Concerned about whiteline rear sway bar

I installed a whiteline adjustable rear sway bar on my sedan and set it at the softer 19mm setting. I am very happy with the results but am very concerned because the bar slides from side to side in the urethane mounts about 1/2" I checked under my car last night and saw that the bar was slid over almost all the way towards the driver's side, and apparently went there while driving as I was very careful to center it when I installed it. I am concerned because lately when turning at slow speeds over bumps I am getting some knocking and clunking from the rear that wasn't there before. I am concerned that the bar is contacting the brake line on the back of the rear calipers. I saw on this forum a post from someone who had a whiteline rear sway that caused his rear brakes to fail and understandably this has me concerned. As a stop gap solution I wrapped some big zipties on the bar between the 90 degree turn and the bushing to try to limit side to side motion, but I am not sure how well this will hold up in the long run... Not sure what I should do...

 

Get the JDM bar?

Will upgraded endlinks prevent the side to side slide?

Should I get this bar off my car asap?

 

Thanks in advance

Blair

I don't have this problem with mine. It's set for the stiff setting. I'd get it looked at.

Pictures would help.

This is a link to the post I was referring to regarding the brake failure. It is #37 by nutbucket.

 

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17677&page=3&pp=15&highlight=rear+sway+bar

 

I couldn't really get and good pictures now that I put the zip ties on. But when the rear bar is centered there is about 1 inch between the urethane bushing and the 90 degree turn in the sway bar. If you grab the sway bar in the middle and pull it side to side it moves about 1/2 to maybe 1" until the perpendicular side of the sway bar contacts the bushing. If you pull it all the way to one side, or it slides there while driving, it looks like it could hit the back of the rear brake caliper as the suspension moves.

 

Blair

Are you sure you have the right bushings? I can't slide my whiteline bar at all.

Yes the bushings are correct. they are the ones taht came with the bar and have the correct diameter printed on them. The bushings fit just fine, the are quite snug in the mounts and fit the bar snugly. It is just that there is nothing to prevent the bar from sliding from side to side in the mounts.

I had the same problem as you are describing. I have the front and rear adjustable swaybars. There was alot of movement laterally from mine too. I even brought it into the dealer; and that was dumb. They wont touch it.

 

The problem is resolved for me now, for the most part. Here are three things I did. First, you need endlinks. The stock endlinks have little or no help from lateral movement. Second I put some washers between the endlink bolts to help against "popping". Thirdly I put some good white grease on the bushing themselves. The endlinks are only going to help the suspension anyways.

 

Hope that helps.

Yep, mine slid far enough to knock the banjo bolt loose on the driver side caliper. The fix for me was a Cusco bar. Good (and bad) to know that I wasn't the only one that had this problem.

 

firedawgs: Are you really surprised the dealer wouldn't help you with your aftermarket parts?

Cusco > whiteline, in my opinion. I have the Cusco bars, and haven't noticed any movement at all...and I check for crazy stuff like that as well.

 

Good luck in your venture.

checked my front and rear whiteline bars. no movement whatsoever.

Yep, mine slid far enough to knock the banjo bolt loose on the driver side caliper. The fix for me was a Cusco bar. Good (and bad) to know that I wasn't the only one that had this problem.

 

firedawgs: Are you really surprised the dealer wouldn't help you with your aftermarket parts?

 

Of course I wasn't surprised. That was my point.

Ive heard a "clunking noise" as well and I will definitely go and check to see if my bar will move side-to-side by pushing on it,..

 

The clunking noise is only coming from the right rear though and sometimes only when going some little bumps,..After the install, I didnt think twice about it as we are "modding" our cars and it wont be as "nice and quiet" after, but all this stuff about damaging/effecting the brake calipers/components after reading this has me worried,..

 

So the fix is either a Cusco bar or same price (almost) aftermarket endlinks? If so, I lost confidence in the Whiteline brand then,...

Yeah, seriously. I'd take a real good look at it.

 

This is what my bar looked like after I ran it for a few days. Knocked the line loose twice.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~odambrosia/Car/Whiteline/bar%20close.JPG

 

You can see how f'd up the banjo bolt got in this pic:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~odambrosia/Car/Whiteline/left%20side%20banjo.JPG

I don't undertand??? The bars are supposed to slide laterally.....That is why you grease the bushings. Even the stock bars slid laterally. I checked before I installed mine.

 

I just installed my front and rear sways and they will both shift laterally a bit. It is my understanding that this is supposed to happen as it begins to take on pressure from the turn.

 

???

I guess that the bar will move laterally,..but I take it the point is that the bar itself is hitting suspension components, and more disconcerning brake components which you dont want it to do at all,...

 

So, is it a design problem where having such a new car out, we are the guinea pigs till the problem have us all complaining and worried till manufacturers make changes and continue to sell on,...

 

My question still remains,..if the bar does rub, are our only choice is to put back oem rear bar or get a Cusco bar as Ive read the Perrin post that even those with aftermarket endlinks have problems too,...

 

NEW POST----

 

Ok,..just got out from under my car (yes,..the benefits of working graveyard shift is to browse LegacyGT.com and work on my car ), and I've found 2 things,..

 

First off, the bar itself doesnt move when I try to push on the bar side to side within the eurothane bushings,..it is solid and stuck there,....the Whiteline grease is dried up, but I get no squeaking noises so Im happy with it,..

 

Secondly, I found the passanger side swaybar end to the endlink loose and the endlink nuts were backing out,...This caused the "clunking" probably as the swaybar end seemed able to move a couple of millimeters back/forth in between the 2 endbolt nuts,....I put on some Blue loctite and retightened (with some muscle this time) and will see how things are,..hopefully no more "clunking",..

 

Luckily, I didnt notice any sharp edges anywhere on the Whiteline bar itself or on the car suspension at all,..banjo bolt at rear brakes look fine too,...So Im pretty sure it was just the loose endlink nuts that was the problem,..

 

Also, for those of you who "are" able to move the bar side to side,..is the whiteline grease dried up? Is the bushing bracket tightened all the way down to tighten the bushing onto the bar securely? Because, I think that definitely if the bar is able to move side to side withing the bushings, you will definitely hit the banjo bolts going to the rear of the caliper,..the banjo bolt to the brake caliper is that close to the swaybar ends,....I think the only movement should be the rotation of the oem endlinks itself,...

 

good luck to others as I hope I solved my problem,....Dont know if I want to order a Whiteline front bar yet though until someone can post any reviews on it with no fitment problems or noise etc,....

 

So,..are Cusco frt/rear owners the only ones who are guaranteed "no fitment problems" whatsoever???

 

laterz!!

Kevin

has anyone contacted whiteline about this and sent the above pics?

Sean @ Rallitek forwarded them to whiteline. No idea what ever came of that. I don't think the problem in it self is that they slid but rather the way the bar is bent is different enough from OEM that it causes a problem.

Wow I have been riding my whitline rear for a week now and I just finished installig the front like 30 minutes ago. If I grab the middle of either bar it will shift from side to side. But not enough to hit anything else from what I can see. I will go back down and check again but since the stock bars slid about the same I am not worried.

I can't move them at all. Mine were installed by my dealer.

i dont' see how you they couldn't move to tell you the truth. The endlinks swivel and that is why they move. I don't know how you would stop this from happeninig

Has anyone else with other brnad swaybars seen this? I know the bar is supossed to have some lateral move, but not drastic movement.

There is a recall on this issue. Subaru advised there is a need to make modifications to the standard swaybar too:

 

http://www.recalls.gov.au/view_recall_detail.php?Recall_ID_Auto=13208

 

Now, when you fit an after-market swaybar with nolathane bushes & copious amounts of grease then the sliding side-to-side gets worse. This is not an issue specific to Whiteline products.

 

All you need to do is fit some hose clamps around the swaybar on both sides of the car on outer side of the swaybar/bush mounting point. This stops the lateral movement. This is the solution that Subaru used to fix this issue in Australia.

 

When I bought my Whiteline bar, I simply unscrewed the host clamps from the OEM bar & put 'em on my new bar. Simple!

Its not the movement in itself that's the problem. The design of the bar allows it slide farther than the OEM one and the way the ends are bent allows it to interfere with the calipers. Looking at the Cusco one it looks like its impossible for it to come anywhere near the calipers or other suspension components.

Thnaks, hifiandmtb. I will have to get a couple for hose clamps for the problem.

that bulletin was published in February 2005, but only lists 2004 model year vehicles as having the problem. So, maybe subaru thinks they fixed it for all the '05 models. does anyone have access to see if subaru has a TSB for the 2005 models?