Ride along and hear what a broken sway bar link sounds like.
Broken front sway bar links.
A sway or stabilizer bar prevents the car body from leaning too much and keeps the vehicle stable when driving in turns.
The stabilizer bar links are supposed to fit incredibly snugly without any play or movement except between rubber bushings.
One of these is the sway bar.
If you notice that they are loose or have any play they need to be replaced.
If you suspect that a sway bar is broken you can still drive the car but you must use caution.
It will feel looser particularly when driving at high speeds.
This video will help you match your noise to bad sway bar parts.
The sway bar itself almost never gets damaged it is the sway bar bushings and sway bar links that wear quite often.
When the links are worn out the sway bar will begin to make these sounds especially when you re driving around corners or over a speed bump.
The sway bar anti roll bar and the stabilizer bar are one and the same thing.
Quick tutorial on diagnosis.
A sway bar also known as an anti roll bar is a simple yet crucial device that reduces the amount of body roll or lean that a vehicle experiences during cornering.
Some cars have only one sway bar in the front suspension.
Depending on the vehicle you re driving you may have a front or a rear sway bar or you may have both.
If a front sway bar is broken then you ll experience significant differences in how the car handles steers.
When to replace sway bar links.
The sway bar is a thin tubular piece of metal bolted to the suspension on each side of the car either at the front or the back and often both.
Most of the cars have one sway bar in the front and another separate sway bar in the rear suspension.
A sway bar also known as a stabilizer bar anti roll bar anti sway bar is used to keep the car body from leaning excessively to the side.
When you hear these types of noises coming from the front end of your vehicle.
They provide the car with balance and stability while it is being turned or cornered.