Short story: I've been hearing a clank clank clank (metal on metal) noise coming from the rear after going over bumpy road/train tracks/etc. so I thought my hotchkis sway bar was loose and went to tighten them when one of the 4 bolts to the underbody snapped... Is it safe to drive without it to a shop +/- 10 miles? I've googled this but the G isn't a jeep/truck/van and would really appreciate your opinion.

Extended story: The bolt snapped near the body leaving just a few mm of thread left. It's not coming out either so it reminded me of the front bolts which look like mini wheel studs. Additionally, it is very hard to see what the head looks like. My pinky finger did manage to go through and the head felt sort of rough like as if it was welded on.... After two nights after work with thanksgiving coming up my patience has run dry.

Thanks!

 

Yes it's safe to drive it to a shop is you drive slowly and are very careful. Be prepared for "squirelly" unpredictable handling. At least I think that's good advice. I'm not completely sure exactly what you are saying is broken. One of the bolts that fastens the sway bar bracket that mounts the bushing/bar to the body?

 

The bolt from my endlink stripped out of the nut that connected it to my swaybar a while ago and needed re-threading. The swaybar was still connected to the frame by the 2 u-clamps, but was essentially only attached to one side of the swaybar.

There was a noticeable difference in how the car drove, but it was still easy to drive and didn't feel totally unstable to the point where you wouldn't/shouldn't drive it. I forget if it under/oversteered, but you'll be fine until you get it to the shop.

Just drive it carefully till you get it fixed.

 

Thanks guys! The bolt I referenced was one of the four holding the brackets. I ended up taking it for a test drive last night and it went ok. However, my trusted local shops were unable to service it today because they were booked. So, to answer my own question, it is absolutely safe to drive just as long as you are not driving like it's hot.

 

I took my car to twisty mountain roads driving spiritedly without knowing that my rear sway bar had come loose. It was definitely squirrelly and under-steered quite a bit. Was quite scary doing a high speed turn under-steering.

You won't have a problem if you keep the speeds low.

 

Update/Solution: the bolts holding the brackets of the rear sway bar in place are spot welded in two areas of the head of each bolt. The bolts holding the front sway bar brackets do not have spot welds. (Sorry no pics.) What does this mean? If the bolt breaks off or the threads become stripped you're screwed. No pun intended. (Yup that just happened! Lol) Remember these bolts have a ribbed neck which is not very long, only 2-3 mm, unlike wheel stud bolts that are maybe 10mm+. Therefore, the welds do not allow you to simply punch out the bolt. I went to several shops and their consensus was that because there is no room to properly remove the welds they would need to cut off this part of the crossmember just to gain clearance to remove the welds and ultimately remove the bolt then weld it back on. Alternatively, I could install a new rear crossmember. Quotes ranged from $1K-$2K. One shop told me price is high due to it being a "custom style" job. I didn't comprehend that because these are "oem" parts. Thankfully there was one "custom style" owner who told me just to drill through what's left of the broken bolt to fit in a new bolt. So, I ended up doing that. Yes, this is Tokyo ghetto style - although I have a hole to put in a new bolt the head from the old bolt remains in place with its lovely welds. I don't care at this point. It has been too long not driving this car. I plan to drive it until the world runs out of gas anyway.

 

I've done just about everything you can do with sway bars on this car, and unfortunately form your description of what's going on I don't have a clue as to what you are talking about.

 

Do you even read, bro? Lol! Just kidding. I need to remove the rear wheel to take a good picture of the area. In the interim, here's a picture of the bolt and nut I've referenced to.

 

I thought I could read. I must have been wrong.

The bolts holding my sway bar brackets look nothing like what you posted. The OEM ones or the Hotchkis ones. What you posted does look like a wheel stud. I don't have anything that looks like like that on my sway bars. Maybe I'm weird???

 

I think that's a pic of the bolt fully removed. All we see from the bottom of the car is the bolt (sans head) protruding from it's spot on the chassis.

Is that correct daicon?