awdinut

what difference did you notice ? What dia is stock bar ? Do you happen to know if 4.2 and 6.0 cars have the same sway bar ?

MP4.2+6.0

Answer is a bit nuanced for W12. 4.2 can be either non-sport (as many are) or sport. Those use different strut part numbers as well as different bars front and rear. W12 uses the non-sport air struts but the sport bars--I know first person from checking part #'s on mine. Nonetheless, for fronts, I think the outer bar diameters are the same, if your question is really will the bushings fit in front. Front bars are hollow, so tubing thickness is how stiffness varies, including on the S8--yet stiffer. Rear bars are solid and do vary in diameter depending on which level it is.

Tstealth32

With the recent cold snap, did you hear any noise from the sway bar bushings?

aebarto11

No issues yet. I was just under the car a couple weeks back and got a good look at the bushings (I posted some updated pics a couple posts back.). No signs of premature wear and holding up great.

Tstealth32

Great. Ill purchase and let everyone know the results also.

PaulW

Thanks for posting this....I will be doing the same upgrade while doing my upper control arms.

PaulW

Got my bushings from Rock Auto today...came in the Moog box, part number K201023, open the box and there is a Febi bag inside, made in Spain, Febi part number 10023. Search that part number and you'll find a lot of ebay ads for the European ebay sites.

aebarto11

FYI - I installed the bushings with the seam on top. I played around with it both ways trying to figure out the best way (neither way seemed like an exact fit.) I was worried about movement since it didn't seem like they seated 100%. I convinced myself that all was good when I took the bar loose from both links and checked for any play in the bushings moving the bar around with the brackets fully tightened. When I went back to check them recently, they were completely seated. Although I included instructions in earlier posts, feel free to experiment further. I used graphite on the inside of the bushings, but I'm not sure if its really needed or not. Hopefully you have the same success I did!

90SQ

NICE!!! Just ordered mine from RockAuto, good to see they are actualy OEM, Thanks for that!

PaulW

So here is my experience with the sway bar bushing replacement project.

First off, I just replaced my upper control arms, and because I was not doing that job in my garage due to the weather, I did not have the triple square tool to remove the sway bar bushings. Visually everything looked good, so I left it. I replaced the sway bar bushing to control arm links with the upper control arm bushings. Once I start driving my car, I was hearing a squeaking after a few days (it was 5 degrees F or so for a week in Chicago during this time), mostly when going OVER a bump (think a heave in the road) and during the compression of the suspension going up the bump, it would make the noise, it was a sound like two very cold piece of plastic rubbing together, not a real squeak. It was from the right hand side of the car.

I ended up trying a few things, thinking my control arms were not in the correct position before torquing them down, but they were. Then a few days ago I remove the sway bar link on the right hand side, drove the car around, didn't make the noise, then I re-installed and put a pre-load on the front suspension before torquing the link bolts down. Then the "squeak" went to mostly on the left side, and a little on the right side.

Okay, enough is enough, change the sway bar bushings. They were separated. The new bushings look different from the old ones. I have a S8. You can see the original one is a rectangle that fits into a rectangle opening and the new one sitting on the ground isn't exactly like it, almost more round.



To remove the bonded rubber from the clamp, I just put it in a vise and heated the back side with a MAPP torch. After about 60 seconds, you can use a pair of pliers and screwdriver and just pull 99% of the rubber out. Then I applied the MAPP torch to the clamp side where the residual rubber was left, and just burned it out for about 30 seconds and hit it with a small metal brush. No more rubber.

Did basically the same thing with the residual rubber on the sway bar with the torch, don't do it too long because you'll remove paint also. Here it what it looked like before removing the rubber.



Then reading this thread above, I mounted the bushing with the split in it TOWARDS THE TOP, i.e. pointing up at the sub frame. Buttoned everything up and went for a test drive.

Guess what? No more squeaking! BUT WAIT, I started getting a metal-to-metal clunk every time I went over a bump or manhole cover. What is going on?

So tonight I took it back apart and looked at it. Nothing was obvious, everything was tight, but looking at the rubber bushing, I figured it wasn't pointing directly up and the sway bar was hitting the sub frame at the split. So I measured it. Remember, I have a S8.

Outside Diameter of Sway Bar at Bushing Location: 1.230" (31.2 MM)

Inside Diameter of Rubber Bushing: 1.100" (27.9 MM)

Difference in Dimensions: 0.120" (3 MM)

Here are the three different sway bars available:



So if that is the actual approximate OD of the sway bar, the rubber bushing is not going to have a tight fit around any of them. Maybe aebarto11 has a 4.2 with a 30.3 MM bar....going to be a much better fit as compared to the S8 31.4 MM fit.

So I decided to put the bushing with the split facing down so that the sway bar could not have a metal-to-metal contact, or so I think, see how big the gap is?



I got it in place (I used anti-seize on it, that's the grey stuff in the pictures), tightened it up, made sure the spacing of each end of the rubber was equidistant on the side of the clamp, had to adjust it a few times, used a screwdriver to push/pull it into place. Then loosen it a bit and do the other side, repeat the centering of it. I had the sway bar links attached when doing this, but just loosely.

Then I tightened and torqued everything up and put the car back down. This is what it looked like at the end, big spacing on the rubber bushing on the large S8 bar:





Took it for a test drive and guess what? IT'S FRICKING PERFECT!!!

I don't think my car has ever gone over bumps like it does now. I believe once I replaced the sway bar connecting links when doing the control arm bushings, it just stressed the rubber sway bar bushing joints and created the squeaking I never had before. It's now gone, went over my "test track" and it's perfect.

My car really tracks perfect (it was really, really good before), I can't believe how good it is now.

If these bushings don't last, I'll just buy a replacement sway bar. But for now, I'm happy and everything including the control arm bushings and the press was about $250. That's a steal.