I just got the MOOG links and had them installed by Midas made a big difrrence, have ordered the bushings wont be here until next week, the guys at Midas said the bushings looked good, but will have them installed next week.

 

I had installed the Eibach rear sway bar installed almost a year ago there is a mountain road I drive several times a month very curvy at 50 mph did not feel very comfortable but after the rear sway installed I found I was driveing at 70 mph and felt secure so they do make a diffrence.

 

Mr Stryker, all I can say is if you will drive to Spartanburg,S.C. from Durham , N.C. , and bring the parts and I'll put them on for you at no cost! I'll also buy you lunch.

 

I am new to this forum and the HHR but I will offer up some of my own experiences with sway bar end links. It seems about 10 years ago auto manufacturers went to the ball joint style sway bar end link that the one the HHR has. Before that, it was usually just a bolt with metal and rubber washers sandwiched between the sway bar. Well, when you can replace seven or eight parts for one part, the manufacturers will do it. The ball link style is not as durable as the older style but since they are cheap to make and very easy to replace, manufacturers all use them now. They are also prone to make noise and become loose quickly, especially if you live in colder areas or where road salt is used because the rubber seals do not keep the contaminants out for long and then the joint is compromised. Look up just about any car in the past five years and the forums will be complaining about front suspension noise-Ford Mustangs come to my mind, but the HHR/Cobalt is up there to. I have personally had the links go bad quickly in a 2000 Plymouth Voyager, 2002 Honda CRV as well as the HHR. But my old 1996 and 2000 Honda Civics had the old style sway bar links and were original when the 1996 went to the junkyard and the 2000 got traded in-they were still quiet.

All of this segways into my experience with driving a car without the front sway bar. This was my 2000 Plymouth Grand Voyager, a much larger, heavier, and much more top heavy vehicle than the HHR. The front links went bad and I replaced them with Moog units, which unfortunately for me were defective and had to be taken back. During this time I had the front sway bar totally disconnected on the van. The van was quieter than I had ever heard and rode better also. I have a four lane, low traffic road that is 55mph and took some pretty abrupt lane changes in the same manner if I were avoiding a collision and then van leaned a little more but was nowhere close to being unsafe. I also have a 55mph tight sweeping road I travel and also felt that the van was in no way dangerous. I am going to disconnect the sway bars on my HHR and see what the handling feels like. If it is acceptable, which it probably will be, then I will just leave it that way and may even remove the bar entirely. Then the noise is gone for good and you won't have the repeated failures many are experiencing.

On the Rear Sway bar:
I also am not entirely sure why a rear sway bar on a car with the rear suspension like the HHR does anything. You see, the rear axle that makes up the rear suspension is like a huge sway bar. In order for a sway bar to work it has to be able to twist, hard bolting it another piece of metal like the aftermarket rear sway bars I have seen cannot allow it to twist. The rear axle itself would have to twist which does not happen. If you look at a solid axle pick up truck with a rear sway bar, it is mounted in the same manner as a front sway bar-with links that allow it to twist to reduce the vehicles tendency to roll in a corner. From talking to engineers, the bar's ability to control roll comes from it's resistance's to twist, the less it twists the less the body will lean. Anyway, maybe somebody has a better answer for that one.

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but for clarification:

No anti sway in front with some anti sway in back = moderate to excessive understeer = safer condition. occasionally normal setup from factory. All cars have understeer tuned in. (but certainly not desirable when excessive; Car just wouldn't turn well in quick maneuver or hard cornering.)

No anti sway in back with some anti sway in front= moderate to excessive oversteer= very dangerous condition, (quick maneuver or hard cornering can easily and very unexpectedly send car sideways or to rear to front)

Balance leaning toward a bit of understeer is best and normal as far as steering stability and safety is concerned.

Regards
Billy

 

Update on my end link removal. I removed my end links yesterday. I was shocked at the condition. They were the originals with about 55,000 miles and about 4.5 years of use. I was able to pull the links of of the balljoint they are mounted on with my bare hands and very little force. They couldn't have been doing much for the handling being that loose. Anyway, the car rides bteer and much more quietly and the handling is almost identical. I took some real hard "evasive" left and right simulations at 60 mph and the car felt the same as when the bar was on. In my opinion, no real difference.

 

I just had my car on a lift (to correct clunking from the exhaust) and was looking to see anything loose causing my front end noise and found loose end link bushings. I found this thread, and am happy to hear about the Moog parts. But I do have a few comments on some of the discussion.

I spent many years racing sports cars, and one of the first things to improve handling is installing swaybars. They definitely have to be matched, or tuned, to the suspension. The engineers that design the chassis are different than those that messed up on the sun roof, door handle, etc. Same way there are special engineers working on the engine and drivetrain. As already stated, todays suspensions are designed to work with the parts they were designed for. Change one and you are upsetting the balance. Modifying has to be done more carefully than in the early years because of this. And while the rear suspension may be a solid axle, it still benefits from a sway bar.

What is the situation with the Moog parts? I am just beginning to look into them, and any help would be appreciated. My first thoughts when I saw the problem is to replace the rubber with poly.

 

I got mine from www.rockauto.com #k750012 $22.00 each total for 2 $45.98 shipping $9.32 total $55.30 made a big diffrence I also got the poly bushings fron www.energysuspensionparts.com I got the 1 inch black with shipping total $20.87 my HHR is the 2lt and has the 1 inch sway bar. Im very happy after installing, good luck. Jay Loukakis

 

Thanks for your quick reply, Jay. What kind of problems did you have before-the clunking sound? And what kind of difference? Silence or better handling. Did the end links come off easily? Do the Moog have grease fittings? What year is your ride? Do you recall the part number for the EnergySuspension bushings? I can understand how poly bushings would help, but how are the bar links an improvement?


I appreciate the feedback.
Lee

 

My HHR is a 2006 2lt, my garage is pretty small so I had Midas install the links and bushings, the ride was getting a little worse every day after reading everyone problems I just thought I would have them changed, my front sway bay is 1 inch dia. bushings 1 in. / 25 mm, part # 9.5161, and it does handle much better glad I had it done, Im also going to change struts and shocks , rear shocks on order then the struts, waiting for Eibachs new rear sway bar as they had replaced mine as it had broken will be available in about 2 weeks, they will install the new one on my HHR as I live about 40 miles from their shop. good luck. Jay Loukakis