Front Sway Bar Mount Torn Out

[thegenius46m]

I have gc bolt in plates on my ZHP running the oe m3 front bar with stock suspension and wonder if those plates actually will do enough? If not I’ll have Matt at Techcraft make me another set of weld in plates with studs worst case.


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[thegenius46m]

Hi,

Very typical for cars which are driven mostly on track with sticky tires and big sway bar up front.
I have seen bunch of cars with torn sway brackets.

Typically it happens when one is using springs on the softer side and with big bar the forces
increase and wants to pull the bracket due to lean, also when the bushings are firmer than
oem it also puts stress on the bracket.

It takes few hours to fix. Make sure you put some rubber coating so welds don't rust !

Regards,
Anri.

That’s correct. This is my car with stock dampers and oem springs after 20k miles then 3 track days with an mcs setup with a turner bar on full stiff for both setups. The soft dampening with a lot of bar is the roll reduction which puts heavy stress on the compromised mounting surface. Nothing welded reinforcements with new studs can’t fix though.





This is absolutely a problem if you push the car hard with a lot of bar and soft springs. My friend laughed and called BS until he saw mine then his failed a week later lmao!


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[Rekpoint]

I actually own OP's car. Can confirm the MSW plate fix has held up for a few track days + a handful of Auto-Xs + 15k miles of Daily Driving!

[Rich022]

I originally bought the bmw subassembly mentioned above, but ultimately went with MSW plates and studs from McMaster-Car. Welded in, seam sealer and paint. I’m not sure the bmw subassembly will work. I’ve done several track events since with no issues.

[Wernd]

Had this happen 3 times on my ZHP before I realized the Hotchkis front bar came with the wrong Mounts. Basically when I would tighten the two nuts down on these Mounts it would bind the bar up so it couldn't move. Make sure after the bar is mounted before you put the endlinks on that the bar can move! And grease them at least once a year

[bjz!]

The GC sways already came with a plate, so... Weld the plate and go.

I broke 3 of the 4 mounts. 🤦🏻

[eacmen]

FYI

mcyindustries on instagram makes weld in front sway bar reinforcement plates for a reasonable price.


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[Maxhouse97]

FCP Euro offers the subassembly, I ordered this and will use to replace while welding the reinforcement on top.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-right-stabilizer-support-41118239196

[Chad@MSW]

Do you need to weld these in or is it like the strut tower reinforcement where you just bolt it in and call it a day?

They must be welded in. Sandwiching them in place does little to nothing to prevent the studs from pulling out. Many sway bar kits (like Hotchkis and GC) include plate, but they don't really help prevent this damage from occuring.

[usdmej]

i am considering to switch back to OE sway bar, since my current GC ones is making some noise .. (probably on the monoball joint of the end link) ..

a lot of GC track mods (race sways, weight jackers, camber plates) are very noisy on the street, but they do perform very well on track

[chalaka]

Do you need to weld these in or is it like the strut tower reinforcement where you just bolt it in and call it a day?

i think ppl weld these plate onto the body ..for the strength of it.. (like the subframe kit for our backend)

with my current GC kit, it actually came with similar plates already, and i still had my passenger side mounting point torn off .. (those GC plate i didn't weld them)

so i feel beefaroni method is better .. bolts welded onto the plate.. using the thicker plate to share the pulling force of the sway bar .. (and hence, plate is welded onto the chassis to offload the force)

[SteelGreyM]

I used these:

https://www.moreheadspeedworks.com/product/e46-full-reinforcement-kit/

$18 is cheap enough that putting effort into fabbing didn't make sense to me.

Do you need to weld these in or is it like the strut tower reinforcement where you just bolt it in and call it a day?

[Dxj]

For the ones that got the reinforcement plates, how do you install them? Can they be epoxied?

[chalaka]

Same thing happened to me as well, GC race sways and 600lb springs up front. The passenger mount met it's end going up a driveway incline
shop was able to weld/repair it up and I switched to csl sways and softer springs

i am considering to switch back to OE sway bar, since my current GC ones is making some noise .. (probably on the monoball joint of the end link) ..

[usdmej]

Same thing happened to me as well, GC race sways and 600lb springs up front. The passenger mount met it's end going up a driveway incline
shop was able to weld/repair it up and I switched to csl sways and softer springs