Broken sway bar or mount?

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

I drove diagonally into a driveway with a big dip, and heard a loud clang on the rear of my car. It turns out the noise came from the sway bar. the passenger side mounting bolt had popped out of the end hole in the bar.

It’s tough to see in this pic since it has since popped back into place, but now pops in/out when I go over large bumps. If you look hard, you can see a vertical mark on the horizontal black bar (with the silver sticker on it, right above the mounting bolt), where the sway bar has rubbed off the dirt.

http://i.imgur.com/1wchJ.jpg

Question for the forum: what do I need to do? Buy a new sway bar? just a mounting bolt?

Thanks!

#2

You need a new rear swaybar link. Replace both with OEM

#3

Thanks! as-in replace both sides?

#4

I would upgrade the endlinks rather than go OEM. But that’s just me.

#5

agree, it might be time to contact Ben at benriqueWerks.

#6

Yea I would either try stock or Ben and not stern. I have broken stern and now run stock with hotchkiss bar on stiff hole with. I problems.

#7

OEM or Stern - set the bar on the stiffest setting, solves the issue.

#8

do the ones Ben made not work? Would be a good solution if they do. Axel bought some a while back. I think he only made like 5 or 6 sets though, so it’s tough to know if they work, especially when he sold them to his buddies (who may not be too quick to mention a failure).

As I mentioned in another thread, I did a poll on audizine on how often people have had failures with these because it felt like every 5 minutes someone was complaining but it wasn’t really that bad…a pretty low percentage had link failures when sticking OEM and upgrading the sway(s)

#9

not exactly sure how many ppl have bought the benriqueWerks ones and if there is any independent unbiased opinions out there on how well they work.

#10

he said he made 6 sets. That was a number of months ago. He got one I’m sure, as did Axel and likely Mick, Vice President of forum marketing. That only leaves 3.

#11

I have one of his early sets. Bought them in January. So far, no issues whatsoever.
That said, here are the facts:

My bar was not on the stiffest setting when the OEM links broke and the OEM links were original (i.e. 6 years old).
When I replaced the links with Ben’s, I moved the bar to the stiffest setting.

Therefore, one could say it was only because the OEM links were old and the bar wasn’t on the stiffest setting and new OEM links would suffice if the bar is on the stiffest setting. That’s a possibility I guess.

However, another fact, Ben’s links have been working well with no issues either.

Take it as you will.

#12

I would have thought the stiffer setting would stress the links more than the less-stiff setting, but people all say ‘use the stiffest’ with respect to making the links last. Interesting. Anyone want to explain why? Is it slop that causes the problems?

#13

I’m not taking credit for this observation/discovery but I agree with it so I’ll share. In the softer setting there isn’t enough sweep so the the link ends up binding and snapping when various angles/loads are introduced. IE; steep driveway entrance.

#14

Great to know, thanks. So, who’s Ben, does he still make links, how much do they cost and how do i contact him to buy them? Or, I assume it’s straightforward to buy OEM, but not sure what they’ll cost…

I also need 7" rear springs for my MS coilovers, though I’m not exactly sure on spring rate. I have 6" 1100 lbs, and plan to go with higher weight to accommodate the equipment in the back side panels, and my hitch bike rack ;D

#15

man keep adding weight and that supercharger will just have you at stock performance levels lol

#16

Ben’s username is BenSTI. He’s on here so you can simply PM him. His links cost a little more than OEM so it’s your call if you want to go with his or OEM.

Be warned, he’s not very well liked on this forum :wink:

#17

seriously! i know, i know…