Is a sway bar really that important?

[johndeere]

All four of my sway bar links are shot. I think I blew them out when I caught air over some railroad tracks while driving my daughter to the emergency room. Anyway, they are shot.

The dealer says it would cost $450 to replace all four. Even if I did it myself I am looking at about $200 in materials. All this in a '95 Protege with 115,000 miles. I am thinking about not replacing them, maybe even removing all the broken links and the bars too. Would there be any problem driving without sway bars? Anything dangerous?

 

[Pretzellogic]

There will be no immediate danger to the car. You can drive it without a sway bar, no problem. The only problem/danger would be when you're in an emergency situation, as the car will not handle as well.

Is your daughter okay?

 

[DeadGeneration]

Yea, it's just a performance booster so it's not needed. If it's not worth it to you, than pretend like it never had one.

 

[BlueMonsta]

if u sways drive granny, u might not need it.

look into aftermarket sway bar, might be cheaper

 

[Pretzellogic]

if u sways drive granny, u might not need it.

What?

 

[BlueMonsta]

sorry my typos,
meant, if u drive granny, u might not need it

 

[johndeere]

I'm going to remove them, any advice on how to do it?

I think I will go ahead and just remove them then. I use this car mainly to drive the two miles back and forth from work. No hard driving, and the speed limit the whole way is 40mph or less.

However, my next question to you sway bar experts is: when I cram myself under the car and attempt to remove the broken sway bar links (and the bars themselves) will it be obvious where the points of attachment are? As I understand it, sway bars are connected in two places to the frame and in two more places (nearer the wheels) to the axle assemblies. So, all told, I'll need to unbolt four points of attachment per sway bar right?

Does anyone happen to have pics of the points of attachment? I don't want to unbolt anything I'm not supposed to! Please tell me this is pretty idiot proof.

 

[SilentSno]

So let me get this straight. You have FOUR sway bars?

Cause I only gots 2, and four doesn't make a world of sense.

 

[JCell]

i think he meant 4 endlinks

 

[johndeere]

Sorry for the confusion. We are talking about just two sway bars. As I understand it, each sway bar is connected to the car in four places right? The "links" connect near each wheel (making two points) and the bar itself is attached to the frame in two places (making two more points). So for each sway bar there are four places I'll need to unattach from the rest of the car. Of course, I could have this all wrong. I've never dealt with sway bars before.


p.s. My daughter was fine. Just a nervous dad.

 

[SilentSno]

Sorry for the confusion. We are talking about just two sway bars. As I understand it, each sway bar is connected to the car in four places right? The "links" connect near each wheel (making two points) and the bar itself is attached to the frame in two places (making two more points). So for each sway bar there are four places I'll need to unattach from the rest of the car. Of course, I could have this all wrong. I've never dealt with sway bars before.


p.s. My daughter was fine. Just a nervous dad.

Yes that sounds much better. It might be 6 places, as the rear, i dunno about the front, has each side to each endlink where they attach to the strut, and the center section where the bar attaches to the frame of the car.

 

[Pretzellogic]

Normally, You'll have to only unbolt the connection at each strut, as the endlinks can simply come off with the sway. You'll also have to unbolt the brackets that bolt the bar to the frame.

 

[peepsalot]

Yeah there are basically four points you are going to have to deal with, the endlink on each side, and the brackets that hold the swaybar bushings. I drove around without a rear sway for a while and it didn't make a whole lot of difference. The rear is not too dificult at all to remove. Except you might need an impact wrench to break the endlink bolts free. The problem is the nut and bolt will both turn together and possibly never loosen because the bolt rotates inside the endlink ball joint housing.

 

[Roywhitep5]

shouldnt be more tha 100 for all 4

 

[16902]

I had to pay $62 for the two rear endlinks from the dealership. The front endlinks are longer so I don't know how much they are. Since your endlinks are already shot, the easiest way to get them off would probably be to heat them up. I used a torch on mine to heat up the nuts, then with a wrench (14mm) and an allen wrench (I forget the size) to put into the bolt, they broke loose real easy.

If you use to much heat, this melts the dust cover and the inside of the endlink, which doesn't matter for you. If you use just enough heat, you can actually keep from melting those. A friend of mine in metal working told me that there is a spray you can get to put on those parts to keep them from getting too hot, wish I would have known that earlier...

Edit: Crap, I forgot yours was a '95. Anyhow, I hope it helps some.