Has anyone's front sway bar snapped? Apparently mine just did. Well, I don't know how long it's been that way, but it's a hotchkis, and its somewhat near the right endlink. you'd think something else would snap before the sway bar...

im positive it's installed correctly. anyway. pretty damn weird. and now my car is lopsided.

I'll be removing the rest of the bar today. Here's a shot of the part that was just hanging on the endlink. emailed hotchkis. lets see what the say. i think the bar is just defective.

 

that sucks man and i was gonna buy a hotchkis sway bar too

 

wow. i have heard of sway bars tearing up the frame of a car but not broken sway bars. good luck man. how the hell did it happen???

 

i have no idea! i just noticed it today, hanging off the endlink.

it could only be recent. i think the bar is just defective, as ive never heard of this happening.

soon im going to go through the horrible task yet again of droping that cradle and putting my stock one back in.

nobody's ever heard of this happening. haha

 

You must of took one hell of a turn..

 

Have you been doing any rough driving or anything lately? Was it rubbing previously (like some have reported)? I can't imagine it would just snap for no reason - we'd have a few other reports if it were truly defective, I think.

 

well think of it this way. this bar is supposed to be what, some 70percent stronger than stock? that little control arm that it attaches to on the endlink should have really bent first, considering. but both on both sides are fine. that sort of pressure should be okay, but the bar didn't take it.

i did nothing i havent done before, and nothing insane. i do believe it's defective. no rubbing anywhere else from what i could see when i lifted it.

a stronger swaybar, especially, should be able to handle a turn without breaking. thats its only job.

 

well that was the easiest interaction i ever had.

I talked to Drew Oliver over at Hotchkis, and he's sending a new one right now. Real helpful guy, took care of it right then and there. first time he'd ever heard of this happening too.

i think this bar was just the unlucky bad one in the batch.

 

At least they were cool about it and are sending a replacement. That's pretty good service right there.

 

thats quality right there
at least they aren't charging you for new one

 

it's hard to tell from the pic, but it looks a little like a fatigue fracture, rather than a bend/impact/something else failure. the metal at the break looks different between the two. it is at a bend in the bar, too. but that's just guessing. the hotchkis people want to see it, right? They'll figure out the failure mode.

 

When making springs (or swaybars) The tempering process can sometimes allow hydrogen embrittlement of the steel being tempered. It doesn't happen every day, but it surely does happen sometimes to all springs. My first encounter was years ago while practicing motocross. I cleared the big triple and upon landing one of my fork springs shattered. Felt real sweet on my wrists! Glad to see the company providing good customer service but dropping that subframe again kinda sucks! At least you have experience now!

 

yeah it looks like it's at the bend, but i'll be able to say for sure once i get the rest of the bar out.

they'll be sending me a new bar, and i send back the old one. hopefully they'll have some explanation!

yes they were definitely cool about it :] big thanks to them. though im totally not looking forward to lowing that damn steering cradle and whatnot again. took us 2 days to put that thing back together because some bolts would REFUSE to go back in.

 

also try not to confuse stiffer with stronger. In a flexing peice of material, a stiffer one is being pushed further towards its breaking point.

But I think that a defective part is more than likely the cause here. Especially along the lines of what scott mentioned above. Glad to hear they are taking care of it.

 

ah, yes you are right. ill be at least cutting out the swaybar soon so my car can be level again. i didnt realize it was lopsided at first, and i drove for a bit on it. yeah. im fearing looking under there and finding some bent control arm or something...

 

GOD DAMN..... IF MY ____ BROKE I'LL BE CRYING LIKE A MO FO.... BUT YEA I NEED TO CHECK ON MINES TOO... THANKZ FOR THE HEADS UP....

 

I guess that's what happens when you go driving on two wheels.

j/k That sucks man. Good luck getting it replaced. That just shouldn't happen to a bar like that.

 

i had a toyota corolla with a semi solid rear axle and my hotchkis rear sway snapped . they sent me a replacement with no charge also. as a matter of fact they asked for no proof of purchase or anything.

 

This makes me consider sticking with solid designs, as opposed to hollow implementations, such as that used by Hotchkis.

 

That's what I'm saying. You shouldn't be able to break a strut bar, I don't know why people were jumping all over the poster of this thread about how he must have done something wrong.