help needed on front sway bar

[canatto]

My 2000 GLS has got a broken front sway bar at its driver side end where it connects with the end link. The lower half of the bar end had a crack and broke off from the bar, but the upper half held up, so the car is still driverable, only that it would give off this sharp and abrupt metallic rubbing noise sometimes when I go over a bump -- that why I crawed under the car and found the cracked bar end.

My local bone yard has a bar from a 2002 Grand Prix, I wonder if that one will fit on our cars. Can someone shed a beam of light on this?

Thanks to member LittleHoof for his/her write-up about replacing the bar.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/t725...placement.html

The broken bar-end looks like this:

[LittleHoov]

Yes the Grand Prix one will fit just fine, Im almost certain theyre the same diameter as well.

You will probably want to get new endlinks as well as new center bushings though, the endlinks are commonly available at most auto parts stores, the center ones may be a dealer only part.

It looks like your area is prone to rust problems, so replacing yours with a used one from likely the same area, that has been sitting for a while, might put you right back in the same situation. The stock ones seem somewhat prone to breaking as well, because you and I arent the only ones who have had this problem.

[canatto]

Thanks a lot LittleHoov!

Yes, we have tough winters here in Ontario Canada and million tons of salt on the road. Clearly salt and cars don't mix well.

Originally Posted by LittleHoov

Yes the Grand Prix one will fit just fine, Im almost certain theyre the same diameter as well.

You will probably want to get new endlinks as well as new center bushings though, the endlinks are commonly available at most auto parts stores, the center ones may be a dealer only part.

It looks like your area is prone to rust problems, so replacing yours with a used one from likely the same area, that has been sitting for a while, might put you right back in the same situation. The stock ones seem somewhat prone to breaking as well, because you and I arent the only ones who have had this problem.

[LittleHoov]

GMPD shows that the Intrigue and Grand Prix use the same diameter bar, I knew it would fit as far as lengthwise and such, but I thought they might be a different diameter, but they arent.

I still say you use this an excuse to buy that kit I linked to in that other post.

[canatto]

The price is pretty good. I'd get that kit if I was in the US. Unfortunately they don't ship to Canada. I'll either get one from local GM or pick up that junk yard GP bar, depending on my decision on keeping this car for long or for short, as my tranny was shot the last weekend and lost OD (my other post about tranny), seems to be needing seriour $ to fix. I may end up driving it in 3-speed and dumping it when I'm financially ready for an alternative in 1/2 to 1 year, or until it dumps me, whichever comes first.

[LittleHoov]

Well unless the bar is really cheap, if youre just going to dump the car anyway, you might just leave it alone.

Being broken like that does put some extra stress on some of the other front suspension components, but its really not dangerous at all, the only time it could be dangerous is if it suddenly snapped while taking a hard corner, because it would throw off the suspension geometry and might send you into another lane or something. I drove mine like that for quite a while before I even realized it, its not a huge danger factor. I just used mine as an excuse to mod

[kmohr3]

Yeah, I don't even think the suspension geometry would change to any noticeable extent. Sway bars are there to lessen body roll. I've driven many cars with broken sway bar links any didn't really notice anything. I'd fix it though, eventually.