Eibach Sway bar clunk solution.

[AusStinger]

So for a while now I've had a clunk in the front sway bar.
The cause is the gaps between the bushes and the lateral locking flanges on the sway bar.

I purchased a lateral lock kit and installed it but it didn't do the trick so I purchased a couple of nitrile rubber washers that are 25mm ID ( OD of the front sway bar ).



I took the cradle and bushings off and undid the links from the end of the sway bar and slid the washers over the ends and up against the flanges.
I lubed everything up and re-installed everything including the lateral locks on the outside ( of each side ).




And hey presto !

No more clunk at all.
Hope this helps someone else.

 

[Volfy]

Didn't know Eibach anti-roll bar built-on flanges allow big enough gap to clunk.

Nicely done! Always good to see enterprising souls coming up with good ways to "modify the mod".

Is that a Whiteline end stop?

 

[AusStinger]

Didn't know Eibach anti-roll bar built-on flanges allow big enough gap to clunk.

Nicely done! Always good to see enterprising souls coming up with good ways to "modify the mod".

Is that a Whiteline end stop?

Mine was floating laterally ~3-4mm which was enough to cause the clunk.
Maybe I just got a "Friday made" bar (?)

Yes, Whiteline Sway Bar Lateral Locks (KLL127 for 25mm OD bar). Normally these alone would do the trick but not it this case.

If I find a solution I like to share since I've learned a few things from this forum over the years..........

 

[Volfy]

Mine was floating laterally ~3-4mm which was enough to cause the clunk.
Maybe I just got a "Friday made" bar (?)

Yes, Whiteline Sway Bar Lateral Locks (KLL127 for 25mm OD bar). Normally these alone would do the trick but not it this case.

If I find a solution I like to share since I've learned a few things from this forum over the years..........

Sharing info like this makes our collective ownership experience that much richer.

I have no first hand experience with Eibach anti-roll bars, and yours is the first case I've heard of, so I was a bit surprised. Hard to say whether others might have experienced the same but just did not notice it. I know that would for sure bother me. Mine are Whiteline bars, and I took great pains to make sure I got the end stops lined up with as tight a tolerance as I deemed proper.

 

[Snicklefritz]

With enough grease, I doubt that the Eibach even with some side to side play would make a sound. Must have been dry.

 

[AusStinger]

With enough grease, I doubt that the Eibach even with some side to side play would make a sound. Must have been dry.

Might be a bit hard to explain but, the bushes were both properly greased ( moly grease ) and in a straight line, there was no noise from the bushes.
Going in and out of a driveway or a rapid turn would make the clunk happen.

When I was under the car, I was able to ( with mild force ) move the sway bar left to right that 3-4mm.
I did add the Whiteline lateral locks but didn't feel that they did enough so I added the rubber washers and together they did the trick.

But with all that said, my car still has a number of "rattles" while driving that I just can't find

 

[BIG-D]

My Superpro bars have a decent gap to the collar as well mate, but NO clunk...

They have a small allan key grub screw but it is covered in blue powdercoat, hmmmm i might investigate further...

 

[Volfy]

Just as a reference, Whiteline kit reuses the front bushing brackets, but they overmolded their replacement urethane bushings to have "buffer" ears on both sides. This allows me to butt their end stops right up against it. This eliminates any side-to-side play but still allow for a bit of wiggle room, as the anti-roll bar - acting as a torsion spring - does contort in action.


Later, I replaced the bushings with greaseable ones. Having the end stop as a separate assembly actually worked out quite well, as I had to move them slightly to have the same snug fit.


Car manufacturing tolerances do vary some, which is why Eibach had to cast the fixed end stop away from the bushing (3-4mm sounds about right). This avoids install problems due to tolerance variances. Pretty sure that slight gap is by design.

 

[Snowwhite]

interesting. the ARKs didn't come with the second clamp-on stop. just the built-in one on the bar. going to have to investigate down there next oil change. I have no noises from my sways though. The only time I did, putting some yellow teflon tape and lubing the area with silicone grease did the trick. that was over two years ago now and no noise has come back.

 

[blnewt]

Just as a reference, Whiteline kit reuses the front bushing brackets, but they overmolded their replacement urethane bushings to have "buffer" ears on both sides. This allows me to butt their end stops right up against it. This eliminates any side-to-side play but still allow for a bit of wiggle room, as the anti-roll bar - acting as a torsion spring - does contort in action.
View attachment 88081

Later, I replaced the bushings with greaseable ones. Having the end stop as a separate assembly actually worked out quite well, as I had to move them slightly to have the same snug fit.
View attachment 88082

Car manufacturing tolerances do vary some, which is why Eibach had to cast the fixed end stop away from the bushing (3-4mm sounds about right). This avoids install problems due to tolerance variances. Pretty sure that slight gap is by design.

That's exactly how close my clamps on my Whiteline sways are too, I didn't install zerks though, hopefully the anti-seize and the teflon tape will keep any noise at bay.

 

[AusStinger]

My Superpro bars have a decent gap to the collar as well mate, but NO clunk...

They have a small allan key grub screw but it is covered in blue powdercoat, hmmmm i might investigate further...

View attachment 88079View attachment 88080

They have a gap between the lateral locking flanges and the bushes. You must drive on mostly flat surfaces for it to not create any clunk.

 

[AusStinger]

So, I found the majority of the remaining clunking noises ( with the lateral clunk resolved ).

In the front. The Superpro heavy duty sway bar link lock nuts had come loose AGAIN. Even after applying loctite and tightening them.
I had the same thing happen with the Whiteline ones I had before these so I'm stumped......

I've seen another brand called Godspeed so I'm going to try them next but for now, the OEM links have been re-installed.

In the rear, one of the OEM link locknuts had come lose so applied loctite and re-tightened.

Some days I feel like this car is saying, "put me back to stock, and stop f'n with me"...........

 

[Volfy]

FWIW, we've got the same Whiteline anti-roll bars on two Stingers and a G70, all with OEM end links, which work just fine. All 3 have been put through their proper paces.

Adjustable end links are neither necessary, nor worth the troubles too many folks seem to have.

 

[AusStinger]

FWIW, we've got the same Whiteline anti-roll bars on two Stingers and a G70, all with OEM end links, which work just fine. All 3 have been put through their proper paces.

Adjustable end links are neither necessary, nor worth the troubles too many folks seem to have.

I think you might be right......

 

[BIG-D]

Yeh bud, no other car i have fitted aftermarket sway bars to has had them

 

[blnewt]

Aftermarket end links, one less thing to "add to cart"

 

[Snowwhite]

I’ve never understood aftermarket end links. Yes, if it’s a dedicated track car, OK. But a daily driver? Is anyone actually out-driving the stock ones? No. The trouble they cause isn’t worth the hassle.

 

[Volfy]

They are used primarily in racing applications for corner balancing the chassis, so that the anti-roll bars are neutral with the weight of the driver on-board. If you are talented enough as a driver to benefit from this... well, by all means. I certainly am not.

 

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

I’ve never understood aftermarket end links. Yes, if it’s a dedicated track car, OK. But a daily driver? Is anyone actually out-driving the stock ones? No. The trouble they cause isn’t worth the hassle.

Seems the aftermarket have convinced people that if they are upgrading the sway bar(s) then they must do the end links, too. I went back and forth on it but ultimately decided to stay with the stock end links after seeing others having issues. I just didn’t want to mess around with them.

 

[TIGERSHARK27]

Just to chime in a little with my experience, I've had a bit of a clunk for most of the time I've had my Eibach sway bars installed.

Much more annoyingly however is that my Whiteline sway bar end links have now broken twice. The shop I've been going to for years initially told me after I had my car lowered that adjustable end links would help with the caster angle. I first had them installed sometime Q3 2022, then bought replacements in July of 2023 which we used Loctite on, and they're now broken again, just over a year later. The first set I think might've been done in from bottoming out a few times when getting used to the new height of my car, which is user-inflicted, but after familiarizing myself with the ride, I'm not sure why they've gone in the same amount of time. I don't really want this to be a yearly expense, when they should be lasting way more than 8,000 miles.

I do drive spirited sometimes, but it's never been tracked or anything, and I take speedbumps usually at 2-4 MPH and am very careful to avoid potholes etc.

I am currently undecided what I'm going to do, and am open to suggestions, although I'm pretty adamant in keeping the lowered suspension. The inconvenience is worth how much I love the look of it, haha