Defective H&R Rear Sway bar on e92 335i

FourPtDrift · 09-21-2007, 03:44 AM

Ok, so two weeks ago I thought I was finally wrapping up the installs on my car - KW Variant 3 coilovers, H&R anti-sway bars, Morr VS7 with Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R tires, Procede v1.47 and a front aero lip along with painted corner reflectors.

Everything was coming together PERFECTLY. And then I start noticing over the past week a combination of both a clanging and a rubbing sound... immediately I suspect the bushings on the rear anti-sway bar. So today, I bring the car back to the shop, we put the car in the air... and what do you know? The bar has been impacting the frame! From the stress, the bushings were breaking down and the mounts were being stressed.

The shop I work with is an exceptionally high-end facility, very talented at their work. $100,000 cars are at the LOW end of the spectrum for the guy I work with (today he had in a Carrera GT, a 599, two F430's, 3 997 Turbos... and that's just the short list. Needless to say, the guy is top notch and he knows what he's doing. The install was not the problem, the bar is in fact defective and needs to be replaced. Seems it was never made correctly in the first place. We do suspect some of it could have been exacerbated by the lowered ride height, but the car's height is actually not THAT aggressive - the top of the tires is visible BELOW the edge of the fenders... nothing is "tucked in."

Please looks at the photos. You'll clearly see the point at which the bar impacted and ate into the car's frame. The damage appears to be cosmetic at worst... so I'm not that worried about it... I'm just upset that this has happened and I'm wondering if anyone else has heard about this happening in the past.

Looking forward to your comments...

-Daniel

And here are the pics...

stressdoc · 09-21-2007, 08:13 AM

Ouch!

What was your basis for thinking that the bar was defective?

montreal_bimmer · 09-21-2007, 09:54 AM

you sure its not installed upside down???

happened to a number of other members...

Orb · 09-21-2007, 11:20 AM

If you look at Real OEM website it look s like it upside down. Tabs point up not down

Orb

FourPtDrift · 09-21-2007, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stressdoc

Ouch!

What was your basis for thinking that the bar was defective?

Curvature appears to be off.

-Daniel

FourPtDrift · 09-21-2007, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

you sure its not installed upside down???

happened to a number of other members...

I presented this as a theory to the shop owner... even showed him the link plus photos on this site that showed how this had happened before to others... however he pointed something out that was absolutely right. The other thread in this forum that talks about something similar is on the FRONT bar... and it is possible for it to be mounted upside down. This is the REAR bar... and it won't go in the other way. So, no, it is NOT upside down.

-Daniel

FourPtDrift · 09-21-2007, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orb

If you look at Real OEM website it look s like it upside down. Tabs point up not down

Orb

This is the rear bar, not the front bar... it is mounted correctly.

-Daniel

ohsnap · 09-21-2007, 04:00 PM

No clue which is the right way but I can see what people are saying from the diagram off realoem.com. Did you contact H&R? Hope you get that resolved.

Soni · 09-21-2007, 08:08 PM

please let us know what you found!!

TRZ06 · 09-22-2007, 03:00 PM

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I am the one that had the front bar installed upside down. I have not had any issue with my rear though and I don't know of the rear could be installed upside down.

Keep in mind that although it may not seem possible to have it installed upside down, do not rule that out until you see a diagram from H&R. My installer thought there was no way the front could be installed upside down either, but guess what, it was.

What is really sad is how often this is happening. It seems as though doing swar bar installs are stumping a few installers out there, and really if you take your time and actually READ the instructions, this would not happen.

I never had any issues with adding sways to my S4, but then again, I had an Audi dealer do it for me. BMW however won't touch anything aftermarket, at least not any dealers that I how found, unless it is something Dinan related by a dealer with a Dinan tech.

I would have gladly paid more to have my stuff installed at the dealer level.

Good luck and please keep us informed of what happened.

In my case, the bad install is costing my installer a good deal of money, he is replacing, both front coilovers, front sway bar, bushings, top hats, both end-links, and a re-alignment.

I feel bad for him actually, because my installer (also the owner of the shop) did the whole install (and is very compentent) with the exception of the front bar, which an employee did, and that turned out to be a mistake.

LateralG · 09-24-2007, 11:03 AM

well.. find another car with the stock sway bar.. and see if they sit the same..

you should hear noises if your sway bar is making contacts of your car.

kevE90 · 10-09-2007, 02:38 AM

I realize this is an old thread. Did the OP ever figure things out?

I kept up with TRZ06 front sway problem from beginning to end.

If you look under your cars or look at some suspension photos posted on this board it's obvious FourPtDrift rear bars are installed upside down.

Front sway bar - tabs point down.
Rear sway bar - tabs point up.

09-21-2007, 03:44 AM	#1
FourPtDrift This is my unique custom title 267 Rep 698 Posts Drives: '21 F90 M5C, '20 F83 M4C Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Milpitas, CA iTrader: (0)	Defective H&R Rear Sway bar on e92 335i - frame impact! Ok, so two weeks ago I thought I was finally wrapping up the installs on my car - KW Variant 3 coilovers, H&R anti-sway bars, Morr VS7 with Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R tires, Procede v1.47 and a front aero lip along with painted corner reflectors. Everything was coming together PERFECTLY. And then I start noticing over the past week a combination of both a clanging and a rubbing sound... immediately I suspect the bushings on the rear anti-sway bar. So today, I bring the car back to the shop, we put the car in the air... and what do you know? The bar has been impacting the frame! From the stress, the bushings were breaking down and the mounts were being stressed. The shop I work with is an exceptionally high-end facility, very talented at their work. $100,000 cars are at the LOW end of the spectrum for the guy I work with (today he had in a Carrera GT, a 599, two F430's, 3 997 Turbos... and that's just the short list. Needless to say, the guy is top notch and he knows what he's doing. The install was not the problem, the bar is in fact defective and needs to be replaced. Seems it was never made correctly in the first place. We do suspect some of it could have been exacerbated by the lowered ride height, but the car's height is actually not THAT aggressive - the top of the tires is visible BELOW the edge of the fenders... nothing is "tucked in." Please looks at the photos. You'll clearly see the point at which the bar impacted and ate into the car's frame. The damage appears to be cosmetic at worst... so I'm not that worried about it... I'm just upset that this has happened and I'm wondering if anyone else has heard about this happening in the past. Looking forward to your comments... -Daniel And here are the pics... Attached Images
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09-21-2007, 08:13 AM	#2
stressdoc Moderator 618 Rep 10,855 Posts Drives: BMW i8; Toy 4runner TRD pro Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Waco TX iTrader: (0)	Ouch! What was your basis for thinking that the bar was defective? __________________ My recent ED photos: http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1026808 my not-so-recent ED: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31829 Please join BMWCCA http://bmwcca.org/index.php?pageid=c...&ref_by=300279
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09-21-2007, 09:54 AM	#3
montreal_bimmer OEMconcept 174 Rep 5,593 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Canada \| USA iTrader: (6) Garage List 2006 325i [10.00]	you sure its not installed upside down??? happened to a number of other members...
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09-21-2007, 11:20 AM	#4
Orb Lieutenant Colonel 111 Rep 1,764 Posts Drives: 335 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Canada iTrader: (1)	If you look at Real OEM website it look s like it upside down. Tabs point up not down Orb
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09-21-2007, 04:00 PM	#8
ohsnap Lieutenant 26 Rep 582 Posts Drives: 08 E90 AW 335i 6MT Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Seattle iTrader: (6) Garage List 2008 E90 335i [0.00]	No clue which is the right way but I can see what people are saying from the diagram off realoem.com. Did you contact H&R? Hope you get that resolved. Attached Images
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09-21-2007, 08:08 PM	#9
Soni Major General 219 Rep 8,375 Posts Drives: Just a car Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: CANADA eh! iTrader: (35) Garage List 2007 335i Coupe [9.00]	please let us know what you found!!
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09-22-2007, 03:00 PM	#10
TRZ06 Lieutenant Colonel 629 Rep 1,753 Posts Drives: 16' M3 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA iTrader: (0)	Sorry to hear about your troubles. I am the one that had the front bar installed upside down. I have not had any issue with my rear though and I don't know of the rear could be installed upside down. Keep in mind that although it may not seem possible to have it installed upside down, do not rule that out until you see a diagram from H&R. My installer thought there was no way the front could be installed upside down either, but guess what, it was. What is really sad is how often this is happening. It seems as though doing swar bar installs are stumping a few installers out there, and really if you take your time and actually READ the instructions, this would not happen. I never had any issues with adding sways to my S4, but then again, I had an Audi dealer do it for me. BMW however won't touch anything aftermarket, at least not any dealers that I how found, unless it is something Dinan related by a dealer with a Dinan tech. I would have gladly paid more to have my stuff installed at the dealer level. Good luck and please keep us informed of what happened. In my case, the bad install is costing my installer a good deal of money, he is replacing, both front coilovers, front sway bar, bushings, top hats, both end-links, and a re-alignment. I feel bad for him actually, because my installer (also the owner of the shop) did the whole install (and is very compentent) with the exception of the front bar, which an employee did, and that turned out to be a mistake. __________________ 18? Camaro 2SS 1LE 16' M3 MG Ext. /SO Int. (DCT, Ohlin R/T, 19" wheels) 15' Audi S4 13' Audi TTRS (APR stage 1, MSS springs) 09' C6 Z06 08' M3 Interlagos Blue: 6sp, Tech.
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09-24-2007, 11:03 AM	#11
LateralG First Lieutenant 11 Rep 324 Posts Drives: M54E46 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Shanghai iTrader: (0)	well.. find another car with the stock sway bar.. and see if they sit the same.. you should hear noises if your sway bar is making contacts of your car.
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10-09-2007, 02:38 AM	#12
kevE90 Lieutenant 21 Rep 574 Posts Drives: F8x Join Date: May 2006 Location: queens, ny iTrader: (0)	I realize this is an old thread. Did the OP ever figure things out? I kept up with TRZ06 front sway problem from beginning to end. If you look under your cars or look at some suspension photos posted on this board it's obvious FourPtDrift rear bars are installed upside down. Front sway bar - tabs point down. Rear sway bar - tabs point up.
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