I just came back from MOTD3 with a thoroughly bent drop link on the driver's side. Randy Webb suggested examing my 22mm rear sway bar before I replace the link, to rule out the possibility that the bar may have hit the spring on that side and transferred too much force to the link, which then failed to in order to protect the car from an even worse fate.

When I get a chance to check the sway bar closely, I could find that the bar was designed wrong, and replace it and the link. I could maybe find that the bar was installed wrong, and correct that and replace the link. I could install stronger links. Has anybody else had a bent link, who would give me some advice about what to do next?

 

Take some pictures and post them:smile:

 

what bar do you have? and do you have aftermarket springs or any other suspension upgrades?

 

I have the Madness bar, with Madness adjustable control arms. The springs are stock.

 

Willimini,


The only advise I can offer is that a 22mm bar has the capacity to make stock links fail. Randy has pointed you in the right direction, but don't discount my first statement. I would add stronger end links - and Randy sells these.

 

I've been on the Dragon MANY times, and have never bent a stock droplink. I have H-Sport Comp sway bars front and rear, with the rear on full stiff. The stock 'links are very strong. Did you hit something? I suppose if you have an early Madness swaybar that doesn't keep itself centered in the chassis it could move and bend the link too.

Good luck!

 

Nope, I didn't hit anything - no pothole (I didn't even see one on the Dragon, what a road), no rock, nothing. The car was making a little noise in back on the way home Sunday. When I put the car on a rack Tuesday to check everything, I found the bent link.

 

I have zero experience with the mini and its swaybar endlinks so I would have to defer to Ryan. Dunno???

I've replaced the endlinks along with swaybars (22-25mm)in every other car I've owned as a precaution. Never had one fail - two extremes here without failure.

 

I checked my driver-side rear spring today and, as Randy Webb guessed, it has been knocked about by the sway bar/link. So, it's obvious that clearance is an important factor to consider when you shop for a rear sway bar. I've attached a pic that shows the sway bar, spring and the bent link. The middle photo is just a closer shot of the chipped spring.

Remedy: it looks like a new bar is a good idea, one that won't beat on my springs.

Question: I wonder about the benefits and risk of replacing my stock links with stronger links? Stronger links won't bend as soon as the stock links, but maybe that's not such a good idea. I don't know what else might break if the link doesn't bend.

Can anyone explain the physics of what happened?

 

willimini,

I have the same bar as yours, if you adjust the aluminum collars correctly the bar will not hit your springs. (Yours could have gotten loose and slipped)

Loosen both collars and then center the sway bar. Now push the collar up tight to the sway bar mount and tighten. I use blue locktite on the allen bolts. Now do the same to the other side and you should be good to go. I have had my bar on for 2 years and several track days without a problem.

It would have been best if maddness hadn't changed their design. The orginal bar had washers welded on to stop sideways movement.

A stronger drop link might help but if the bar got caught between two of the spring loops and you hit a bump something will have to give

The drop link might be the safest "weak link" in the system.

Dan

 

Dan, great information. Thanks. It looks like I'll be at a dealer early next week to have the link fixed. I'll definitely check whether the bar is centered at the same time.

The bar was installed by a different dealer that forgot to tighten the bar's retaining clip bolts on the driver's side before they delivered it. That could have allowed the bar to shift before I discovered it. I wish I had checked then whether the bar was centered. Oh well, a lesson learned.

 

I thought I would make a layout of the rear suspension (very simple) to explain how the drop link was bent. As the wheel moves up and down, the drop link is also moving which is moving the end of the sway bar. If the sway bar was caught in the spring it would not be able to move when the wheel moves. If the drop link was made strong enough, either the sway bar would be bent or more likely the sway bar mount would break. Both would cost more to fix than a new drop link. I hope the pic makes sense.

 

sanddan, your picture doesn't show up in my browsers, but I did a quick drawing based on your good explanation. I see that once the sway bar/link becomes attached to the spring the link will be squeezed when the part of the spring below the attachment compresses as the wheel moves up. Since the link is rigid, it will bend or if it doesn't it will destroy where it attaches at one or the other of its ends.

The only way for "nothing" to be destroyed in this scenario is for all affected parts of the suspension to be strong enough that the suspension completely stops compressing when the sway bar/link attach to the spring. And, I don't think I want to experience that.:smile:

 

Okay, here's the answer to what caused the bent link. The sway bar shifted toward the passenger side, causing the link on the driver's side to engage the rear spring. I found this out last month, but this is my first chance to post it.

Why did this happen? Because the two-part circular stops that are designed to prevent this kind of movement were not fully installed.

I have attached several pictures that explain what happened. Picture A was taken in March. It shows that the bolt on the sway bar retaining clip was not tightened. I had this bolt tightened at the time, but I didn't notice the gap between the two halves of the circular sway bar stop that is just to the left of the clip in the picture. The stop hadn't been tightened onto the sway bar. Later, in May, on The Dragon, this stop slipped and the sway bar shifted right toward the passenger side.

Pictures B, C, D, and E show what happened after the stop on the driver's side slipped.

After driving The Dragon, I had a definite handling problem with the car. I found out why when the car went up on a rack when I got home.

Why weren't the retaining clip bolts and the bolts on the circular stop tight? Either (1) they backed themselves out while I was driving, between Jan '05 when my new car was delivered and March '05 when I discovered the loose bolt on the retaining clip, or (2) the dealer's service people, who installed the performance sway bar before delivering my new car, were very careless.

Personally, I think it's unlikely that the bolts backed out by themselves (in just two months? while I was babying the car during the engine break-in period?).

 

Incompetent sloppy/incomplete work on the part of the installer.
Has this experience prompted you to consider DIY???

 

You bet. I'm waiting for an '05 service manual.