Two weeks ago we had one of our performance shops install a new heavier sway bar on Our van. While at the shop I informed the techs that they needed to use teflon tape on the bar itself and non-petroleum grease on the poly bushing. Sadly, the shop ignored my instrudtions and installed the sway bar without doing any of these things. driving off the lot, I keep hearing squeaks and knocks come from under the van. I returned to the shop and told the shop manger that his techs did not follow my instrutuions. The van was pulled back into the shop where the techs claimed everything was taken care of and again while driving away, the van continued to squeak and knock.
Fortunately we reserviced a second performance shop to correct the first shops mistakes. Again telling the techs they need to Teflon tape the area of the sway bar where the poly bushing was to make contact. Plus add in the Non-petroleum grease in and around the poly bushing. Driving away from the second reserved shop, there wasn’t any squeaking or knocking coming from the newly added sway bar.
So next time you’re installing a new sway bar, wrap several layers of the Teflon tape around the area where the poly bushing is to be installed. Starting at the lateral rings on the sway bar and moving out towards the bends in the bar. If your sway bar does not have a lateral ring designed on the bar, use a lateral lock that’s designed for your sway bar. Temp install the sway bar and mark the inner edge of the bushing on the sway bar. Extract the sway bar and install the lateral locks on the inner side of the marks area of the sway bar. Then wrap the Teflon tape from the outer edge of the mounted lateral lock out towards the curver of the bar.
Next get your hands dirty and grease the poly bushing as they will need grease in and around all areas of the bushing. Some bushing have grease lock zones or pockets that hold and release grease when needed. While some bushing hardware utilizes zerks on the hardware to grease the bushings at regular intervals. The poly bushing will need to be greased every 60,000–100,000 miles for longevity. If the Bushing have been damaged or torn, they will need to be replaced and inspect the mounting bracket for sharp edges that could have caused the bushing damage.
