Heads Up--Cobb Sway Bar Mounting Failure

The metal tab which connects the bar to the chassis failed, ripping off the frame.

 

I noticed a klinking sound coming from the rear driver-side wheel well. When put on a lift, I was shown that the left side of the bar was completely unattached...

 

I guess the mount could not handle the increased strength/ stiffness of the sway bar. Anyway, just a heads up for those with Cobb, and other aftermarket sway bars.

 

Currently, I sit in the showroom of a fabrication shop, awaiting my new and improved bar mounts.

Did you not have the Cobb reinforcements of the mounts?

There are 2 mounting points:

 

Endlink (doesn't sound like you are talking about that)

 

Sway Bar Bushing Mounts

 

On the Cobb Rear Sway, you've got 2 bolts going through the sway bar bushing strap, cobb reinforcement plate, stock mounting plate, and (at the bottom) the Cobb reinforcement bracket.

 

What exactly broke in there? It's a helluva lot stronger setup than stock....and running anything short of at least an extreme performance summer tire.....well, I can't see generating enough torsional force to sheer a bolt or break the mounting plate.

 

Joe

 

Edit: I re-read this to be saying that the top of the stock mounting plate ripped off the frame. Is this accurate?

The metal tab which connects the bar to the chassis failed, ripping off the frame.

 

I noticed a klinking sound coming from the rear driver-side wheel well. When put on a lift, I was shown that the left side of the bar was completely unattached...

 

I guess the mount could not handle the increased strength/ stiffness of the sway bar. Anyway, just a heads up for those with Cobb, and other aftermarket sway bars.

 

Currently, I sit in the showroom of a fabrication shop, awaiting my new and improved bar mounts.

 

Rear sway bars should have come with reinforced bar mounts.

 

http://cobbtuning.com/products/?id=2451

Sorry about the ambiguity.

 

Here is a photo. That's the bushing... (?)

 

Looks like a rear bar with no reinforcement. Did you buy the Cobb bar used?

A reminder for those folks that don't know. The weakness of the rear sway bar mounting point is a known problem. There are a few companies that make a reinforced mounting bracket to resolve that problem.

 

If you are planning on installing a rear sway bar please be sure you are aware of the above problem. If you don't have one your rear sway bar mount may look like above.

Yes, let me be a lesson...

 

I bought the bar new, in the fall of 2006. I didn't order additional reinforcements (mea culpa), and [obviously] didn't think to ask.

 

Oh well.

I guess that is one thing that is good about the autospeed exhaust relocation plates. They reinforce the mounting location.

If you do a search on autospeed exhaust you will see what I am talking about.

the cobb reinforcements are not so great anyways. the only one worth its salt is the avo ones. Im actually using a combination of the avo and perrin ones.

Whitetiger - I looked them up. The AVO ones at least look weaker than the Cobb setup.....Cobb reinforces the metal with a new plate and then provides a direct reinforcement through an external bracket bolted through the most leveraged part of the mounting bracket....the bottom. The bottom is then connected to a rear-diff mounting bolt.

 

To me, it's the best way to reinforce the stock bracket....and how it should've come stock. Leaving a major suspension mount extending 4" perpendicular to the frame is just screaming to be bent. Reinforcing it is definitely a first step, but it needs an external angled support (such as the Cobb) to really help distribute the forces exerted in the end of it...

 

Just my .02

 

Joe

The avo plate is at least 2x thicker than the cob one and the avo one has angle setion to further reinforce the mount. if you hold then in your hans you will see the difference.

I'll see if I can get pictures of the reinforcements, but the new ones much thicker, and have a couple points of bracing. The car's stiffness in the turns has returned.

 

Thanks to the folks at Piper Motorsports in Sterling, VA. They fit me in the schedule at short notice and had me out in 2.5 hours. (They are also, working on a v10 engined E30 M3, which is pretty cool...)

Holy F....that's gotta be a small displacement V10. The E30 engine bay was NOT big....maybe a 4.0 liter V10?

 

Anyway....awesome that they got you out quickly. What did it run you price wise?

 

Whitetiger- You are probably right about the AVO reinforcement. I didn't think anythign special of the Cobb until I held it in my hand, then I realized how much it would add.

 

Joe

Mitch over @ Piper is a fabricating god. He built the cage in my racecar, and it was a work of art.

 

Deepswoods, do you work @ AOL?

 

Warren

Wangspeed, no I don't work at AOL. I'm from Marayland, and probably couldn't find my way to work if I did so in VA...