rear sway bar
- Thread starter jayp3
- Start date
7
70
The SR Motorsports bar is the AWR 19mm bar, the stock MP3 bar is a 20mm piece.
If you were to change I would go with the AWR 21.5mm bar.
And I have heard that you have to keep the bushing greased regularly or they will squeek something fierce.
By the way, how have you bushing gones bad? I'm almost at 19000 miles and mine are just fine. Still solid, not squishy and cracked.
If you were to change I would go with the AWR 21.5mm bar.
And I have heard that you have to keep the bushing greased regularly or they will squeek something fierce.
By the way, how have you bushing gones bad? I'm almost at 19000 miles and mine are just fine. Still solid, not squishy and cracked.
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BondoBob said:
Hmmm...I might have to take a look at mine again.
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newf said:
The rear bar on the MP3 is 20mm in stock trim. The front is 25mm...
The Mazdaspeed Protege runs a 27mm bar in front and a 20mm rear bar as well.
The AWR bars are 19mm and 21.5mm...
kevinfelker42
Member
what are sway bars?
My car makes creaking sounds, is that a bad sway bar?
My car makes creaking sounds, is that a bad sway bar?
Re: what are sway bars?
Your sway bar is not bad. Sway bars usually don't go bad. (Unless they hang out with the wrong crowd!)
j/k. What you need to do is lube the s#it out of your bushings. I lube mine every time I change my oil. As a matter of fact, it's easier to lube the bushings than to change the oil.
Good luck!
kevinfelker42 said:
Your sway bar is not bad. Sway bars usually don't go bad. (Unless they hang out with the wrong crowd!)
j/k. What you need to do is lube the s#it out of your bushings. I lube mine every time I change my oil. As a matter of fact, it's easier to lube the bushings than to change the oil.Good luck!
kevinfelker42
Member
lube?
What do you lube with, a cylinder of grease? WD40? Gun Oil?
What does a bushing look like?
What do you lube with, a cylinder of grease? WD40? Gun Oil?
What does a bushing look like?
Re: lube?
Do a search for bushings. I don't have any photos, but I know there are some photos of them. Anbody have any photos of the bushings? As far as lube, try www.energysuspensions.com. I have about 8oz. of their pre lube and I swear by it! No noises coming from this rear sway bar!
kevinfelker42 said:
Do a search for bushings. I don't have any photos, but I know there are some photos of them. Anbody have any photos of the bushings? As far as lube, try www.energysuspensions.com. I have about 8oz. of their pre lube and I swear by it! No noises coming from this rear sway bar!
I have the AWR rear sway bar on my car and it needs to be lubricated every few weeks or it will creak very bad. I replaced the bushings in the kit and modified the AWR brackets so that I could use the energy suspension greasable bushings. All I have to do is just attach the grease gun to the fitting on the bushing. I also replaced the stock end links with custom ones I made with Aurora rod ends and threaded rod.
Albino Flash
Member
- :
- MP3 gone/now 2004 Civic
My dealer, Mazda of Bedford, replaced my rear bushings with the greasable Energy bushings under warrenty several months ago. Haven't had a problem since. Unfortunately, my dealer says that their is not enough room to replace the front bushings with ones made from Energy.
Yeah....the clearance on the front sway bar bushings is quite small. There is no way the Energy Suspension Greasables would easily fit up front. I was actually considering installing a front MP3 sway bar on my ES. On our cars you have to drop the front subframe to remove the front sway bar, so this is not a simple job. I probably won't do this mod until I have to do more work to the drivetrain.
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mazdadan said:
I bet with a little patience, you could snake the bar out without dropping the subframe...
I was looking at that while my car was up on the lift at FM...The Mazdaspeed Protege bar would be nice, 27mm
Apparently a member from one of the other protege forums attempted to snake the bar out but had no success. If I knew that I could snake the bar out, I would swap it out in a heartbeat. Heck...I'd just take a cutoff wheel and chop the end off the stock bar and slide it right out. Then all I'd have to do is snake the new bar in. I guess I would have to plan out a day or two that I don't need the car, just in case the bar can't be snaked in. Maybe someone else on this forum who has performed this swap can shed some light on this subject.
PA_MP3_Man
Member
I went and got mine checked out 3 weeks ago. They are replacing the linkage, and the bushings. But the bushings are still on backorder so I'm still waiting. I didn't think the clunk was that bad at first but after a while you just get sick of hearing it. But those greasable bushings sound like a good investment. If these new ones go bad then I might have to get those ones. Would it be hard to install those ones yourself?
Oh and I had to laugh at the guy asking all the questions about what are sway bars and stuff cause that used to be me, but now I'm getting fairly aquanted with it.
Oh and I had to laugh at the guy asking all the questions about what are sway bars and stuff cause that used to be me, but now I'm getting fairly aquanted with it.
Ok...I am going to try and answer the Energy Suspension Greaseable Bushing questions to the best of my knowledge. First, you can look at all the applications they offer at http://www.energysuspension.com/swaybb.html. The part number I ended up using for the AWR 19mm sway bar was 9.5156. I ordered the part from www.summitracing.com and their catalog part # is ENS-9-5156R and they cost 13.95 for a set of two. Installation is pretty straightforward if you are handy. Each one of the stock bushings is attached to the rear subframe with 2 bolts. The lower bolt is a breeze and the upper bolt is a little trickier. On my ES, I had to bend the metal brackets on the Energy Suspension Bushings to make them line up properly with the AWR bracket. I also had to cut the AWR bracket in half to get a fitment that I felt comfortable with. I'm not sure how different the install will be on an MP3, but my guess is that since you guys already have the bigger rear sway bar from the factory, that very minimal, if any fabrication will be necessary. When you grease the bushings up, just get some high quality marine grade water resistant grease. This is what i've found lasts the longest. Oh and the grease gun attachment is just a standard Zerk fitting. A grease gun and a few tubes of grease should be well under $20. I hope this helps a little and will try to answer any other questions as best I can.
PA_MP3_Man
Member
thanks very much
