How much difference does sway bars really make?

[blnewto]

Nice to hear (or not hear lol) you found the culprit. Mine oem links w/ aftermarket sways have remained whisper quiet since install last November. Hopefully yours will stay quiet, and you can enjoy those sways!

 

[Volfy]

Honestly, I'm not sure whether the end link had a bit of play since day one (manufacturing tolerance), and it worked fine with the softer OEM sway bar. Or, the added stiffness of the Eibach bar caused more stress on the ball joint and damaged it. I feel the car started making the noise within 100 miles after I install the Eibach bar. Even with extra stiffness, the aftermarket bar shouldn't have caused premature wear so quickly?? Regardless, I'm hoping it's due to the manufacturing tolerance and that it's not a long-term maintenance item. So far, after 300 miles, everything is still good . Will report back if noise returns after putting on more miles...

For those with aftermarket bars, are your end links holding up after some mileage??

We have 2 Stingers and 1 G70 all on aftermarket (Whiteline) anti-roll bars for 2-5yrs now. All 3 are dailies, and all 3 have been tracked extensively, so suspensions were not exactly pampered, and, dare I say, stressed harder than most G70s on this forum. All on OEM end links. None have any problems.

Would they eventually wear out? Of course. But I can just about guarantee you the OEM endlinks with fully enclosed rubber boot seals (with internal greased ball-n-socket joints) will outlast any of the aftermarket adjustable endlink with open DRY Heim joints.