[TreyS]

I autocrossed my car yesterday and on my first run it had MAD clunking in the rear. I thought maybe something was rolling around in the trunk. I stopped after that run and looked in the trunk....nothing. I then looked under the car and the rear swaybar was flipped.

I jacked up the rear diff and flipped the bar back over and headed out again. It was all good after that.

Why does the bar flip? What can I do to prevent it?

[STIroide]

how I know the sway bar is flipped ?

[TreyS]

The endlinks will be touching the lower link bar instead of pointing up. They will probably be slightly bent as well instead of being straight (mine are).

[STIroide]

fiew... my links are okay then... Thanks

[chrisfx811]

my links are pointing up and slightly rearward, as they are now on the stiff setting.
i believe they are fairly straight. i will have to check again though to be sure
this is very frustrating. hopefully a trip to the dealer will sort out the issue.

[chrisfx811]

hey i just noticed something.
on staticx's webpage his poltec endlinks are positioned on the outside of the swaybar.
[""""""
like this
but the person who installed mine placed the endlinks on the inside of the swaybar
""]"""""
like so
could this be part of my prob?

[DMikko]

installation photos here:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=1

[WRX_Mundi]

After reading this thread I thought I'd take a look at mine since I jsut had iPD swaybars installed a month ago and the links looked awfully stressed (we used the stock links). Good thing I looked. Here's a closeup of what I found on the rear right:



Left: http://www.pbase.com/image/28118173
Right: http://www.pbase.com/image/28118174

It looks to me like the bottom (car) attachment point should have the link on the inside rather than the outside.

I'm getting lots of clunking with mine too, but it started when the springs were installed rather than the swaybars.

[DMikko]

what the hell....
it looks like you had the links on the correct side (outside) but the bar is way too short. compare the length of your aftermarket bar with that of the stock one. it does not look good! the links should be straight up and down (perpendicular to the ground) on both sides.. or yeah, I could see how they'd snap like that. what bar is this? iPD? it looks whacked.

[TreyS]

I can say with certainty that the above STi is in fact using a WRX rear swaybar and not an STi rear swaybar. It's too short. The endlinks are installed correctly, the bar is too short thus bending the endlinks inward. If you had an STi rear bar and the endlinks were bent, they would be bent towards the rear of the car vs the middle of the car like the pics above.

Get that rear bar replaced if ya can.....

[DMikko]

^ ^

yup

[ValvetrainEngineer]

Originally Posted by TreyS

I can say with certainty that the above STi is in fact using a WRX rear swaybar and not an STi rear swaybar. It's too short. The endlinks are installed correctly, the bar is too short thus bending the endlinks inward. If you had an STi rear bar and the endlinks were bent, they would be bent towards the rear of the car vs the middle of the car like the pics above.

Get that rear bar replaced if ya can.....

I wouldn't be so fast to draw that conclusion. Many of us have noticed the bar 'walking' over to one side or the other. Until you see a pic of the other side, you can't tell if it's too short.

On the clunking problem, I had it too. First noticed it some time after changing from softest to the middle setting on my Cusco rear sway bar. Sooo, I called the dealer to setup an appt. to check the struts like others have posted. Fearing they wouldn't honor the warranty seeing a rear sway bar, I switched back to stock. guess what? clunking gone. End links are fine, brackets and bushings were perfect. The bar had walked to the passenger side somewhat, but not hitting the wheel or anything. hmmm...

[WRX_Mundi]

Originally Posted by ValvetrainEngineer

I wouldn't be so fast to draw that conclusion. Many of us have noticed the bar 'walking' over to one side or the other. Until you see a pic of the other side, you can't tell if it's too short.

I gave links to photos of both the left and right sides. The left side shows the link bent inwards. There is a 1.5 to 2 inch difference from vertical which is the same as on the right (passenger) side which has been snapped. The bar seems to be pretty much centered. It's just that the bar is about 1.5 to 2 inches inwards on both sides from where it would have to be if the endlinks were to both be vertical.

Sean at Rallitek seems pretty sure I have the right bar. He thinks the new Perrin links will solve the angle problem. I agree that this looks weird (why would a replacement STi bar be 3-4 inches shorter than stock and include endlinks that wouldn't fit?). Maybe I should try giving iPD a call and see what they say. The supplied endlinks (which we didn't use) are labelled "Subaru WRX" and while very beefy, look like they're supposed to only go vertical (they have a simple poly bushing facing horizontal on both ends).

[chrisfx811]

well as far as my clunking situation goes....
i am going crazy trying to figure it out.
i have the perrin sti bar which has 2 welded on metal rings to keep the bar from creeping to one side.
i checked my spare tire, tire jack, h2o bottle, redid my endlinks twice, regreased the bushings, checked the stability of my sound system install, checked my rear strut ops, andchecked the exhaust to see if it was knocking against anything.
and i still get a clunking sound!

it's mostly when driving slow, and over bumps.
i don't think it is bottoming out, because i stood in my trunk and bounced up and down and my rear suspension still has a good amount of travel.

[WRX_Mundi]

Originally Posted by WRX_Mundi

Maybe I should try giving iPD a call and see what they say.

Hopefully the last tale of my swaybar woe thread hijack. Chris from iPD called and said that indeed the bars are made for a WRX and iPD themselves don't market it as an STi bar. Oops. They did get an STi in, measured it, worked up a bar for it, and he called me and said he'd get one to me via UPS right away. That's service. So they will start making STi specific bars now. The new bar is supposed to be very similar to the old WRX bar, but has had a couple U bends removed and is 1.5 inches longer on each side and results in endlinks that go straight up and down.

This whole swaybar thing has distracted me from the other thing I was going to look into which was the clunking that started when the springs were put in. Hopefully my installer can get a handle on it this week or next.