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replaced my sway bar and now the car shakes

littlerobinson75

littlerobinson75

New member
hey guys its been a while. I broke my sway bar hitting a pothole about 2 weeks ago. I put in a dorman i got for $60 and it worked great for a few days. Now my car shakes at highway speed but actually starts to go away after 75mph, I wasnt gonna press my luck and go faster. It makes a funny noise too like there was a high spot on my rotor. The vibrations go away when i brake and it does pull a little to the passenger side when driving, the side I hit the pothole and the bar snapped. I did notice the steering was a little loose as well. I jacked the car up and pulled on the wheel up from the top and bottom and side to side as well and there wasn't any play. I turned the wheel and i couldnt feel any odd catching or wobbling. I took the wheel off and noticed some even wear on the inside of my tire, I'd say about 1/2" wide. I work at a shop and asked some techs and they gave me a wide range of possibilities from out of alignment and out of balance to rebuild the front end. As much as replacing everything would be a fun project, I'd like to have some plan of attack. I noticed that there was some grease on the outside of my tie rod, but that was replaced a year ago. Thanks for the help guys I really appreciate it!
 


it might be hitting your down pipe. i think thats the common problem with changing the front sway
 
Since you work at a shop, I'd start with an alignment since you can probably do it at little cost.
 
Which of the procedures for replacing the sway bar did you use?

Also is it flipped, it may be hitting the downpipe.

Edit: with the pothole you may want to check your strut mounts possibly, and take a really good look at the tire, potholes love to put bubbles in tires that would f up balance.
 
the guys who do the alignments are the same people who managed to destroy several customer cars by not put oil back in doing oil changes, including seizing my buddys mustang gt. Maybe ill just commendeer the machine on saturday when no ones around haha. I'm pretty sure I put the sway bar in the right way, the bar said driverside down on one side. I just fed it through from the driverside and it went into place and i crawled under to make sure it was in the right spot. Ill double check though after work and snag a lift to check it. I think it might be my struts the cars sagging a little to front passenger side. I took a look after i made the post last night and saw there wasnt much space between the strut and tire right over the wear spot, maybe 3/8" and maybe its rubbing. I checked the boots there werent any rips.
 


the tires and struts should be not able to touch at any distance, but maybe check for a broken spring?
 
I'd look for bent lower strut mount to the knuckle, upper strut mount, and spring. Alignment would be the first thing I'd do. Then if that's good I'd have the front tires and wheels balanced. Tie rods and hubs sound fine if there's no play. How old are the rotors?
 
Definitely try the alignment and tire rotation, see if the vibration follows to the back.

Just about 2 months ago I had a really bad vibration, found some really worn tires and the rear was way out of alignment. Alignment and 2 new tires, and it's 100% smooth again.
While they're doing the alignment (Or you) you can also inspect for broken suspension parts.
 
Ill be taking to the tire place for the alignment. one of the techs put it on a lift and told me i had flat spots all over my tires from sitting while i was at school but the bad vibrations started after i broke the bar. he said all of the bearings were fine but didnt check any other part of the suspension. The bar isnt touching the down pipe. My rotors were replaced 2 years ago and dont have many miles on them but ill just replace them i can get rotors for a little over cost at the shop. I gota get new tires, 2 are dry rotting and are covered under the protection warranty i have on them so it wont cost me anything. I did notice my cars sitting lower than it was in december, the tech had a hard time putting it up on the lift yesterday but i had more clearance the time before that on the same lift. thanks for the ideas
 


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