Sway Bars, End Links, and Rear Control Arms Installation & Impression

[Bigtuna00]

I completely forgot to mention, as a test I built a spacer to fill the gap between the bushing and the flange. It muffled the noise slightly but didn't eliminate it. So it seems likely to be an issue with the bushing fit and not the flanges.

I guess new much wider bushings can help.
Can I get those @UnpluggedP in Czechia?

The bushings I received are maybe 1mm wider. The obvious visual difference is the corners are trimmed off on one side (new on the left, old on the right):



I pulled the old bushings off the bar and took some measurements. The bar is pretty consistent (31.83mm +- .02) so that looks ok. The old bushing from the passenger side measures a bit over 32mm on the inside, which is obviously too big. The new bushings measure about 31.6mm. So hopefully I just had a defective bushing...

 

[Mash]

So I've changed back front stock bar and endlinks. I already forgot how quiet the car can be on a rough road. It completely eliminated all thumping noises. So it is a bar. Unbelievable, I've spent 40 hours roughly searching for the problem in suspension.

Gap from the flange to the bushing is around 10mm.

What strikes me, though, that while UP bar rotates absolutely freely when disconnected from endlinks, stock doesn't rotate at all. Also there is a lot of play in each bushing for UP while it took me tons of force to insert stock bushings into holders.

Stock bushings don't slide on the bar, but twist with increasing resistance. I don't know if that's by design or I'm missing a lube. Anyone remembers or can check how stock bushings worked? I can't imagine that they just dried out. And I don't understand how that would not heavily preload suspension.

 

[Bigtuna00]

Correct, the stock bushings don't rotate. It's not a lubrication issue, just a different design.

 

[Perscitus]

The stock bushings are a. vulcanized in place to the stock FSB and RSB (typical of most OEMs nowadays, mostly to force replacement of the complete assembly instead of just the bushings but also to prevent swaybar lateral shifting) b. have little notches on either side that clip into the brackets and help hold them in place.

 

[Mash]

I spent half day driving back on stock front bar - huge comfort improvement. I was subconsciously scared of driving fast on a rough surface before - it was making all kinds of suspension noises that I didn't even thought could be because of sway bar. Best mod so far...

 

[grmdl3]

I spent half day driving back on stock front bar - huge comfort improvement. I was subconsciously scared of driving fast on a rough surface before - it was making all kinds of suspension noises that I didn't even thought could be because of sway bar. Best mod so far...

I'm not sure what you're saying here. It seems like you're saying it's a huge comfort improvement to go back to the stock front bar?

 

[Mash]

I'm not sure what you're saying here. It seems like you're saying it's a huge comfort improvement to go back to the stock front bar?

Yes. I've spent 3 months and got used to that constant noise like something is broken and forgot how good it was before that. Considering that soft setting on UP front bar is the same as stock, I don't see myself going back to aftermarket.

 

[rotus8]

Mine makes clunking noises too and I have been obsessed with figuring it out. I thought I might have damaged an end link so replaced both fronts, no help. My installation had significant end play and I was going to fabricate a spacer but found the bushing brackets have enough slop that I could just loosen the bolts to close the gap. The noise is reduced but not gone. I think I will do it again but with the wheels at ride height on ramps, and maybe use a furniture clamp to add a little preload before tightening the bolts.

 

[JKB8]

Still not clear on why end links are being used. Is this unique to the UP Sway Bars? Has anyone running the Eibach Sways had the issues that we're seeing the UP's have? Good breakdown of an install of Eibach front and rear sway bars on a performance here -->

I plan on steering clear to the UP ones due to the seemingly high number of issues being reported. Maybe it's one issue but a volume of people running into it. Dunno hopefully this gets sorted for everyone. Would like feedback on Eibach if anyone has experience with them. So far, I've only heard positive insight.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

What's being reported here can be an issue with uprated sway bars generally. They can help reduce roll but at the cost of less comfort and more NVH on the road. More reports needed on Eibach and other aftermarket sway bars fitted to road going Model 3s I think.

 

[Bigtuna00]

Mine makes clunking noises too and I have been obsessed with figuring it out. I thought I might have damaged an end link so replaced both fronts, no help. My installation had significant end play and I was going to fabricate a spacer but found the bushing brackets have enough slop that I could just loosen the bolts to close the gap. The noise is reduced but not gone. I think I will do it again but with the wheels at ride height on ramps, and maybe use a furniture clamp to add a little preload before tightening the bolts.

I removed my UP bar and installed the stock bar at ride height. There was absolutely no preload/tension at all. My car is not super low though, so that may have an effect.

 

[asian_xl]

can anyone share the torque spec of the front swaybar end links? it seems noise is coming from there.

 

[Mash]

What's being reported here can be an issue with uprated sway bars generally. They can help reduce roll but at the cost of less comfort and more NVH on the road. More reports needed on Eibach and other aftermarket sway bars fitted to road going Model 3s I think.

Nothing to do with uprated. Same as stock design can use thicker bar and 3 drilled holes - adjustable endlinks are necessary with aftermarket coilovers since ride height is not stock and if bars are not free rotating - they will do weird preload at ride height.

 

[Mash]

can anyone share the torque spec of the front swaybar end links? it seems noise is coming from there.

You need to keep endlinks rod from rotating by T40 key. Otherwise you won't torque it and damage bushings of endlinks.

 

[Mash]

I removed my UP bar and installed the stock bar at ride height. There was absolutely no preload/tension at all. My car is not super low though, so that may have an effect.

No preload at ride height with lowered suspension? For me there is no preload with wheels hanging on -1.5" ride height, so it is heavily preloaded on ride height.

 

[TwoK4drSi]

No preload at ride height with lowered suspension? For me there is no preload with wheels hanging on -1.5" ride height, so it is heavily preloaded on ride height.

It wouldn't matter if suspension is loaded or not as sway bar will rotate around in its bushing. It’s physically bolted to the car and rotates in the greased bushing. The only vertical moving part going up and down that’s is connect to the bar is the shock but that itself has no moving part.

Your noise problem is the tie rod binding. See explanation from SPL:

Front Swaybar Endlinks Tesla MOD3

 

[Dangerous Fish]

Nothing to do with uprated. .

Uprated/adjustable/different whatever. You presumably got them because you thought they'd be an improvement over stock?
Aftermarket sway bars can introduce unwanted characteristics. That was my point.

 

[rotus8]

I removed my UP bar and installed the stock bar at ride height. There was absolutely no preload/tension at all. My car is not super low though, so that may have an effect.

The preload I am referring to is of the bushings side to side to eliminate the end play which may be the source of the noises I hear.

 

[MountainPass]

Hi guys, I didn't read through this thread in its entirety so please forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but I think there might be some confusion regarding "preload"

There is preload from the OE bar as it is bonded to the OE bushings, that is just a linear spring and isn't something that will really affect the dynamics of the car in a negative way (it just adds a little bit of spring rate the more the suspension compresses).

The pre-load that you want to remove with adjustable endlinks is the side to side preload, or the "twist" of the bar. Different bars are manufactured with different levels of quality control, and some bars may be slightly twisted - one side will be higher than the other. This will mean at ride height, the bar will be exerting a force on the chassis that will cause the weight of the car to no longer rest evenly.

This is detrimental to the performance of the car (it's the same as the car not being correctly corner balanced). In racing what we typically do is perform the corner balancing and alignment with one end link disconnected on each side, to ensure the sway bar isn't affecting the corner balancing readings. Once the heights are set the disconnected endlink length is changed to allow it to easily drop into the hole in the anti-roll bar, ensuring that the bar is not at all preloaded.

In reality with the relatively soft spring rates we use since these are road driven cars, this effect isn't a huge deal and isn't something that needs too much worry or attention - but if possible when you're on an alignment rack with adjustable endlinks, it's a good idea to take the preload out of the bars while at ride height, with the front wheels straight.

As far as what does or doesn't make noise, it is quite possible that having an overly preloaded bar will REDUCE the noises, since the bar will always be pushing itself against the bushings and will never be in a "rest" state where it might be clunking? This would be a bad band-aid fix!

 

[Mash]

It wouldn't matter if suspension is loaded or not as sway bar will rotate around in its bushing. It’s physically bolted to the car and rotates in the greased bushing. The only vertical moving part going up and down that’s is connect to the bar is the shock but that itself has no moving part.

Your noise problem is the tie rod binding. See explanation from SPL:

Front Swaybar Endlinks Tesla MOD3

As we just have learned - stock sway bar doesn't freely rotating in the bushings. So if it's wrong length - it preloads the suspension. All my previous sway bars were like that - greased bushings....

My noise wasn't tie rod binding. It wasn't coming from endlinks at all - I had GoPro installed on both endlinks and noise was not from them.