While it would be ideal to not have a squeaking noise from my rear sway bar every few months, it really doesn't bother me that much. What is bad though is binding to where it doesn't move freely... A lube job of course addresses this matter, but I don't find the H-Sport zerk fittings all that helpful so I just end-up loosening the clamps to get some grease inside...

Webb's trick bar uses "bearing blocks" and requires no lubrication. I recall teflon coated bushings serving the same purpose, and I think the H&R bar has such. I don't want to switch bars, but would like to know if there are any lubrication-free bushing options out there, particularly for the H-Sport Comp bar (25.5mm). Thanks.

 

i dont know about teflon lined, but teflon impregnated delrin would work. Increase the effective stiffness of the bar as well. Might be a bit more noise, but from what i remember you have done to your car, probably not an issue.hhahah

Beecher

 

i should clarify, i assume it would work... Delrin is supposed to be self lubricating anyway, and teflon impregnated should work even better. Just a thought

 

Funny, I was thinking of Delrin actually. I have a big chunk of it here... It appears that no one sells these though. Might be a market for this... I'll contact H-Sport to see if they have any plans... Thanks for your thoughts.

 

I was going to run my stock rear sway with delrin bushings, i read in "how to make you car handle" by fred puhn (SP) that a 19mm bar behaved like a 22mm bar when rubber was subed with solid bushings. I will admit that i am now thinking of getting a web bar over the winter tho...

Beecher

 

I thought about the Webb bar also, and if I was in the market, I would. I otherwise like my H-Sport, and see if I can someting better for a bushing. I bet if I can get a set of the H-Sport poly bushing, I might not cost that much to have something fabbed. Maybe it would... I'll check around to see...

 

yeah, you might want to get on that, if you really want to buy another set to use as templates! No one seems to carry powerflex anymore (i think they made a bushing that fit the h-sport bar anyway). I talked to helix yesterday, and they dont, and the only person with them left on thier site, save the europeans, is Moss, i think. Although that revospeed or what ever lists in us price, despite being from england, so i dont know what shipping would be like from there. Of course, they may not sell that size anyway.

Now if you really wanted overkill, and overkill im good at, you could always buy some split monoballs, dont even ask where you could get them, im not even sure if they make them for mass production, just custom order, but that would give you overkill all right, and bragging rights like you wouldnt believe....

H-sport might sell you a set tho, just them you lost you other ones, hahah, just dont elaborate on how... You never know ( i sometimes find lying is the only way to get the required parts, i know, i know, but whats a mother to do? (I seen that in a post the other day from you or meb or onasled i think, an just coundnt resists putting it back into circulation).

I was going to buy an h-sport comp last year, and never got around to it, i want to upgrade some of the rest of the suspension first (the core products), and i just like the infinate adjustability on the web, i just dont like the price... but you gots to pay for whats you want yeah?

Hope you come up with something good

Beecher

 

H&R bushings are not teflon coated, just a special bushing according to H&R.
I have the H&R bar for about a year with no squeeking. The busings don't look like they are coated, but who knows. They have more of a textured surface than other bushings I have seen and used on other sway bars. I don't know if it is the texture or a coating.

 

Hey guys, I was looking at this same conundrum a while back and found that the H&R bushing was actually just a standard poly bush with a teflon fabric ring bonded/vulcanized to the interior. In the same manner, you can purchase teflon tape/fabric and apply it yourself to an existing bar/bushing combo. It would certainly be cheaper than the delrin. As far as procuring the teflon tape, I recommend www.mcmaster.com. Search for teflon tape, make sure you get the super slick ptfe type tape, as the other kind is more an insulator than an anti friction coating. Looks like about $15 and the shipping will be faster than anything you have ever experienced, I've recieved things the same day I ordered them from mcmaster. When I install my rear sway in the next month or so with the coilovers, I am planning on giving this a try.

 

Thanks for the input guys! As far as me saying that I heard of H&R having a teflon coated bushings, here is an example of where I read such (4th paragraph): http://www.xp.solidhelium.com/Mini/handr18mmswaybar.htm

I've dealt with McMaster before, and I agree, they are awesome to work with. I'm just not too sure how teflon tape will work within a poly bushings, but it's probably worth a try!

 

just for clarification, i ment to point this out prior, but teflon is ptfe. teflon is a brand name (dupont i think) and ptfe is the scientific (? i guess) name for the product,this easies the confusions when looking at different sites that say different tihngs, but are both talking about the same, lol

Beecher

 

Beecher, you are correct, I was actually trying to make sure somone didn't run off and order a different type of plastic FEP. FEP is also sold under the name teflon but as I said earlier is more commonly an insulator. The scientific names you speak of are IUPAC organic chemistry naming convention abreviations. i.e. PVC = Poly Vinyl Chloride. In case anyone was wondering, organic chemistry sucks big time. As to using the tape it is 5/1000" thick, I think it should be chill to use with the standard poly bush as the tolerences are more than that. I'm thinking the best install may be to wrap the bar where the bushings will sit in tape and install normally.

 

Think this tape would move freely between the bar and poly bushings, such as provided by H-Sport? And if so, I wonder if the tape will eventually unravel... I would like to think that this has been tried before on other cars, hopefully with success. I'll do a search and see what I can find...

Bingo! Found one already, and there appears to be more examples...

http://www.celicasupra.com/Addco/Addco.htm

 

Has anyone had problems with a larger (22mm) bar rubbing on the subframe? I've only had mine installed a month or so now, and it's begun to rub, but I'm fairly certain that it's the bushings rubbing against the subframe. It's a very tight fit and when I sprayed this area with a lil wd40 the squeeking stopped till it rained.. We lubed up the bushings pretty well, they shouldn't be making noise already, should they?

alta 22mm FWIW.

 

As mentioned earlier, I have a 22.5mm bar, and myself and others have had contact with the underbody. I believe for everyone it was a bushing clamp... Once I saw where there was contact, a little bit of Dremel work did the trick... I'm guessing that this might the source of the noise for you also.

 

K, just wanted to make sure before taking a dremel to the subframe. Thanks.

 

Larger bars, means larger bushings, and with that, bigger bushing clamps to the subframe. Just inspect it carefully before doing any surgery.

 

guys - get some teflon plumbers tape, and wrap it around the bar where the bushing contacts. it takes just a few wraps, and works great.

 

Tony, someone I work with turned me on to grease sold by mercedes. I haven't heard a peep out of them in a year and a half.

 

That is good to hear! I can live with that (1.5 years...). And for even better news, tell me that this stuff can be applied through the zerk fittings. Yes? If so, please share a name so I can get this stuff. Thank you.

 

It was in a wheel bearing type of can. It simply said mercedes grease on it. I'll see if I can get you a part number at work tomarrow.

 

As you’ve already found out the Zerk fittings are worthless as they come from H-Sport. When the bushing is clamped by bracket, the grease channel shuts, so the grease goes between the bushing and the clamp. My first H-Sport bar had blocked channels to begin with. I cut the plastic flash from the mold process out but that wasn’t enough, later I reamed it with a drill bit. One fitting wouldn’t screw all the way in so it wouldn’t extend into the bushing’s grease channel; I used a die on the fitting to make that one work. I did all the right things for the second bar but over time the grease channel collapsed. I had exactly the same issues with the camber links. BTW, the first bar rubbed one of the support brackets on the axle carrier and would move laterally almost contacting the spring on one side; it was one of the first three 25.5mm bars made. BMW also makes a super duper grease part# 83239416138.

 

Thanks 002 and k-huevo.

I have found the zerk fittings, at least the ones on the H-Sports useless... With my schedule these days, and into the forseeable future, making time remove and re-install a sway bar doesn't exactly top my list. I've done it a few times, so maybe that's part of the reason also...

If I can't use the zerk fittings as they were inteded, I want to either get different bushings (as this thread title indicates), or somehow make do with lining the bar instead, like with teflon tape...

If I had a set of the new H-sport rear sway bar poly bushings, where would I go with them to have a set of delrin ones made, and what might this cost, ballpark?

 

...sounds like a funny suggestion, but what about plumber liquid tape??? This has teflon in it. I re-plumbed my entire house and continue to add on. Where ever I need to un-do an old fitting, this stuff is still vedry soft and water tight. I understand my pipes are not subject to weather

 

Tony, I couldn't get a part number for the grease, it was too dirty. It is in wheel beraing grease type of can and is simply says mercedes lubricant paste. It shouldn't be hard locate at the dealer, we send our parts guys over to pick it up.

I'll have to check out that bmw stuff, but everyone in my shop swears by the mercedes stuff. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tried it myself. Infact, I completely forgot about needing to lube the bar until you brought it up.