Original Sway Bar Bushing Mount Problem

[P Arkus]

Hey R3v, i'm installing a set of H&R sway bars in my car and having a real tough time getting the front done. It seems that the subframe has a tab that sticks out between the insert slot of the sway bar mount and the bolt that holds the sway bar mount to the subframe. Its the little piece that sticks up in the very top right corner of this photo:

Now my question is what do you do to get the bushing to mount flat on that? Once I put the mount over the bushing on the sway bar and insert the tab, I cant even come close to lining the holes up on the other end of the mount because that part that sticks up prevents the bushing from going flat.

Now it appears I have 2 options:
1) Cut a bit of the bottom portion of the bushing to allow it to sit more flat over that piece.
2) Grind that piece down flat as I do not see what use it has for my application.

Unfortunately I sold my OEM sway bars so I dont even have a point of reference to go back and see how those fit in this scenerio. What do you guys do to get around this issue and has anyone else even had this issue?

I guess a third option is getting the IE sway bar mount kit, but I honesty know nothing about it and am currently trying to research whether this will solve my problem or not.

Thanks in advance!

[CaliDazze]

What sway bar mounts are you using? If stock, youll want to upgrade. If they have a backing plate but its flat you could put a washer between it and the mounting tab(not ideal).

If you look at the IE mounts the backing plate has a raised section on one end to account for the bump in the subframe you pointed out.

When upgrading to larger/stiffer sway bars you'll also want to upgrade the mounts and the mounting tabs on the front subframe AND the rear trailing arms. Especially if they'll encounter spirited drving regularly. The original style mounts are not the strongest design. The mounting tabs on the subframe and trailing arms can/will eventually bend and break off from the extra stiffness of the bars.

I used Garagistic reinforcements for the mounting tabs front and rear and Ireland Engeneering swaybar mounts front and rear.

[P Arkus]

Thanks for the info. I have the Garagistic reinforcements for both the front and rear subframes, and looks like getting the IE mounts is the best way to go with this so i'll probably be ordering up a set of those. The car will definitely be driven spiritedly!

Now when you talk about upgrading the mounting tabs, what exactly are the options for that?

[CaliDazze]

If you already have the reinforcements your golden.

The tabs (for lack of a better word) Im talking about are the stock locations where the sway bars connect to the front subframe and the rear trailing arms. Theyre designed for the wimpy stock sways and are a weak point when you add stiffer swaybars. Garagistic makes weld-on reinfocements for these "tabs". As do other companies Im not sure of off the top of my head.

Subframe:


Trailing arm:

[P Arkus]

Ok perfect. Then in that case I have all that. I thought for a second you might have been talking about these brackets and that there is a way to reinforce them.



Thanks again for your help!