket welds that have come adrift, but rather the bracket itself on the NSR that has fractured. The car has never been in an accident other than parking speed bumps!Both suggested I visit the dealer to remedy as it is in their opinion an original fault in manufacture. Took it to the dealer today & they rejected my claim that it be repaired under warranty . where to now I wonder?
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
Originally Posted by 04Fire
Does this create a noise when going over bumps? Rattling. etc.?
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
Damn...if only I'd read this sooner
The mysterious 'clunk' started happening last week for me. Put her up on the hoist and sure enough it's torn right through on the left hand side and just starting to crack on the right. Bloody Australian roads. Must be a common weak point if we're all suffering from it (to state the bleedin obvious) Still, have done 194,000km just a shame I wasn't on top of this one...quoted $700 to remove everything, weld the floor pan back up with a plate and then put everything back together...
Everyone one should be checking this! Pretty annoyed that the guys who two weeks ago did a wheel alignment and didn't let me know...they probably didn't even look...won't be back there.
The mysterious 'clunk' started happening last week for me. Put her up on the hoist and sure enough it's torn right through on the left hand side and just starting to crack on the right. Bloody Australian roads. Must be a common weak point if we're all suffering from it (to state the bleedin obvious) Still, have done 194,000km just a shame I wasn't on top of this one...quoted $700 to remove everything, weld the floor pan back up with a plate and then put everything back together...
Everyone one should be checking this! Pretty annoyed that the guys who two weeks ago did a wheel alignment and didn't let me know...they probably didn't even look...won't be back there.
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
The stock upper control arm has a curve to prevent contact with the sway bar. Replacing the upper link with an adjustable link (which is straight), allows the link to pry on the sway bar during suspension compression. The 300TE bar links are available new. They could be cut and lengthened slightly to prevent this.
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
This looks like a developing problem after several miles. I noticed a loud noise over bumps from the back, sounds much like if you took the rubber stoppers off your rear door. Not the rear door travel problem as I have fixed that before. This was noticeable outside the car as pointed out by friends.
I had a look under the car this morning and the rear stabiliser (we don't spell with a z sorry) arm has both brackets separated from the chassis and I will need to have them welded back to body. Will take photos when I can bare to get back under the car again.
Comparable to other members I have 165000k's and have recently had a wheel alignment done, I think the main comparison though is the number of miles on your car. May want to boost the weld on the brackets if you are getting up there in the number of K's or miles. I don't stump jump and consider myself a conservative driver.
Hope this helps someone out......
I had a look under the car this morning and the rear stabiliser (we don't spell with a z sorry) arm has both brackets separated from the chassis and I will need to have them welded back to body. Will take photos when I can bare to get back under the car again.
Comparable to other members I have 165000k's and have recently had a wheel alignment done, I think the main comparison though is the number of miles on your car. May want to boost the weld on the brackets if you are getting up there in the number of K's or miles. I don't stump jump and consider myself a conservative driver.
Hope this helps someone out......
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
OK... took it to a panel beater who quoted $1400 AUD which is $1436.58 US (your dollar is only just below ours at the moment ), to repair both sides. One is hanging off all together. Also the brake sensor line for the rear brakes is also attached to the sway bar and is almost pulled out, apparently this is dangerous.
Need to get it fixed just to stop the loud bang when going over the smallest of bumps and to stop further damage to the car and myself (apparently). I would rather pay for a good job of both sides being properly welded. If there isn't a tsb on this one there should be.
Need to get it fixed just to stop the loud bang when going over the smallest of bumps and to stop further damage to the car and myself (apparently). I would rather pay for a good job of both sides being properly welded. If there isn't a tsb on this one there should be.
Re: Rear Sway bar brackets cracking
MY Crossfire has 92,000 miles and it started a rattle. The shop could not identify it until 2 months later when it was a load clunk. So far I have $2025 to remove the rear suspension, gas tank, exhaust and some interior to make the repair. The bracket cracked through one side and ripped from the panel on the other. It actually tore a piece out of the panel leaving a hole to the interior. I am going to the dealer tomorrow to see if I can stir up some action there. This certainly shows they did not design the bracket strong enough to carry the loads from the sway bar properly. One person on the forum had a shop weld the bracket for $150.00. My concern with that solution is with the possibility that it will break again near the weld where the metal has been heated. Especially since this fix does not add any strength to the bracket that has proven to be too weak. I would prefer to find an engineered solution that would be more permanent. Any ideas?