Sway Bar Fix

[denguy]

My sway bar is rusted away some under the two rubber frame mounts. Is there a way to fix this?

[crazyrog17]

Sway Bar Fix

Remove, wire wheel, sand, paint with a durable finish, install new greaseable sway bar mounts

[Dave G]

A "sway bar" was an entirely optional spring thingie put on the rear axle of big honking cars in the 70's to try to keep them from riding like over-loaded boats. The thing you're talking about on the Festiva is entirely different; it's the trailing link that handles all the fore & aft thrust generated by the engine and the front brakes, and keeps the front wheels in place. A little corrosion is OK, and I agree with Zack's fix in that case. But if it's badly damaged (much thinner than it ought to be) replace it with a good one.

[blkfordsedan]

Are you talking about the sway bar itself being rusty? If so, that's no big deal...it's solid core steel. If you're talking about the lower radiator support being rusted out, that's different.

[Bert]

I have a hard time imagining a solid piece of steel 7/8" thick rotting out.

[denguy]

It's rusting to where it is down to about 3/4" from 7/8". Makes it loose in the new bushings.

[MasterTec]

You could always clean it all up, weld onto it and then grind it down to the original diameter. Then paint it all up!

Or you could wrap a bunch of tape around it to tighten its fit although that would be a temporary fix.

[crazyrog17]

Junkyard an option?

[Tommychu]

You could always clean it all up, weld onto it and then grind it down to the original diameter. Then paint it all up!

Welding to spring steel at two of its four critical loading points? That's a great idea.

Edit:

A "sway bar" was an entirely optional spring thingie put on the rear axle of big honking cars in the 70's to try to keep them from riding like over-loaded boats. The thing you're talking about on the Festiva is entirely different; it's the trailing link that handles all the fore & aft thrust generated by the engine and the front brakes, and keeps the front wheels in place. A little corrosion is OK, and I agree with Zack's fix in that case. But if it's badly damaged (much thinner than it ought to be) replace it with a good one.

It's still a swaybar bro, even if it serves double duty as a set of trailing links. And the application of sway bars is not limited to '70s luxobarges. Or rear ends for that matter. The only vehicle I've ever owned without sway bars on both the front and rear is my F150, and it wouldn't be driveable without the massive sway bar it has in the front.

[denguy]

So nobody has seen this before? I am thinking of cleaning it off, osphoing it , and wrapping some steel strapping material around it to shim it back up to size so it will be snug in the bushings.

[TheNewAmericanSpirit]

If the sway bar itself is rusting you need to stop it from rusting or you are eventually going to have this problem again. There are several solutions from chemical, painting, to replacing the blasted thing. I'd to the latter and use this as an opportunity to upgrade to the aspire sway bar. That's just my opinion but fixing the mounts is like fixing a symptom and not the cause.

BTW, sway bars are used in NASCAR. I should know I designed a floating sway bar end link for Hendricks Motor Sports back at my old job.

[Tommychu]

You should replace it. Your sway bar transmits all of the acceleration and braking force from the front wheels to the car itself as well as absorbing nearly all the force created when the car wants to lean. Because of the way the Festiva is designed, It is literally the most important part of the car. It is also the most highly stressed component. You said it's lost a quarter of an inch in diameter due to rust; that's enough to call it compromised. If you mess with it or try to make it work as is, you are playing with fire.
Pick-n-pull charges $30 for sway bars; junkyards closer to you should be charging a similar price. Tempting fate with the chance of catastrophic chassis failure vs. the cost equivalent of a couple dozen beer or a tank of fuel? Think about it man.

AmericanSpirit: Sway bars are used in pretty much every motorsport involving asphalt, and a lot of disciplines of off-road motorsports as well. And they've been fitted to more or less every new car since about the time of the demise of the solid front axle in the '60s (in cars, yes I know you can get a SFA pickup to this day)

[denguy]

Thanks for the input. For now I will be counting on the safety factor built into the stock suspension components, like you guys do when you hang those huge wheels and tires on these cars.

[navdoc101]

So...you don't want to UPGRADE to a larger Aspire bay? Its basicly the same as the Festiva one only larger. You would need to replace all the swaybar bushing either way.

[Bert]

So...you don't want to UPGRADE to a larger Aspire bay? Its basicly the same as the Festiva one only larger. You would need to replace all the swaybar bushing either way.

The bushings are just a split sleeve of rubber. While installing an Aspire bar the Festy bushings were in better shape so I re-used those. On top of that if you rust 3/16 inch off an Aspire bar you'll be back to having a Festy-thick bar at those points.