green_henry

How screwed am I?

I have had a Comptech rear sway bar for about 3 years now with no problems other than having to regrease the bushings.

A few days ago I started hearing a clunking sound from the rear of the car. At first, I just thought that there was something banging around in the trunk -- nope, all clear.

Then I read a thread about loose end links creating noise, so I jacked up the car to tighten the end links when I noticed that the right bushing bracket looked not quite right. The sway bar bracket and the bushing looked fine, but the chassis bracket (that you mount the bushing bracket to) has broken off of the chassis! So the sound that I've been hearing has been the sway bar bouncing up and down and hitting the chassis.

Does anybody have any idea how much this is going to cost to fix? Can they re-weld the original bracket back to the chassis? Should I take this to the dealer or to a suspension shop?

poltergeist

Thread here about this http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36339

green_henry

Can't believe I missed that. Thanks!

xenonhid

So this would be a total of 2 reported Azine members with broken endlinks.

I don't think its cause for worry for aftermarket RSB owners.

green_henry

Just to be clear, it wasn't the end link that broke; it was the mounting bracket for the RSB clamps.

While this may be one of a few cases reported thus far, I wouldn't be surprised to see many more in the future. I've been running with this setup for about 3 years, so I think it's the cumulative stress that finally broke it. For others who have had their sway bars for a shorter time period, I'd be concerned.

I am going to take it to the dealer tomorrow just to see what they say. I have no expectation that they'll fix it under warranty, but I'm hoping that they have a certified welder on staff or can recommend one. I will ask the welder to beef up both sides and then I'll need to think long and hard about re-installing the Comptech or going back to stock.

afici0nad0

do you use the included bushings from comptech, or did you replace those with some polyurathane ones?

green_henry

Originally, I installed the Comptech bushings, but I changed them to the Energy Suspensions bushings within a few months.

jwood_06TSX

IS your TSX an 04 or an 05? I think the other one that clifton had was an 04 and if i remember correctly, the rear had some more support on my 06 then it did in my 04 but i could just be making that up....lol.

poltergeist

The rear subframe part number is the same for '04-'07 TSX's.

If I had to guess, I'd think the hard urethane bushings are as responsible for the failure as the stiffer sway bar. The hard bushings have to transmit substantially more vibration into the mounts, which will likely lead to metal fatigue in the fairly thin stamped and welded metal mounts.

HoRRo

Are you on stock suspension?

vthree

iTrader: (1)

i actually had the same exact problem a few days ago.. and that lil bracket over the endlink was bent pretty bad. i just replaced the 10? or 12mm bolt.. and bolted it real tight.. tada the swaybar is tied down now...

i think its partially because i switched my endlinks to the moog ones.. so its way more stiffer..
that + dropping the car on basics means i have to take bumps seriously now...
at least high inclines.. like my garage alley....
soooo i'm hoping that it just doesnt go and pop off again.. or else i may have to switch back to my stock rsb?

green_henry

I have an '05, and the rest of the suspension is stock.

Simba91102

The MOOG end links are beefier, but I don't think that necessarily translates in operation. The mounting studs in both are ball mounts that allow movement and they have the same center to center distance. The MOOG links have grease fittings for the studs (which may actually only allow for a longer service life) and is overall a much more substantial looking piece. It may look at first blush like they'll be "stiffer", but if you compare what the function actually is, I suspect that may not be the case.

TinkySD

So far every single issue I've seen with broken brackets with the RSB has been with people that swtiched to Poly bushings. I had used my RSB for 4.5 years with the stock comptech bushings with no issue.

vwong

I read this thread and the linked thread last night, and I checked my RSB immediately last night. No signs of stress crack. I've had mine since early 2005, the car has been on the tracks at least 5 times. As a matter of fact, I was at Laguna Seca 3 weekends ago with the TSX. My RSB worked fine as with other parts in my car (well, sort of, wished I had more aggressive brakes though). My RSB is Progress that came with polyurethane bushings. My guess is that Progress did the right thing to properly selected the bushings for their bars. I'm sure Comptech did too, maybe that was why they went with the rubber bushings instead.

jlukja

I guess I need to get under my TSX and take another look. I've got the Comptech RSB with poly bushings and the A-spec suspension.

moda_way

Seems only to be use with the Comptech bars too. Makes me want to pick up a Progress, but I'm even a little more different...

'04 6MT Comptech RSB, Comptech 110-115, Energy Suspension greaseable poly bushings.

Still going to check mine again, but thus far, no issues.

HoRRo

It seems that the chassis bracket breaking is more suceptible for those on stock suspension. Since the stock suspension is so soft and the RSB is taking so much stress. That would also explain why those that install the RSB on stock suspension notice the mod so much more than those with coilovers/springs.

jwood_06TSX

Yea, but didn't gsclifton have a set of coilovers when he broke his?

I do agree with the theory of using the comptech supplied bushings with the comptech bar as opposed to switching them out to the poly ones. I think it was designed that way for a reason. I have lubed mine only twice in the 10k miles its been on my car and have had to problems with it. I checked the areas this weekend and everything is still looking good so far. I also have the aspec suspension though too, which will def help in taking more of the body movement.

green_henry

I've been meaning to upgrade the suspension, but I have the eternal battle of the mortgage payment versus the next mod.

As expected, the dealer was no help at all, so I'm going to a muffler shop next Saturday to see if they can weld it back on and reinforce both sides.

Meanwhile, the car rides surprisingly well with no sway bar at all.

Assuming I get everything back in shape on Saturday, I'm going to re-install the Comptech sway bar with the original bushings.

HoRRo

gsclifton's mod timeline:

March 04, 2004 @ 5,560 miles - Shop installed Eibach Prokit with stock dampers
March 04, 2004 @ 5,560 miles - Shop installed Ingalls rear camber kit
March 11, 2004 @ 5,915 miles - Self installed Neuspeed upper strut
March 24, 2004 @ 6,275 miles - Self installed Comptech Sway w/rubber busings
Sep 23, 2005 @ 25,112 miles - Self installed ES polyurethane bushings
Dec 03, 2005 @ 27,913 miles - Self installed Cusco Type II
Jan 27, 2006 @ 28, 456 miles - Replaced damaged Cusco Type II
May 27, 2006 @ 33,350 miles - Shop installed Tanabe Sustec Pro OC Type II
Nov 22, 2006 @ 39, 102 miles - Shop installed Rays G-Games 77W 1PC 18"
Feb 21, 2007 @ ~44k miles - Detected broken sway bar mount after clunking noise

Unless you're running a relatively stiffer suspension, your RSB will probably be working harder than your dampers.

jwood_06TSX

Thanks for the recon on that info So it seems he ran the sway bar on stock dampers for 27,075 miles with the eibach springs on it and then he put the coilovers on it. He also ran the stock suspension with the poly bushings for 8,238 miles. I have a feeling that there was a lot more stress being transfered into the RSB instead of the dampers. The dampers were already stressed out from the mismatched springs. I think if you use the supplied comptech bushings with some type of matched aftermarket suspension setup and keep them lubricated there shouldn't be much to worry about.....

gavinn58

Well, you can add me to that list of broken chassis mount. Can anyone tell me how much it was to repair?

Normal mount


Broken mount

xenonhid

^^ I was curious, what type of suspension setup do you have? I'm a little reluctant to get an aftermarket RSB now.

Simba91102

From what's been reported here, it seems the Comptech sway bars are the ones having problems snapping the mounting bracket.

GTSX-05

iTrader: (1)

ouchh, I hope I dont experince the same problems with my H&R that hasnt been installed.

green_henry

Ouch, that looks worse than mine did. Mine broke at the weld spots so that the bracket itself was basically intact -- just separated from the chassis.

I found an awesome shop here in the Bay Area that fabricates sway bar mounts for Bimmers, Porsches, and S2000s. They also do custom fabrication and welding, so it was no sweat for them to put everything back into order and to reinforce both sides. It was $100.

Your situation looks a little hairier to me, but if you can find somebody who does fabrication and welding -- not just a muffler shop -- I think they can fix you up. I feel for you, man.

green_henry

If you can find somebody to reinforce the mounts before you install it, I think it's worth the peace of mind. Since they'd just be reinforcing them (rather than repairing them), it should take less time and they should install the bar for you at the same time (all for < $100).

That said, plenty of guys have a RSB and haven't had any problems.

CL9projektz

would you mind sharing the shop's name/contact info/location/etc? thanks.

also if you could snap a few pics of the repair and reinforcement job they did on your car, that would be great. i'd like to see their handy work.

shitbox

just a quick question to those who had their mounting bracket broken, does the car act weird other than that "clunk" noise you hear? i'm asking this because i've been hearing this "clunk" noise too with my car whenever i go over certain road surface. But other than that clunk noise my car drives fine..

speedy0222

I have the Progress RSB installed and so far no problems so far <knock on wood>. But since you are in Northern California I would be interested in knowing the shop's name too. Just in case my mounts break....

green_henry

Here's their website: TC Design

I'd need to jack the car up to get some decent pics. Too busy now, but I'll try to make time next weekend.

gavinn58

Yeah it does look pretty bad. There's a great body shop that I've taken my other cars to in the past so I'm hoping they can fix it. Otherwise, I think my only other option is to replace the sub-frame.

gavinn58

Forgot to mention, I'm running the a-spec suspension, comptech rsb w/energy suspension polyurethane bushings and have had it on since 2004.

Populuxe

What's the name of this shop? These guys sound like the place that will be doing my suspension work.

kolt45tsx

I can be added to the list of broken rear subframes. I had the Comptech RSB with ES bushings (w/o grease fitting) and stock suspension on my 05. I had mine on for just over a year. I agree with the comment that installing the comptech RSB with stock suspension puts too much strain on the rear sub frame.

speedy0222

Thanks green_henry!

With all of these comments about broken rear subframes I'm starting to get a bit worried now.

jwood_06TSX

You need to consider a lot of things here though. Most of the people that have broken them were on stock suspension, at least the two people in this thread were. They were also running the non matching poly bushings with them as well. I think the combination of adding the harder bushings (taking away some flexibility) and not upgrading suspension (firmer dampers and springs to take more load than the stock ones) is what puts more force into these mounts. If you have the CT bushings and an aftermarket suspension AND lube them every so often, i really don't forsee a problem.

CL9projektz

fantastic, thanks man.

green_henry

Here are some pics (it's been raining a lot, so it's a little dirty under the car)...

Before:




After (the welds are painted to prevent rust):




Basically, they welded around the perimeter of the bracket as well as re-welding the original spots.