Symptoms Of A Bad Sway Bar Or Anti Roll Bar
The most common symptoms of a bad or failing sway bar are a rattling noise when driving on a bumpy road and loss of handling when cornering. You may also notice an excessive body roll when cornering.
It could either be the sway bar links, sway bar bushings, or a bad sway bar itself when you notice any of these symptoms. However, it is more common for the bushings or links to break and not the sway bar itself, as it is a solid piece.
Here down below is a more detailed list of the signs of a bad or failing sway bar to look for:
When Do You Need A Sway Bar
If youre going to be chucking your car or truck into corners, you definitely need a sway bar. Even during everyday street driving, sway bars provide stability and help you feel more connected to the road. If your car came equipped with a stock sway bar, upgraded tubular components further improve handling, grip and drivability. Especially during hard corners and at high speeds.
Why Should You Have Your Sway Bar Links Replaced
Because sway bar links are responsible for transferring the force of motion from the wheels to the sway bar and to the rest of the suspension system, if a sway bar end link is damaged, the control-ability of your vehicle and the safety of your passengers are at risk. While some sway bar links have bushing that can be replaced, other sway bar links require replacements upon wearing out.
Warning signs of a broken or bad sway bar link include clunks and squeaks. Over-steering or excessive lean through turns are also symptoms of worn sway bar links, but they can also be signs of larger problems with your vehicles suspension system. Do not let symptoms of bad sway bar links or other suspension components go untreated. Little problems with suspension systems have the tendency to turn into larger problems and more expensive repairs if not repaired or replaced.
If you experience any of the above symptoms, allow our service staff at Auto Aces to determine if a sway bar link replacement is right for you.
– Jason Harris Service Manager at Auto Aces Express
2666 N. Packerland Dr., Green Bay, WI., 54313 499 – 4424
” Your Problem Solved ! “
You May Like: How Much Does It Cost To Paint Your Car
Trouble When Taking Turns
As the sway bar links become loose, the tires can no longer keep a solid grip on the road. This lack of handling makes it more difficult to take a turn normally.
You will feel the condition in the steering wheel as you attempt to turn. It will require more effort to get your vehicle where it needs to go. You can blame this condition on the links, but it also happens when the bushings deteriorate.
Sway Bars Rvs And Motor Coaches
Because of their size, motor coaches can lean quite a bit without a sway bar. Not only will driving an RV without a sway bar wear you out physically , it can also be dangerous. So, if youre planning on hitting the open road, a sway bar can be useful to alleviate some of that force and provide a smoother, more enjoyable ride.
In the end, its not a question of whether or not you need a sway barits what kind of sway bar you need. A lot of it comes down to personal preference. So if youre not happy with how your vehicle handles turns and high winds, consider talking to a mechanic about whether or not a more rigid or flexible sway bar would be beneficial for you!
Read Also: What Engine Size Is My Car
Notes To Keep In Mind
A larger sway bar is not necessarily stiffer. Aftermarket sway bars are typically sold as either solid or hollow tubes. Since the elasticity of a sway bar is a result of cross-sectional area , the overall diameter doesn’t matter so much. For the most part, solid tube sway bars are stiffer than “larger” sway bars made of hollow tube. This is because the hollow metal tubing actually has less cross-sectional area and therefore has less resistance to bending moments.
Stiffer sway bars are not always better. While increasing the stiffness of the rear sway bar in a front-wheel-drive car might reduce understeer, an overly stiff rear sway bar can actually induce oversteer and make the car difficult to drive. Likewise, a rear-wheel-drive car with an overly stiff front sway bar may tend to understeer. When it comes to suspension, the name of the game is balance.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the authorâs knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
The Purpose Of A Sway Bar
The answer goes back to that guess above, that a sway bar tends to keep the car from swaying . That is what a sway bar does: prevent body lean. A sway bar does nothing at all unless the vehicle is inclined to lean to one side, but when it does start to lean , the sway bar applies force to the suspension on each side, upward on one side and downward on the other, that tends to resist the leaning.
Also Check: How Do You Know If Your Car Needs An Alignment
What Does A Sway Bar Link Do
Sway bar links connect the sway bar to the control arm. There is one link at each end of the sway bar.
The sway bar itself is basically a large-diameter steel bar designed to prevent body roll during cornering. When the car is traveling over bumps, the stabilizer bar also provides a certain level of stability.
Most modern vehicles have both a front and rear sway bar, as well as front and rear sway bar links.
What Are Sway Bar End Links
End links connect your sway bar to your vehicle. They may attach to your control arm, spindle or chassis depending on your vehicles suspension design. They can also be a fixed length or adjustable to suit your application. End links allow your sway bar to pivot while transferring load from side to side, either via bushing flex or spherical joint swivel. This helps prevent suspension bind as the bar twists.
Give us a shout if you have sway bar questions.
Our tech team will happily help you dial in your ride and make sure it behaves the way you want. Give us a call at 952-985-5675.
You May Like: How To Start An Automatic Car With A Dead Battery
Can You Sell A Car With A Bad Sway Bar
If you have a car thats very old and starting to fall apart on you and your mechanic tells you that it needs a new sway bar, you might wonder more than just, What is a sway bar? You might also wonder, Do I really want to keep paying money to fix this car up? In most cases, the answer is going to be No! One repair is just going to lead to another repair and then another one after that.
Instead of continuing to pay for repairs to your sway bar and other parts in your car, you should consider selling it, bad sway bar and all. Cash Cars Buyer will pay you cash for your car, regardless of what might be going wrong with it at this time. We specialize in providing people with cash for their old cars that they dont want anymore.
Interested in possibly selling your old car to us?Get in touch with us today to find out what your car could be worth in spite of its bad sway bar.
How Do Stabilizer Bars Work
Stabilizer bars are part of a car’s suspension system. They are sometimes also called anti-sway bars or anti-roll bars. Their purpose in life is to try to keep the car’s body from “rolling” in a sharp turn.
Think about what happens to a car in a sharp turn. If you are inside the car, you know that your body gets pulled toward the outside of the turn. The same thing is happening to all the parts of the car. So the part of the car on the outside of the turn gets pushed down toward the road and the part of the car on the inside of the turn rises up. In other words, the body of the car “rolls” 10 or 20 or 30 degrees toward the outside of the turn. If you take a turn fast enough, the tires on the inside of the turn actually rise off the road and the car flips over.
Roll is bad. It tends to put more weight on the outside tires and less weigh on the inside tires, reducing traction. It also messes up steering. What you would like is for the body of the car to remain flat through a turn so that the weight stays distributed evenly on all four tires.
Car Suspension Image Gallery
When you go into a turn now, the front suspension member of the outside of the turn gets pushed upward. The arm of the sway bar gets pushed upward, and this applies torsion to the rod. The torsion them moves the arm at the other end of the rod, and this causes the suspension on the other side of the car to compress as well. The car’s body tends to stay flat in the turn.
Also Check: Can You Use Someone Else’s Car For Doordash
Is There Ever A Good Time To Remove My Sway Bars
If you have a drag racing car, you may opt to run without a front sway bar. This takes weight off the front end and can reduce suspension bind, helping weight transfer to the rear tires during hard launches. However, most drag suspensions greatly benefit from a rear bar. This helps keep the car from overloading one of the rear tires, allowing the other tire to unload, spin and lose traction.
Schedule Brakes Steering And Suspension Inspection
The most popular service booked by readers of this article is Brakes, Steering and Suspension Inspection. Once the problem has been diagnosed, you will be provided with an upfront quote for the recommended fix and receive $20.00 off as a credit towards the repair. YourMechanics technicians bring the dealership to you by performing this job at your home or office 7-days a week between 7AM-9PM. We currently cover over 2,000 cities and have 100k+ 5-star reviews…LEARN MORE
You May Like: How Much Does A Car Tire Weigh
Something That Most Car Buyers And Owners Will Never Think About Is The Sway Or Anti
Most vehicles these days have a sway bar and some even have two, although it should really be called an anti-sway or anti-roll bar. See, unlike its name suggests, a sway bar is there to keep your vehicle from leaning/rolling over in corners. Youll have noticed that sensation in your vehicle when you turn into a corner, especially at a higher speed, and the body will lean or roll to the outside and away from the corner as the vehicle is driven around it. The idea of a sway bar is that a twisting force is applied to counter that lean by applying a force to the other side of the vehicle and level it out, reducing the amount of body roll.
Can You Drive Without A Working Sway Bar
Fortunately for those who have a bad sway bar in their car, you dont necessarily need to run right down to your auto repair shop to have it fixed immediately. You should be able to continue to drive around in a car that doesnt have a working sway bar without experiencing any major issues. But that doesnt mean that you should put off sway bar replacement altogether.
If you keep driving around in a car with a bad sway bar, you could put yourself and others at risk if you take a turn while your sway bar isnt working. It could lead to you flipping your car over or losing control of it and crashing into someone else. Its why you should be very careful whenever you find yourself driving without a working sway bar. You should also make it your mission to have your car looked at so that you can get the problem with your sway bar fixed.
Recommended Reading: What Kind Of Car Can I Afford
Adjusting A Splined Sway Bar
While traditional types arent easy to adjust, splined sway bars are quite the opposite. All you need to do is spin the bar one way or the other to shift it over. The farther you shift it, the more itll affect how your vehicle can handle turning in that direction.
However, the tradeoff is that it wont prevent rolling in the other direction as effectively. Its perfect for vehicles that are constantly turning in the same direction on the track.
A sway bar that is perfectly centered will prevent rolling equally no matter which direction youre turning which is precisely what most daily drivers want.
Sway Bar Link Diagram
Now lets discuss another topic when it comes to sway bar in a car. And that is the sway bar link diagram.
If you didnt know, sway bars are not directly connected to the control arms. So, why not connect them directly?
Well, there are a number of reasons why is this the case, but the biggest reason is that the driving would be too stiff and not very pleasant at all. This is why sway bar links were invented to improve this aspect and allow a more comfortable ride.
So, what is the sway bar link diagram? The sway bar link in simple words is a connector that connects the anti-roll bar with the lower control arm of the vehicle.
This is a small metal bar that sits vertically in the cars suspension. And on the top and bottom, there are bushings that come into contact with both the sway bar, or anti-roll bar as people would call it, and the lower control arm which basically holds the wheels of the vehicle.
And when there are problems with the suspension, they are most often caused by these anti-roll bar links that have bushings and the bushings simply fail over time. But more on the symptoms that you will experience when this happens, we are going to cover later on in the article. Now lets cover another important topic and that is the strut bar vs sway bar. So, if you want to learn more about this, follow along.
Also Check: Are Car Seat Protectors Safe
The Basics Behind Sway Bar Link Replacement Services
Connecting the wheels on opposite sides of the vehicle is a stabilizer bar called the sway bar. The sway bar is charged with controlling body roll by distributing the weight of your vehicle to both sides of the suspension. When your vehicle moves through a turn, the sway bar keeps the vehicle level by minimizing body roll through the transfer of vehicle weight to the outside wheels. It also maintains solid contact with the surface of the road through the compression of the suspension components on the inside wheels.
Sway bar links are a crucial component in your vehicles suspension system. The sway bar links are what connect the suspension to the sway bar and transfer the force of motion from the wheels to the axles. When the vehicle turns or corners, the sway bar end links pull on the bar to resist body roll while stabilizing the force of motion and the weight of the vehicle.
When To Replace Sway Bar Links
A sway or stabilizer bar prevents the car body from leaning too much and keeps the vehicle stable when driving in turns. Most cars have one sway bar in the front and another separate sway bar in the rear suspension. Sway Bar LinkSway bar link. Some cars have only one sway bar in the front suspension. Sports cars have thicker sway bars for better stability when cornering.
A sway bar is connected via rubber bushings to the car body or frame in the middle. Outer ends of the sway bar are connected to the parts of the vehicle suspension that holds the wheel . The part that connects the outer ends of the sway bar to the suspension component is called a sway bar link. In most cars, a sway bar link has two small ball joints at each end.
Over time, the sway bar link ball joints wear out. The first sign of a worn-out sway bar link is a knocking noise from the suspension when driving slow over road bumps. In rare cases, if the grease inside the sway bar link joints dries up, it may also make a creaking noise when the suspension is moving up and down.
Your mechanic can check the sway bar links while performing a regular service with the car on the lift. A worn-out sway bar link will show a free play when pushed up or down. An extremely worn-out sway bar link can separate. This will cause your car to lean excessively in turns and feel less stable and secure on the road. A worn-out sway bar link must be replaced to keep your vehicle safe.
Also Check: How To Open Car Without Key
How Much Does It Cost To Replace A Sway Bar
One of the reasons why so many people prefer to take their car to a mechanic to have their sway bar fixed as opposed to doing it themselves is because its not that expensive to pay to have someone else do it. Its very cost-effective when you compare it to some of the other suspension-related repair jobs that are out there.
In general, you should only have to pay somewhere between $100 and $150 to have the links for a sway bar replaced. The parts themselves are only about $70 to $90, and since the job is a pretty straightforward one, the labor should only cost you about $50 or so. Its why you should usually think about taking your car in to have the sway bar looked at rather than doing it on your own.
