Sway Bar Bushings Mod

[2000Silverbullet]

Tightened up the cornering feel and sharpened the response. Noticeably less lean in turns. Not as much as a larger sway bar but a cheap and quick mod that takes it part way.

I used Suspension Energy 9.8120R end links on all four corners. Polyeurethane bushings with larger diameter (3/8") link bolt.

The rear was a breeze and no alterations were required. A simple bolt on.

The front was a bit trickier. I had to trim the metal spacers 1/4" in order to get the nut started but it fits perfectly otherwise.

The OEM links with soft rubber bushings, plastic spacers, 5/16" bolts are in the parts bin.

[golfyeti]

installation instructions from their website

Mounting locations will vary from one vehicle to another.
The bolt can be installed with the threaded end up or down.
Washers must cup toward the bushings. The bushing nipple
is intended to center the end link assembly in the sway bar
and control arm mounting points. Have the vehicle at ride
height when installing end links for proper seating of
bushings. Use a 9/16” wrench and rachet to tighten the
assembly until the bushings start to bulge slightly (Do not
grease or over tighten!). Check all clearances around
brake lines, tie rods, and control arms with a full turn of the
wheels to the left and right.

[harofreak00]

I'm surprised you just got around to this mod Paul... I figured it would be one if your first ones...

[lglarum]

He did it a while back I'm sure. I asked him to bring the thread over from BC so people could be informed.

[willwren]

I did that to Pdad/Pmom's car about 3 years ago at WCBF. I had to take 1/4" off the spacer on their car as well.

[67goat]

Just did my fronts as well - you either need to take 1/4 inch off the spacer or apply a pry bar to keep everything in place to thread the nut.
Haven't done the rear yet - would be nice if someone made a larger aftermarket bar.

[BillBoost37]

JHaven't done the rear yet - would be nice if someone made a larger aftermarket bar.

The GXP bars are an upgrade.

[67goat]

JHaven't done the rear yet - would be nice if someone made a larger aftermarket bar.

The GXP bars are an upgrade.

Boosty - You may have just made my day Do you happen to know the diameter? (doubt the dealer could look up the diameter)

[2003 SSEi]

i have a set ( as well as the entire GXP suspension) in the garage. I can get you a measurement

[67goat]

i have a set ( as well as the entire GXP suspension) in the garage. I can get you a measurement

Sweet - let me know. I think the SSEi stock size is only about 20 mm.

[2000Silverbullet]

19 mm to be precise.
You have to be careful when adjusting spring rates and sway bar size front to rear ratios to help keep a neutral cornering attitude and also to satisfy the stabilitrak settings.

There is a possibility that going to a larger rear bar will create more oversteer if you don't stiffen up the front equally at the same time.

[67goat]

That's a pretty good point. I think around a 24 to 25 mm bar in back would do wonders on our cars - in stock form they have quite a bit of understeer (Factory's intent). Anything more proportionately (30 front 25 rear) I'd guess would probably start causing some mild oversteer. Not sure how the computer control would be affected - what exactly does it control? braking differential maybe? I don't think we have valving in the struts that would be affected by that do we?

[JBMark33]

I am looking up the energy endlink sway bar bushing set, hoping to find the front and rear set.

Autozone has 54 different endlink kits for different sized sway bars.

What size is it on my 2000 SE?

[wjcollier07]

I believe you need to take a measurement of the distance between the sway endlink hole to the hole in the control arm, with the sway bar arm directly parallel to the control arm drilled hole angle.

Not sure if that makes perfect sense But for the front, its usually pretty simple and just consists of the the distance between them with the sway bar parallel with the ground.

Otherwise of course, someone could always just post the part number.

[JBMark33]

I ordered the HD Moog sway bar bushings.

Good choice?

Advance auto didn't need the size, as the computer looked it up.

I ordered the Front and the Rear.

[harofreak00]

I'm running Moog... good choice... however, mine are about 3 years old now and need to be replaced again.

[JBMark33]

Did you do the rear as well haro?

I am not sure how well it will turn out as I have the FE2 suspension, but I am sure it will help a lot.

[BillBoost37]

Recently I did some of this work and we should keep in mind that the technical names are End Links are at the ends of the sway bar and the Sway Bar Bushings are the bushings that are held to the subframe by a U bracket with the bar passing through them. If we use the wrong term at the countrer, we could order the wrong item. This almost happened to me.

[JBMark33]

I replaced the front endlinks, and good thing I did!!

The one broke in half when I jacked it up!

Anyways, my SE did not have a rear sway bar... I am currently trying to find one off an ssei in the junk yard.

The cornering is better than i ever expected.

I still have the endlink set for the rear, I won't return them if i can find a sway bar for the rear.

The missing rear sway bar. Not sure if my SE was supposed to have one or not.







Old endlinks - crap

[willwren]

An SSEi bar in the rear will upset your car's balance. Don't do that unless you upgrade BOTH bars at the same time.