[skim7x]

So I've got front and rear UUC sway bars attached to KWv2 coilovers right now.... minimum drop in the back and about 1/4" drop in the front (from full height of the KWv2's... not from stock height).

I was driving home yesterday on a VERY bumpy road (due to construction) and I heard a loud "THUD" from my front suspension... my ABS, Brake, and Airbag lights all went off and I pulled over to see what had happened.

SOMEHOW, my front sway bar flipped UP, swinging the endlink forward with it, which severed my ABS sensor on the driver's side.



I've never ever ever heard of this happening and I actually have no idea how it could have happened!! Any ideas??

[TSM330i]

WTF

[Mr. 5]

It looks like the end link wasn't tightened properly.

[Ron@Modbargains]

wow.. messed up. I think just like Mr. 5 - endlinks weren't tightened right.

[ADHD]

All I ever hear about these sways is Problems!!

Good luck on that one!!

[skim7x]

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

It looks like the end link wasn't tightened properly.

Originally Posted by Ron************

wow.. messed up. I think just like Mr. 5 - endlinks weren't tightened right.

hmm... interesting... but even then how would loose endlinks cause this... why would the sway bar just flip up all of a sudden...

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by skim7x

hmm... interesting... but even then how would loose endlinks cause this... why would the sway bar just flip up all of a sudden...

Look at the picture and just imagine what would happen if the end links were loose while your front bottomed out.
The suspension compresses and instead of the end links staying fixed since they are tight, they pus agains the sway bar.
The sway bar needs to give somehow so it flips around to adjust quickly for more room.

This is what I think.
Either the end links were installed improperly or nothing was tightened up.

[skim7x]

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

Look at the picture and just imagine what would happen if the end links were loose while your front bottomed out.
The suspension compresses and instead of the end links staying fixed since they are tight, they pus agains the sway bar.
The sway bar needs to give somehow so it flips around to adjust quickly for more room.

This is what I think.
Either the end links were installed improperly or nothing was tightened up.

But even when the suspension compresses, the distance from the sway bar to the strut tabs will always remain the same... there should be no vertical force transmitted through the endlink between the sway bar and strut. The only thing compressing should be the spring.

The only other explanation I can think of, though, is that the car DID bottom out and something hit the sway bar causing it to rotate up??

I really have no idea... before this happened, I wouldn't have even thought it was physically possible...

[Rich V]

Bumping an old thread...

Had the same thing happen on my 335d this weekend. Everything was indeed tight, no installation error.

After closer examination, it looks like you are also running the bar in the fully stiff adjustment range. I think the angle placed on the sway bar links with the bar in full stiff actually has poor geometry that causes problems throughout the suspension articulation...

[skim7x]

Originally Posted by Rich V

Bumping an old thread...

Had the same thing happen on my 335d this weekend. Everything was indeed tight, no installation error.

After closer examination, it looks like you are also running the bar in the fully stiff adjustment range. I think the angle placed on the sway bar links with the bar in full stiff actually has poor geometry that causes problems throughout the suspension articulation...

I concur. I moved the endlinks to a softer setting and have not had any problems since! I believe the only difference between this version (V1) and the newer versions (V2) is that they removed the softer setting holes (probably due to this problem)... great sway bar... stiffest I've tried yet!