Sway Bar Advice

[JIMBOBX4]

Recently I replaced the tires on my 2000 Ford Taurus Sedan. The shop also convinced me to put on new rear spring/struts (quick struts). Driving from the shop, I heard a lot of clunking coming from the rear. I turned the car around and drove back in thinking there was something wrong with the new struts. They said it was the sway bar and no one carries them anymore. They showed me the sway bar had two frame attachment "tabs" that were originally coated with some type of black plastic. On one of the tabs the plastic is gone and that is what is now causing the noise. There is a difference of opinion on what to do next so i would like some advice-
1) One mechanic says just leave the sway bar off since the car is mainly local driving
2) The other one (same shop) says to replace the sway bar bushings

Anybody suggestions?

[shorod]

I can think of a couple of scenarios panning out here.

For safety and liability reasons, I could see you or the shop deciding the best thing to do is to replace the bushings. You might have that done since bushings are probably around $40 for a set (if you buy them through the repair shop) and generally pretty easy to replace. That might fix the noise and I wouldn't be all that surprised. But it may also no fix the noise, at which time the shop will tell you it's probably the end links. The end links will be more expensive, maybe around $120 for a set through the repair shop. They'll be a bit more challenging to replace and might even require some cutting to get the old ones off. Afterwards the noise may be gone (again, wouldn't surprise me), but if the noise is still there, then you're back to it being something directly related to the new quick struts that were installed, such as a bad mounting plate, a spring that's not seated properly, or some hardware that was left loose.

If the end links and bushing mounts are not really rusty and appear as if they will loosen up just fine, I'd be inclined to have the shop temporarily remove the anti-sway bar and end links to confirm the noise goes away. This would pretty much rule out the quick struts as the source and indicate the noise is related to the anti-sway bar. I'd then suggest starting with new bushings and have the assembly re-installed with the new bushings.

-Rod

[JIMBOBX4]

Rod -
Thanks for the excellent response. I went ahead and just replaced the busings and it seemed to do the trick. Thanks again.