Aftermarket Swaybar noise...........

SAGE · 26-11-2011, 07:24 AM

I had a Racing Beat Swaybar kit installed about a month ago. The mech were hopeless. Despite explaining to them this kit has been installed on thousands of P5's before this one, they were convinced it would cause problems e.t.c. Eventually they retracted the story.... saying "oh no its all fine"

This was after they first tried to pass it off with a bunch of knocks...

The knocks were finally ironed out. But what remains now is a "creeking" noise when turning left corners.

The creeking sounds as if something has been turned too tight, or is absent of lube......

Kind of sound you would hear when pressure is being put on something metal. (like a ship creeking!)

Anyway it sounds ****ing awful, and makes it feel like the entire chassis is under too much stress from the kit?!.

Anyone know or have had simuliar experience with creeking swaybars?

marcs_sp20 · 26-11-2011, 08:03 AM

Untighten the bolts holding the sway bar to the sub ftame (not all the way) and grease up the rubber mounts

project.r.racing · 26-11-2011, 09:03 AM

Or something could be slightly loose. As Marc said, pop your head under that car and have a look at the bush bracket bolts, and including the links.

The links have a greased up ball on each end. Sometimes with the added pressure of a stiffer sway bar added, a worn one will be noticable.

SAGE · 26-11-2011, 10:04 AM

Sounds like good advice , might do this today

Sleepy Gonzalez · 26-11-2011, 03:14 PM

My bushes started creaking a bit. Some fresh grease fixed that.

Worn endlinks can cause a rattling or knocking noise over bumps. If that ever happens, get under the car and bang the ends of the sway bar with your hand to confirm which joint. When the link is removed, a bad ball joint will be easy to move by hand (unless it is seized). A good one should be a bit stiff and hold up the weight of the link.

TheMAN · 26-11-2011, 05:00 PM

"racing beat sway bar kit"... was this a brand new Mazdaspeed kit? To correct some misinformation, Racing Beat themselves never manufactured or sold any sway bars for the protege

anyway, if you did use a brand new kit, I presume you weren't aware that the kit came with the older, defective bushes? When I bought my MSP sway bar kit, I immediately replaced the bushes with the newest ones and I haven't really have any problems since then... I also used urethane bush grease on the bushes even though it is not required.... it has held up fine so far... only the front drop links have been making noise, but that's only because I'm using the BJ1 links due to my JDM mazdaspeed stuts... oh and the nuts that fasten onto the drop links were the older style ones that came with the MSP sway bar kit... I also replaced them with updated self locking ones from Mazda... the older ones were not self locking

please read these relevant information:
http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/mt000004282.html
http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/mt000003706.html
http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/02-003-03.html

26-11-2011, 07:24 AM	#1
SAGE Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Sun Coast Car: 03 BJ II 323 Posts: 126	Aftermarket Swaybar noise........... I had a Racing Beat Swaybar kit installed about a month ago. The mech were hopeless. Despite explaining to them this kit has been installed on thousands of P5's before this one, they were convinced it would cause problems e.t.c. Eventually they retracted the story.... saying "oh no its all fine" This was after they first tried to pass it off with a bunch of knocks... The knocks were finally ironed out. But what remains now is a "creeking" noise when turning left corners. The creeking sounds as if something has been turned too tight, or is absent of lube...... Kind of sound you would hear when pressure is being put on something metal. (like a ship creeking!) Anyway it sounds ****ing awful, and makes it feel like the entire chassis is under too much stress from the kit?!. Anyone know or have had simuliar experience with creeking swaybars?

26-11-2011, 08:03 AM	#2
marcs_sp20 Moderator Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Ipswich, Queensland Car: 2002 Mazda Astina SP20 2006 Mazda 6 GY Wagon Posts: 9,769 View Photos By: marcs_sp20	Untighten the bolts holding the sway bar to the sub ftame (not all the way) and grease up the rubber mounts __________________

26-11-2011, 03:14 PM	#5
Sleepy Gonzalez AstinaGT Regular Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Australia Car: 2002 Mazda 323 Astina 2.5 V6 manual Posts: 324 View Photos By: Sleepy Gonzalez	My bushes started creaking a bit. Some fresh grease fixed that. Worn endlinks can cause a rattling or knocking noise over bumps. If that ever happens, get under the car and bang the ends of the sway bar with your hand to confirm which joint. When the link is removed, a bad ball joint will be easy to move by hand (unless it is seized). A good one should be a bit stiff and hold up the weight of the link. __________________ 2002 Mazda 323 Astina 2.5 V6 manual. KL-ZE 2.5 V6 with stock intake, stock headers, Magnaflow cat, custom midpipe with extra 12inch hotdog, Racing Beat catback. BC Racing coilover kit, Mazdaspeed 25mm front stabiliser, Progress 22mm rear stabiliser, GTSpec front and rear strut tower braces. Enkei RPF1 15x7, Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 205/50 R15, RDA slotted rotors, HPX pads. SOLD

26-11-2011, 05:00 PM	#6
TheMAN Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: USA Car: . Posts: 2,623	"racing beat sway bar kit"... was this a brand new Mazdaspeed kit? To correct some misinformation, Racing Beat themselves never manufactured or sold any sway bars for the protege anyway, if you did use a brand new kit, I presume you weren't aware that the kit came with the older, defective bushes? When I bought my MSP sway bar kit, I immediately replaced the bushes with the newest ones and I haven't really have any problems since then... I also used urethane bush grease on the bushes even though it is not required.... it has held up fine so far... only the front drop links have been making noise, but that's only because I'm using the BJ1 links due to my JDM mazdaspeed stuts... oh and the nuts that fasten onto the drop links were the older style ones that came with the MSP sway bar kit... I also replaced them with updated self locking ones from Mazda... the older ones were not self locking please read these relevant information: http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/mt000004282.html http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/mt000003706.html http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/02-003-03.html __________________ Protege FAQ, the best 323/Protege/Mazda3 resource enjoyed worldwide for 10 years

26-11-2011, 09:03 AM	#3
project.r.racing Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: n/a Car: n/a Posts: 10,929	Or something could be slightly loose. As Marc said, pop your head under that car and have a look at the bush bracket bolts, and including the links. The links have a greased up ball on each end. Sometimes with the added pressure of a stiffer sway bar added, a worn one will be noticable.

26-11-2011, 10:04 AM	#4
SAGE Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Sun Coast Car: 03 BJ II 323 Posts: 126	Sounds like good advice , might do this today