Took the tc out autocrossing today and look what happened. Mysteriously the big strong hotchkis front bar is weaker than the stock end links hmm...



as you can imagine the tc was extremely tail happy. I have a video i may post later too.

 

I've seen pictures of broken front hotchkis bars before. It happens, the last time it happened the guy got in contact of hotchkis and they replaced it.

 

Is yours one of the early ones with no stoppers to keep it in place?

All of the newer ones (in the last couple years) have rings next to the bushings to hold it in the right place. I think the early ones without those rings moved around a lot and could sometimes do this...

Mine is one of the early ones and has been OK so far.

 

that looks very sad lol... poor sway bar

 

it did have the rings, but it didnt stop them from sliding in the bushing.

that would be good if they will replace it, im for sure giving them a call tomorrow.

 

Ya, they were cool about replacing my rusted, broken springs... so they better replace the sway bar.

 

when they replaced your springs had you sent in your warranty card?

 

Don't think so. Just emailed them with pics.

 

good deal, i will get on that asap

 

update: I contacted hotchkis today, and they promptly responded that they will warranty it! whoohoo! Great company and great service, definitely recommend them.

 

Good to hear. Did you pinpoint the moment of failure, or did that run not get filmed?

 

i went back and looked at some video i had, and it looks like it was definitely weak the last time I had it out too, and probably broke all the way the last day. earlier in the season it rode extremely flat and progressively turned into the floating front end i can see in my last video. I think it snapped on my first slalom right out of the box, because it spun violently and without any warning.

 

Just for future reference, Eibach just came out with front and rear sway bars for the TC that seem to be a little bit higher quality. I think Dezod is selling them. I've already got the TRD rear sway, but Im gonna get the Eibach front sway and Dezod endlinks soon.