Swaybars were my first mod, IDK the exact date, but it's been at least 5 years for me.

 

Thanks for all the great input on the LED shop lights. I just added of those lights you recommended, Lego. It appears that those can be flush mounted in the ceiling and if so then that's probably the route I'm going to go for the main lighting. Then maybe a will purchase a couple of the lights that John has to hang over my work benches. Sounds like a good plan to me.


And you'd be surprised, John, even though we don't get really here my cheapo T5 fluorescents still have a tendency to flicker if temps get down around 50°F, so it would be nice to not have to worry about that anymore.

 

Andy, my car is 9 - 10 years old now with just under 65K miles and I've had the Hotchkis sways on it almost the whole time. And seeing that I just replaced the front bushings for the second time it seems I'm getting about 4 - 5 years and around 30K miles before I need to replace the bushings. So probably similar amount of life as Lego currently has on his.

 

This is interesting. I will have to keep an eye on this. So far I have had zero issues with the Hotchkis anti sway bars and bushings. My last car (Evo X) had Eibach anti sway bars and they started squealing in only a few months.

Then again, you had your Hotchkis parts for 4-5 years. I don't think I kept any of my last 5 performance cars even 2 years. Whoops! I am almost 2 1/2 years into the G37 though and I do plan to keep it longer.

 

I got under the car again today. This time I got the back end on the race ramps entirely inside the garage, with the garage door shut. I still got dirty, and I still freak out getting under the car all the way to the axle (because I'm a coward).

I removed the passenger-side bracket, but couldn't get the bushing free from around the bar. So I backed down the driver-side bracket, without removing it entirely. It gave more play to the bar position, but only front-2-back, and not up-and-down, which is what I need to get the bushings out.

And that's as far as I got, because even though there was no pressure on the two bushings, the rear still squeaked when rocking it up and down, just as much as otherwise. Granted, the bushings were still around the bars, but one bracket was entirely removed and the other loosened nearly all the way. Given those conditions, should it really be squeaking? Is it really the swaybar bushings making this noise? IDK

Since I think the only way to get the bushings off would be to loosen a connection on one or both end-links, I just put it back together and cleaned up. Bracket bolts torqued at 37fp. After all that, I *still* didn't get the damn bushings re-greased.

So, that was a failure of a project. Dammit. Winter sucks. And I'm getting old.



I'm thinking of buying new, replacement ES bushings anyway, since these are 25k miles and 4.5 years old. I suppose if I wait until spring and do this out in the open on the parking pad, be a good proactive approach for the next few years. And this regardless of what's causing the squeaking.

 

You were close

I too loosened both sides. You need to pull down and slide the bushing. There is a hump in the bushing that fits into the frame.

One side came off easy. The other side took some muscle.

Try it with one side secured, barely, with 1 bolt instead of 2

 

So you didn't have to loosen the bar from one of the end-links to get the freedom-of-movement needed to remove the bushings? Should I drop *both* brackets, and if I do can I get them back on easily enough?

A pair of new bushings probably isn't more than $20, although I can't seem to find them at the moment, so I emailed Eibach for a Part #.

 

I did the same thing you’re doing last weekend....and I got both bushings out without loosening the end links.

Passenger side came off easy, drivers side was more difficult. You want to slide the bushing to where you have more room to remove it from the bar.

I left the opposing bracket held in by one bolt for the drivers side.

Yes, you could get the bar back in place by yourself if you have to remove both brackets.

 

The pictures look like the Eibach bushings wrap entirely around the sway bar. Is that right? Couldn't you just cut a straight line through the bushing and slide it right off?

 

There is already a “cut” in the bushings to separate them from the bar.

 

Then it should come right off. Or does the bracket not come off entirely for some reason?

 

The brackets are easy enough to remove. The problem is that by virtue of the bar's connections to the end-links, it's still pretty tightly situated against the frame, making it difficult to get the bushing out. Particularly since the center of the bushing is designed to fit inside a recessed area.

So... remove both brackets, and pull down on the bar, and I should be able to remove the bushings without loosening an end-line. That's the theory, corroborated by Lego here.

I've been baby-stepping into this mostly because winter. Before going at this again, I'd like to buy new replacement bushings, and I don't have a retail source for that yet. Still working on it.

 

It takes some muscle, and you need to loosen the opposite side bracket because there is a groove holding it into place.

I’m also going to wager Rochester’s car has a little more grime and dirt accumulated underneath than my car.

 

Rochester—the size and part numbers are visible in the picture I posted

 

Probably. Winter means something up here.


I noticed that. Searching UB0239 only confirmed the part in an Eibach PDF hosted on CarID.com. Still looking for a retailer.

You know, yours are black. Mine are red.