[niemkij]

I recently completed a front and rear sway bar install and had a few points to add to other front sway bar install threads.

I followed the steps given in the Subaru service manual and the manufacturer's instructions. In short, this includes removing the front undercover, the jack plate, and the sub-frame. After removing the stock endlinks the sway bar itself was easy to get off by removing the two support brackets that hold it in place. The new bar installed in reverse order. The endlinks required a few washer spacers to get them aligned perpendicular to the ground when the car was on the ground.

First, get the car in the air. Be sure it is secure. I used jack stands in the cutouts on the side of the car's lower frame. It is easier to use ramps since you will need to tighten the sway bar mounting bolts and endlinks when the suspension is “loaded,” that is when the full weight of the car is on the wheels/tires.



Remove the front lower cover (splashguard). There are five bolts that require a 12 mm socket, three in the front and two toward the rear. There are two "pop" fasteners on each side as well. These can be removed by using a small flat bladed screwdriver to pop up the center round plastic piece about a quarter of an inch then pulling/wriggling out the entire fastener.



Next, remove the jack plate. There are four bolts in the center area to remove and two nuts on each side. The two forward bolts have loose nuts that you will need to hold on to and take out when you remove the bolts.



The sub-frame is an odd looking, approximately C-shaped, bracket under the front part of the car. The opening of the C is toward the rear of the car. It helps to remove this to make it easier to get to the bolts that hold the sway bar onto the frame.



The sub-frame has five bolts on each leg of the C and two toward the front of the car. The two rearmost bolts require a 14mm socket, the other three on each side require a 17mm socket and the two on the front require a 12mm socket. Start by removing a plastic cover on each side that is held in place by two pop fasteners.



Then remove another pop fastener on each side of the sub-frame.



Loosen the rearmost bolt on each side of the sub-frame first. This one sits down in a cutout in the plastic side undercover. Do not remove the bolt; just loosen it until it is almost all the way off. There is a slot in the sub-frame here that allows you to remove the sub-frame once all the other bolts are off by pulling the sub-frame forward.



Remove the other four bolts on each side of the sub-frame next. One of the three larger bolts (M12) is shorter than the other two. Make note of this so you get it back to the correct place later. Finally, remove the front two bolts and slide the sub-frame forward to remove it.

Next, remove the endlinks on each side starting with the lower bolt.



The bolt may spin when turning the nut. I grabbed onto it with pliers as shown.



Note the orientation of the bends at the end of the stock sway bar. You will want to install the new bar the same way. Note the orientation of the bracket. It goes on only one way. Remove the nut and bolt on each sway bar bracket and the bar will be free. The camera auto-focus didn't work too well on the next pic


I prepared the new bar by wrapping the bar in the area where the bushing will go with Teflon tape.



I also used the grease supplied by the manufacturer on the inside of the bushing before putting it on the bar. Re-use the stock brackets to attach the bar to the frame and torque the bolt and nut to 25 N-m (18.1 ft-lbs). My torque wrench reads in N-m.
Be sure to reinstall the brackets in the same orientation as they were originally. Subaru instructions say to tighten the bracket bolts with the car on the ground and the vehicle is at “curb weight.”




Installing the endlinks was easy. Just be sure to follow the instructions regarding the order of the parts.



I torqued the endlink bolts to 45 N-m (33 ft-lbs) using a 9/16 wrench and socket, again with the car on the ground. I also needed to add three washer spacers on each bolt so that the endlinks were perpendicular to the ground when the car was on the ground (green arrows).



The sub-frame goes back on next by sliding it onto the two rearmost bolts left on the car and then putting in the two bolts at the front of the car. I hand started all the remaining bolts and snugged them up before torqueing them down. The two bolts at the front of the car get tightened to 34 N-m (25 ft-lbs) using a 12 mm socket. The next three bolts on either side get tightened to 55 N-m (41 ft-lbs) using a 17 mm socket. And the last two bolts toward the rear of the car get tightened to 70 N-m (52 ft-lbs) using a 14 mm socket.

Re-attach the plastic covers on each side of the sub-frame being careful to insert the small tab on the cover into a hole in the sub-frame first. Also, attach the plastic side cover to each side of the sub-frame with the single pop fastener that was removed earlier.

Re-install the jack plate. The two nuts on either side get tightened to 30 N-m (22 ft-lbs). The four bolts get tightened to 70 N-m (52 ft-lbs).

Re-install the front under-cover. The five bolts get tightened to 14 N-m (10.3 ft-lbs).

Finally, road test the car to be sure all is well and check out the improved handling!