Attn: JDM 20mm rear sway bar owners! Potential safety issue!

The larger bar could potentially strike the brake line/caliper union bolt causing loss of brake fluid. It was the reason for a recall in Japan & China, but not the U.S. because we don't get the larger bar.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/prepos/files/Artemis/Public/Foreign%20Campaigns/2005/F-Campaigns/FRCL-05F002-3657.PDF

Interesting - I've not gotten a recall notice yet.

Cheers,

Paul Hansen

http://www.avoturboworld.com

http://www.apexjapan.com

Well, one reported case of brake fluid leakage out of 63,000 vehicles, so it's a minor worry, but not a major one (IMHO).

"7. Description of defect: When it is raining or water on the road and driving conditions cause significant body lean, the rear stabilizer can move laterally in it's bushings. This can result in bar contact with the brake line/caliper union bolt. At it's worst, this can eventually cause the bolt to loosen and brake fluid to leak."

"8. Program for remedying the defect: Contact with owners will vary according to local conditions. Remedy will be to install new bushings and clamps that restrict lateral movement of the stabilizer bar."

We actually shipped (eventually) urethane rear bushings to go with the bars that we shipped, so I'm not sure how that exactly changes the situation. I'll try to get a mailer out to the interested parties with the above information.

What I'll try and do is track down the relevant clamp and bushing parts, and if people are worried about it, arrange for shipping those out to interested parties.

Cheers,

Paul Hansen

Thanks for the response Paul.

IMO with urethane bushings and new end links in place, there should be little movement laterally, but I am no expert. The new clamp would have to lock the sway bar in place to eliminate movement.

One related question for you Paul - The white goop that came with the bushings - should that be applied inside the bushing only or to the outside as well? I am starting to get some noise from the RF and wonder if I missed something (I only applied to the inside of the bushing). I doublechecked all the hardware and it's locked down tight.

-Dan

it should only go on the inside of the bushing

OT - congrats Dan for becoming a mod

I took a few pictures of the JDM rear bar on the USDM GT. I don’t see how it could rub the break lines. These are on a lift and not under load.

http://img9.exs.cx/img9/6531/br10pr.jpg

http://img41.exs.cx/img41/1127/br29lg.jpg

That would be some incredible body lean to pinch one end of the endlink/swaybar to the brakeline. I wouldnt worry about even aftermarket bars due to the remaining flex out of the endlinks. If worse comes to worse for the racers-alike, you can always get better lateral reinforcement bars for the rear to prevent such things from happening. For the people that already have stiffer springs, this won't be a problem for you since you will significantly reduce the lean from the stiffer springs anyways. I wouldnt worry about the larger JDM bars on the 2005 GTs in the US since I feel that SOJ already caught the problem last year and the bars that are for sale by the importers are most likely the new versions of the bar.

Keefe

Ditto..

Plus, with metal endlinks, poly-bushings and coilovers..that bar is not going anywhere.

Such is my set up.

B4

Good catch Opie.

Well I decided to put the Legy back on the lift today after installing the 20mm JDM bar yesterday and then coming home to read the news about the 'potential' issue. I just can't see how anything short of a bar failure is going to allow the bar to hit the screw or the lines. Even then I am not so sure it will hit either. My mechanic and I played with the bar for a while and we just don't see the potential for a problem on a USDM car.

Put me in the non-worried crowd and one who loves the bar, the bushings, the endlinks and my Pinks

Brian

Question - would other aftermarket bars that are bigger than the 20mm have similar problems?

Weston

Question - would other aftermarket bars that are bigger than the 20mm have similar problems?

 

Weston

That depends on the real issue with the bushing/bracket. Most aftermarket bars (and the OEM ones we shipped) come with aftermarket urethane bushings as well, and those may alleviate or eliminate the problem. As noted in the info release, the fix is to the brackets and bushings, not the bar itself. Ross (AVO owner) said that the OEM bushing was rather soft, which may be what led to the problem.

Cheers,

Paul Hansen

http://www.avoturboworld.com

http://www.e-bacs.com

I just installed this 20 mm JDM a few days ago which I purchased from AVO Paul. This new bar has a full 2 inches of clearance on both sides between the bar and the brake line bolt. There also seem like there is an extra bend right in that area, so our bars must have been the redesigned ones. Also, the bend starts right after the bushing/bracket, so it would be physically impossible for the bar to shift 2 inches without bending the whole strut that holds the bracket.

I thoughly tested this bar out yesterday for 3 hours on twisty roads and 500 turns later I can say there was no problem (if the bar had moved the white grease would have showed on the bar on the sides of the bushing). I am very impressed with the handling now. For a full review, see http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?p=126396#post126396

I am declaring this a non-issue for US owners with the new 20mm rear bar imported from Japan (from Paul).

My car came out of the garage minutes ago for a routine service, and they fitted the swaybar stablisiers as they call them. Judging from the space available, you'd have to really push your car hard to make the bar sway that much. They inspected my swaybar and it hadnt moved much (visual inspection of superficial scratches), and I've done 140kmH rounabouts.

The swaybar stabilisers are a nice feel-good preventive though. And FOC to boot.

Hate to revive an old thread...but it seems I must have struck the magic combo doing my install. I did front a rear whiteline sways on Saturday and about 3/4 of the way to my gf's house my brake pedal turned to mush. I discovered the banjo bolt on the driver's side rear caliper was loose! So I tightened it and drove home CAREFULLY. Went under the car Sunday to doublecheck everything and everything looked fine. Went to my gf's house and again, 3/4 of the way there the pedal turned to mush.

Now, on my previous car (Honda Accord) I had to grease the hell out of the poly bushing that came with my aftermarket bars to keep them quiet. I did the same with these Whitelines. Does it seem logical to anyone else that overgreasing is the root of my problem? When I looked under the car today I could see that the banjo bolt was marred and the sway bar was marred as well. I'm running stock endlinks for reference.

Personally havent heard anything re this at all in Oz.

Hmm not liking that thread pattern much either.

And like Keefe stated, u would have to have some SERIOUS body roll to pinch one of the lines.

Ada///M.

Hate to revive an old thread...but it seems I must have struck the magic combo doing my install. I did front a rear whiteline sways on Saturday and about 3/4 of the way to my gf's house my brake pedal turned to mush. I discovered the banjo bolt on the driver's side rear caliper was loose! So I tightened it and drove home CAREFULLY. Went under the car Sunday to doublecheck everything and everything looked fine. Went to my gf's house and again, 3/4 of the way there the pedal turned to mush.

 

Now, on my previous car (Honda Accord) I had to grease the hell out of the poly bushing that came with my aftermarket bars to keep them quiet. I did the same with these Whitelines. Does it seem logical to anyone else that overgreasing is the root of my problem? When I looked under the car today I could see that the banjo bolt was marred and the sway bar was marred as well. I'm running stock endlinks for reference.

Where did you get the Whitelines from? Maybe contact the vendor to see about swapping to another bar?