How long are your sway bar links lasting?

[Henn28]

I’m once again getting a low speed clunking over poor roads, which I’m sure enough is my right front sway bar link that I ordered both sides without troubleshooting. It’s only been 2 years, and maybe 1.5 years since I replaced them previously, which seems terrible even by New Orleans street standards. They do get a little farm road and corn field work during hunting season, but nothing too bad. What are other’s experience with these things?

Fortunately they are cheap and a pretty quick job. I think the ones in the car right now are Lemforder, perhaps…not BMW. I sprung for BMW links this time to see if they last longer.

[Effduration]

Take a look at your sway Bar bushings and where they sit on the subframe, and the sway bar itself where it goes thru the bushing.

In my case, the salty roads of New England caused the area the bushing sits on to rust away...its not very solid to begin with AND the sway bar itself rusted away inside the sway bar bushing to the point it no longer fit snugly in the bushing... Please have a look.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Effduration

Take a look at your sway Bar bushings and where they sit on the subframe, and the sway bar itself where it goes thru the bushing.

In my case, the salty roads of New England caused the area the bushing sits on to rust away...its not very solid to begin with AND the sway bar itself rusted away inside the sway bar bushing to the point it no longer fit snugly in the bushing... Please have a look.

Will definitely check that out. Thanks.

[Factory6speed]

I did the super pro adjustable end links last year, when I did the oil pan etc., the original ones were shot. I was supposed to lower the car about a month later, but that still hasn't happened. I did put some fogging oil on the threads so I think they will still move whenever I do lower the car.

Sadly only after a year, one winter, the boots are already showing signs of cracking. Not all the way through yet, but I expected the boots to look nearly new, and they look, you know, five years old. Already.

One nice thing about the aftermarket end links is you can fit a normal 17 mm wrench on the counter hold, it was the same with the febi end links I put on the E36. The OEM ones I had to sacrifice an old craftsman 16mm wrench to the angle grinder to remove.

When I lowered the f30, even after a good alignment there was a bit of a shimmy, due to preload on the sway bar. The adjustable end links you can feel the preload go away as you move it up or down, it's pretty neat. I also had a shimmy after not torquing the sway bar on the E36 with both wheels on the ground. I think it's a sensitive important thing for drivability and often gets overlooked.

I also had a ton of rust on the bushings as said, did my best to clean everything up and repaint the subframe, but for some reason I don't understand now, I didn't replace the bushings. I probably will next time.

[EODguy]

Sway bar links or anything suspension and using "lasting" doesn't apply for me. Over here is MAX 2.5 years for total suspension but sway bar links go anywhere from 15 to 24 months.

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