Here's some pics I took of one my rear sway bar's end links - the other looked much the same.

I've had this car since May and I suspect this may be an aftermarket bar. Is it just me or shouldn't the bolts on the end of the link be holding the link tightly up against the bar and the suspension arm? If not stock, can I use stock pieces to tighten this up? If not, anyone got any idea what bar this is???

 

Not sure about the bar but you should definitely replace the end links with metal ones.The early plastic ones have a lot of flex and don't seem to last very long.You will be surprised how much difference the end links will make.You can get all 4 for around $100 or get aftermarket ones for about $60-$70.I would stick with the updated GM ones if it were mine.

 

That may be a GM T1 bar, I believe they are blue.

My endlinks looked like that when I replaced them, get the newer metal ones.

 

 

Thanks for all the input. I've now got an idea what I need to get to fix this.

 

stock plastic links suck. 04+ have metal ones cheap..

 

Those T1 bars are really stiff. My suggestion would be the endlinks with the heim ends.

 

Thanks for the input RedZMonte and leadfoot4.

I've got some of the metal ones in a UPS truck headed my way. I guess we'll see how they do and if they have issues I guess I'll be upgrading again to ones with the heim ends!

 

I took my heim links off and put the metal ones back on.

If you daily your car you don't want the heims. You'll be replacing crushed spacers monthly and listening to squeeking and clicking daily. You'll be happy with the metal ones.

 

I've had the heim-ended links on my car for 12 years. At what point does the noise start happening??

 

A couple of weeks or one autocross. It's ridiculous. Went back to factory endlinks on my Hotchkis bars. 3 autocrosses on them now, no issues.

I have to ask, how many miles does that 12 years encompass?

 

22 thousand.........

 

I had the plastic ones on my 99. Couldn't believe it when up on a lift I saw them. They were twisted 90 degrees. I have the metal endlinks on there now. Way better.

 

I did that just this year between September and August.

Here's the story. The outside diameter on the through bolt on a T1 link is a bit smaller than the inside diameter on the mount hole on the lower control arm, both front and rear. It doesn't take a whole lot of driving, a few bumps, an autocross, or whatever and the lower bolt starts to move around in the lower control arm mount hole. A little movement, and you start hearing a squeeking nose. That little movement becomes more movement when the spacers start getting disformed. Now you have a squeeking nose and a clicking from the spacers moving around. Replace the spacers and tighten then bolts with the strength of hercules and all of his friends and it wont matter. The bolts too small for the hole and it's eventually going to start to move again.

The factory metal end links fit the lower control arm holes properly and don't do that.

I hear the LG end links also fit properly but I haven't tried them personally.

And let's be honest, how many of us ever need to preload the bar? Does an adjustable link do anything for you at all? They are heavier. They give an adjustment in an area almost none of us need (or want!), and they actually have fewer degrees of movement than the factory end links.

That's why I went back to the factory metal links and have been really pleased to have done so.

 

looks like someone lives in the corners...does anyone have a linky to the metal ones?

 

I have the OE bars, and IIRC, bought my links from VB&P. The studs of the links I have, fight tightly in both the bar and the lower control arm. Initially, I did have a little problem with the retaining huts backing off. I replaced them with ny-lock nuts, and problem solved.

One big advantage of the adjustable links, is that you can set their length, so if you've altered the ride height of the car, you can adjust the links so the sway bar is still in the correct orientation. For me, it had nothing to do with pre-load.....

 

Here is a picture of my Helm end link. They are adjustable and this particular brand does not rattle. I am not 100 percent certain what sway bar you have on your car, but I know the one on my car is, and their is a notable size difference in the pictures.
Enjoy,

 

I bought these through Amazon, I believe these are the better metal versus plastic ones:



Thanks to everyone for your inputs! This has turned into an interesting discussion!

 

What is the best way to get the end links off?

I have low repair skills, and need to change out a dented sway bar, but when I tested the end links, they just spun in place, with no movement on the nuts.

Given my skill level, I thought it better to ask around before i once more, sigh, step onto the learn the hard way road. Everything looks dry and well stuck together down there, so bolt removal looks like a little extra work.

The work isn't the problem, just would like to be productive from the start.

Also, my car is lowered, and in reading this post, it seems that adjustable end links are preferred for correct bar loading. Not that I would know the difference between any adjustments, again , skill level, but might as well fix it correctly, if this is indeed the correct approach for a lowered street car.

 

I received the metal endlinks that I ordered from Amazon yesterday but haven't yet tried to install them. If you click the link that I provided you can see that the ends of the bolts at the end link ends have a hex end on them that you can put a wrench on while you loosen the nuts. The ones in my pics above don't have those hex ends, but it looks like I can get some vice grips on the bolts between the end link and what it is supposed to be bolted up against, the sway bar on one end and the suspension arm on the other, and with the vice grips holding the bolt hopefully make quick work of getting the nuts off.