It's very possible the sway bar bushings were not the issue at all... but the lower control arm bushings. It's my opinion that the sway bar bushings outlast the LCA rear bushings. I have a 2007 with original sway bar bushings at 90,000 miles, the only time they make noise is during the winter when they are cold. I have had the LCA's changed once because the bushings were bad. It was clunking and shaking under braking due to that at the time.

Rear brake adjustments are mandatory as well... I have mine adjusted twice a year.

 

I think I might be leaning towards the LCA now. If it causes the clunking as well, there's a good chance it could be the culprit. I thought to myself there's no way the sway bar bushings could go bad in less than 5000 miles (it was a few months ago I got them done again). And here in Columbus where I just moved, there's a LOT of potholes and roadwork. The front end has been getting beaten up since I got here.

 

So you are in Ohio now? Or a different Columbus?

 

Ohio, yeah!

 

I'm due west of you... In the boonies.

 

 

I went in today after work to meet the mechanic and check out the shop. It's very small, but he's very nice. He also explains things very thoroughly, with a video if possible. He's still convinced from my discription that it's my rotors, but he's going to get it up on the lift have inspect everything from brakes to steering tomorrow and we'll figure it out!

 

 

If the car feels like the wheels are still turning when you come to a stop; LCAs.
Another easy check: car parked, push the top of the tire to the rear of the car. More than half an inch: LCAs.

 

After today's inspection, he said I absolutely have messed up rotors. He had a thing that played like a record player needle so measure how bad they were. The passenger side was enough to cause the shaking, but the drivers side was REALLY messed up. He says one of my calipers was misbehaving, and that my drums just don't work. He's gonna replace the whole front situation including hoses, and adjust my drums for free to buy time until I need to replace them totally.

As for steering, we didn't see anything wrong there.