Comptech Sway Bar Question
 

I know there are only a few of the adjustable swaybars out there but can anyone tell me if they have encountered any "creaking" when the bar is set to full stiff???

So far I have had the bar on for almost two months and the first time I set it to the fifth position it developed a nasty creak after two days.

I removed the sway bar, reinstalled teflon tape and added lithium grease to try and quiet it down. Still made this aweful creaking noise at all speeds. The only thing that eliminated the noise was removing the adjustment bolt and setting it to the third position. Endlinks are fine and the car only has 1,500 miles on it.

If anyone has the bar on #5 with no problems please let me know. This is difficult because most of us won't drive the car around with the bar that stiff.

Thanks for your help.

Why would you want to "drive around" with the bar on full stiff? I can maybe see using that setting for certain auto-x's, but just driving around?

It wouldn't suprise me if it were an endlink problem. IMHO, the stock end-links are just not up to the task of handling the comptech bar.

Mikey,

I set it at 5 for an autocross on a crappy day and was too lazy to switch it back. If you haven't noticed #5 position is very difficult to get at. Since it's not a daily driver I figured I could make it until the next event.

I've only ever had the bar on full stiff, and despite rabid application of teflon tape mine creaks a bit as well. But mostly over bumps and driveway entrances taken at an angle - no high speed noises. When it does creak, frankly I can't tell if it's the bar or the frame of the car that's creaking - at some point the chassis becomes the weakest link. It didn't seem to get any worse with bolts at both ends... :eek: - long story

I've also got a bad but infrequent low-speed "clunk" in the left front - can't tell if it's the shock or maybe stiction in the endlink. Fortunately nothing's broken yet...

I've not used the bar full stiff yet. But I have another concern that I hope may be easily resolved. It is very difficult to remove and insert the adjustment bolt! I have to extract it with a punch and then hammer it into the new position - very awkward to do from above. Any thoughts on this?

I make the adjustments from under the car. Unfortunately my arms aren't long enough or skinny enough to reach the bolt. In my garage I have a couple of 2 x 6 boards that I drive up on. If the bar is even slightly tweaked the bolt is difficult to remove. I also used a punch and a hammer to change from #3 to #5. Yesterday I had the car up on the lift and the bolt came out easily. Go figure.

Maybe someone will come up with an easier way to adjust the bolt.

-Derek

I've had the same problem and found that if I jack the right side of the car up bout an 1/8th of an inch it relieves the bind on the bolt and it slides in and out easily.

Another perspective - I jack the car up by the front jacking point (cross-member by the oil pan) and have no problem moving the bolt. I can certainly see how a bit of a chassis tweak could cause a bit of loading and twist the bar...