I was wondering if anyone with aftermarket sway bars had any information or experience with dealers honoring the warranty on things like suspension components and interior rattling, etc.?

I'm considering upgrading my sways but am afraid the dealer will try to pull something along the lines of the sways making the car "stiffer," thus making interior rattles not their problem. The car is prone to squeaks and rattles in the first place, as I've unfortunately learned in my past five months of ownership.

I'm less worried about suspension components failing, but considering the Elite warranty I purchased, it's certainly a consideration.

Car is a 2012 Sport 6MT if anyone was wondering.

Thanks in advance.

 

the dealer can only void warranty claims if they can reasonably prove that the aftermarket part is related to and directly contributed to the failure. so if your tie-rod or other related suspension components failed with aftermarket sways, i could see them denying the claim. interior rattles would be a bit of a stretch for them to refuse, but those are not really worth fixing anyways since the dash will probably rattle from the re+re itself. nothing ever goes back together as well as day one from the factory. i chose to live with a few minor squeaks that come and go to avoid further squeaks down the road from the disassemble and re-assembly process. chasing rattles can be futile.

i suppose you could always throw the OEM sways back on before a warranty claim if you were really concerned about being denied. it's such a quick job to do anyways.

 

I disagree with canucklehead. Stiffening the suspension beyond it's original design could very well be a contributing cause to rattles and squeaks. I have a lowered and stiffened suspension (including sway bars) on my coupe and it rattles like a **** now. There were some before but it's worse now. My wife's sedan has close to the same mileage and doesn't' rattle. Maybe it's not directly related, but it's feasible that it could be a factor.

But keep in mind that if you take it in for interior rattles, there's only a 0.0000453% chance that they will look at or ask about aftermarket sway bars. And if yo have Hotchkis which are gray and look very OEM, they might not notice even after an inspection unless they look closely. It's very unlikely to come up. So I'd say don't worry about it. or worst case scenario take them off and put the stock parts back on before taking it in for that.

 

Aftermarket sway bars won't introduce any creaks and groans that aren't already there. Sways are about reduced body roll, not ride quality. Handling capabilities, yes. Stiffness, no. At some point, the sway bar frame bushings may need to be re-greased, so you grease them. Other than that... shouldn't have any impact on the car's ride quality. However, changing your ride height, and/or using lowering springs or CO's configured to a harsh damping setting... yeah, that will make things rattle.

The point here in commenting is to suggest you not worry about it. Go ahead and install aftermarket swaybars. Best damn mod for the money, bar none.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, Rochester. I'm aware of the characteristics that sways introduce to a car's performance. What I was worried about were the shenanigans the dealer would pull saying that less roll = stiffer = creaks not our problem. I suppose that would all depend on the quality of the dealer, but I was just curious if anyone on the forum had run into these issues with their sway bars previously, and if there were any precedent I could point to or use as leverage if the situation arises that a warranty claim were to be denied.

 

There it is right there.

Smart service managers see future service opportunities in little jobs like tracking down a creak & groan, whereas others seek CYA insurance over the blame game. It all depends on the person and the policies.

 

I concur there, my experience with Atlantic Infiniti in Jacksonville FL is classic service mishandling. They tried to charge me for a warrantable condition, which Infiniti Consumer Affairs let them have it for lol. Infinti of Orange Park in the same city was awesome. Listened to my complaint, took me on a test drive and fixed the issue no charge. All depends as Rochester said on the the service manager. All of my business will only be through Orange Park.

 

to answer that question directly: no, i did not have any issue with my Eibach sways (which are red) when i complained about interior rattles. they were going to "fix" the rattles, but i opted not to proceed once i found out how much re+re was involved to chase down the noises. as i mentioned above, my concern was that could cause more harm than good.

 

Guys - not meaning to steal the thread, but I don't want to create another for a simple answer. Are Hotchkis or Eibach sways THAT MUCH better than sport OEM sways on my 2011 G37S Sedan?

 

Yes they are. Say goodbye to understeer, and hello to better control at higher speeds when ramping, or at Auto-X.

If you only ever do one modification to your G37S... this is it.

 

I went from a 2004 G35 Sport Coupe which I think handled great in stock form. I traded it for a 2010 G37 S Sedan and was disappointed in the soft handling. The sways added the sportier feel of my 2004 coupe to my sedan. As with everything, it's subjective but to me, it was worth it.

 

If you look at the Hotchkis web site - it explains that their sway bars are: +205% Stiffer than stock G37S (front) and +15, 40, 85% Stiffer than stock G37S (rear)

I haven't gone down this path yet - but it is 'on the list'...