Brmr

I have a 2010 base coupe with f55 shocks that I put hotchkis sway bars with the stock end links on. Having a few issues. The rear bar was so close to the mufflers that they would hit and make noise. The shop ended up heating the muffler hangers and bending them down to raise the mufflers which help for a bit until the bar slid laterally and made contact again. I then had to put 2 "collars" on the bar to keep it from sliding.
In the front, I'm getting a knocking sound that may be the bar hitting the lower control arms as there is less than 1/4 inch clearance on both sides. My next plan is to have the shop undo the front bar and zip tie it up to see if that was the cause. They end links don't seem to have excessive play in them but not sure how to tell if they are bad.
I was hoping these bars would be more of a "factory" fit.
Was wondering if anyone else with these bars had a fitment problem and what was the solution? The place I bought them from offered me 20% refund for my troubles. Thanks in advance for any assistance!

RicK T

Don't have them but in 10 years here I don't recall reading about any such fitment problem with any bar. I can't imagine Hotchkiss making bars that way. My guess is you got something other than Corvette bars, or at least not C6 bars. Will be watching to see what comes up. Good luck.

Brmr

I wondered if they were the correct bars....they did fit in where they were supposed to and the included instructions had the correct car and part number. I agree not much buzz about problems with these bars. Hotchkis tech support didn't have any ideas. ? If use adjustable front end links and make them a little shorter than stock would pull the bar up from the control arm....

AORoads

So, you seem to be saying that Hotchkis tech support offered you nothing re "let's try a new and different set of bars just in case these are mislabeled." That's not good service or tech advice unless these are 10 year old bars. Why not call them back and suggest that a replacement at least be tried--you're not trying to game them or get a free set---you just want a set that works? This modifying your car to make the bars fit is not a good solution imo.

Otherwise, you have a few alternatives: 1) find adjustable end links and try them; 2) scrap the bars and go with something else, like Z51; or 3) live with it, as you have been doing. Any other choices that you can think of?

Brmr

I bought the bars through the tire rack. They communicated with Hotchkis and they said I had to remove the bars and ship them back to tire rack who would then inspect them or have hotchkis inspect them and only if they found them defective would they offer a refund or new bars (more likely). I thought the chances of them finding a defect were slim plus I would have to pay to have the bars removed and my old ones reinstalled and then new bars reinstalled. Tire rack offered me a 20% refund to use them as is. Seemed low to me... I have considered just going with the Z51 bars which I suspect would have to fit.

victorf

I bought my Hotchkis several years ago from Tire Rack as well. They also gave me a discount with shipping to Hawaii.

My '05 has Z51 option, oem end links and no problem what so ever with front/rear.



Sorry, but something is definitely not right with yours.

Brmr

Thanks, It didn't make sense that the tolerances were that close. The bars I have look like the ones in the instructions and shaped similarly to my stock bars but the stock bars were nowhere near the muffler. I don't remember my install being as extensive as yours.....lol!
You wouldn't happen to have any pictures of the front and rear bars installed with the car on the ground?

geewez

I'm running Hotchkis bars front and rear and have no problems at all. Because of the unusual shape of the bars, I doubt if they're the wrong bars if they bolted onto the car in the first place. If they were the wrong bars, they wouldn't have bolted on at all. I know there's a little play in the exhaust system due to all the mounting points, how far the pipes are inserted into each other before tightening the clamps, etc. Are you running the factory exhaust system or an aftermarket system? All the bars are computer bent now so they're all the same. You also have to realize that there's a little different tolerance with each car as it comes down the assembly line-don't know if that's enough to be causing your interference problems or not.

Brmr

I agree that the bars are probably correct in that they bolted in without problem....that's why I was hesitant to take them off and send them back to tire rack to look for defects as I suspected they wouldn't find any. When the car was on the lift, off the wheels ,the rear bar was pressing on the muffler....on the wheels there was a slight gap making it drivable but with a banging noise on any bumps...raising the mufflers by bending the mounting piece on the mufflers and added the collars to keep it from sliding laterally helped but seemed like that should have been unessasary.
Haven't solved the noise in the front yet re they "chip sealed" my cul de sac and I haven't gotten the car out of the garage recently....
Everything else is stock including the mufflers.

timd38

Please post pictures.

AORoads

Let's ask this question: how exactly different from your stock bars are the Hotchkis that they hit parts of your car? If you can't get under to put one bar up against another, maybe "victorf" can?

Brmr

Right now I don't have any way to get under the car. Basically the bars are a lot thicker than the base bars.... Seem to be basically shaped the same but I haven't lined them up together.

timd38

Did you expect them to be thinner?

victorf

I sold my oem Z51 option bars to a member in Iowa few years back.

Something is not right with his. My Hotchkis is thicker than the OEM. But nowhere closed to rear mufflers or having interference with any other components on the front end.

OP, not hard to raise car, if you have floor jack and maybe 4 stack of 2X10s.

Substitute 2Xs, in place of my homemade doohickey. Under the front shipping slot, first one side, then, repeat on the other, the whole car is up and you will have loads of room to do all the checking:



Funny side note: Did they installed them upside down? JK

HTHs.

daz88

the knocking sound you're hearing in the front could be the endlinks. I installed the hotchkis sway bars on mine a few months ago without any issue. I don't really see how it could hit the mufflers as it pretty much follows the frame in the back. Unless you have after market mufflers and they are mounted super low or something. Unless you installed them upside down, but don't even know if that's possible. (BTW....I got mine from tirerack also)

Brmr

Yeah I was surprised they would be so close to the mufflers....hotchkis has a great reputation but I had the install checked by 2 different mechanics and they both felt the bars were put in correctly. The mufflers and hangers are stock. Again when the car was on the lift, the bar was touching the muffler and when on the ground there was only a very slight clearance. Even when I had the muffler raised a little but bending the hanger, the bar still hit as it slid laterally until I put the collars on.
I did wonder if the front end links were making noise. The mechanic thought th noise was coming through the chassis suggesting something was hitting rather just the end link. I am planning on discounting the front bar and see if noise goes away.

Brmr

I hope it's ok to revive my old thread. just a quick follow up. I replaced the factory end links,as suggested , with adjustable "quiet" ones. The clunking and rattling noise is gone! The car seems to handle better too. Less need for mid corner correction. thanks for the help.
As an aside, I was driving home from the repair shop today...felling great...saw a new corvette and gave him a wave....then a large dump truck chunked a piece of tire at me...saw it coming in slow motion but nowhere to go...scuffed my front bumper....it's only a car but it was pretty pristine up to this point despite driving it frequently....maybe it will buff out...ha ha. More first world problems....

timd38

Great! Glad it all worked out!

94boosted

My rear Hotchkiss bar was also very close/touching my mufflers on my 2010 GS. I took the bar off, heated up my mufflers with a torch and banged them a bit with a hammer (maybe 1/4") worked like a charm. No problems with the front bar though.

Brmr

I had the part on the muffler that hooks into the hanger heated and bent down so the mufflers pulled up a little higher for clearance. Not sure how much the close clearance in the front was actually an issue vs bad end links but moved the bar up a little since the new end links were adjustable. Overall now extremely pleased with the handling improvement with the new bars.