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It’s the bushings squeaking now. That horrible noise. They provided me with 26mm bushings to fit into my stock clamps. My stock clamps had to be changed with dual clamps so I got 2009-2010 clams. I’m guessing these are slightly different widths/height.
Anyway the bushing ting was wrapped in a little bit of rubber tape to accommodate for a few mm. I will be looking into getting some energy 25mm bushings with new claps for a more Perminant solution. But for the most part my problem has been solved I got a little bushing squeak at that’s tolerable compared to metal on metal clunk.
thankyou everyone for your help. And hopefully there’s a little more information now out there for the next guy! Cheers everyone
Gonna post some picture. Guys my problem is still not solved **** my life. Point me to the nearest bridge...
my bushings, my clamps are fine, forget about that.
I currently have 9.86” links on, if you read up I originally thought this was my issue.
I know my vehicle should have 11.8” links on and today I booked in my car to have the swapped out yeah my problems will all be solved after this and I can enjoy a drive home.
well the mechanic would not even install the links clamimimg I should be getting smaller links like Jesus.
To his measurements he said a 7” link would avoid my control arms and avoid my tranny mount etc.
Well ive read no where that anyone has used smaller than 9.8” links. I’m ready to give up, I homestly don’t know what to do.
Tomorrow I'm going to have a mechanic put on 11.8" links and see what happens, he said he would do it in his down time for free.
To be honest I can't even find one other person who installed a ZZP front sway bar on their cobalt and posted pictures...
The bar never came with instructions for install.
Can anyone tell me perhaps what position their ZZP lettering is in? can you see it from the engine bay straight up/ is it on an angle?
I haven't tried that yet, maybe I will be very soon
To me now that the bushing clamp noise is out of the picture, what I'm hearing distinctively sounds like worn out stabilizer links.
Going over Speed Bumps, At a crawling speed of 1km/h is pure ironing boards unfolding as I come down the hump.
Found a picture of someone with 11.8" links on their cobalt with a Eibach sway bar, I know its not the same, but a longer link would put my bar in a smimiliar position as 07ls sport has on hsi car. IDK
Have you tried contacting ZZP? Do as HGT says and disconnect the end links. At least then you can verify it is actually the bar or end links causing the noise.
I did contact ZZP, they have rarely ran into problems with fitment and was always solved with an upgraded dual bolt clamp being installed.
Regardless of what vehicle you specify having when ordering, the same bar fits all 2005-2010 cobalts(some hhr and ions) and give out the same bushings to everyone, for everyone to be using the same sized clamps.
Then the same message was copy and pasted when I asked more questions.
That being said, it re-enforces it being an incorrect link idea.
ZZP wanted this bar do be pared with existing stock links.
I have to assume Ive done something wrong, otherwise they would've suggested a few things for me to try.
But man that mechanic today, who wouldnt even try to put the links on has really thrown me off.
I can only hope the mechanic today was talking out of his ass, not wanting to work on a car with a bunch of aftermarket parts.
As far as I know the links change with sway bar geometry only. So if you are using a sway bar designed for the SS then you should use the shorter SS end links. Everything else is interchangeable.
I love their stuff, but It scares me that I can barely find anyone else using their front bar.. everyone else is using powell or eibach
Probably because its hollow haha...
Eibach did look more curvy like the stock bar.
But I thought meh, ZZP's got a different design: it should met up in the same spots with no clearance, they design cobalt parts after all.
I do appreciate everyones help in trying to keep my sanity
reason not many people run aftermarket front bars is because of the generally accepted theory that (no matter what car we talk about) that a larger front sway bar creates understeer, and a smaller front sway bar will reduce understeer. the opposite is true about the rear sway bar, going bigger reduces understeer or creates oversteer. now this has to be balanced with controlling body roll.
now going of the cobalt ss, these cars dont have excessive body roll problems. people generally add a rear sway bar as it helps reduce understeer. going stiffer in the front negates some of the gains of the rear bar, so most doing upgrade it. in fact, from the original fe5 suspension on the ss/sc to the fe5 ss/tc suspension, gm reduced the size of the front sway bar from 24mm to 23mm to help reduce understeer.
none of this info helps the situation, its just some info as to why your not finding much info on aftermarket front sway bars.
reason not many people run aftermarket front bars is because of the generally accepted theory that (no matter what car we talk about) that a larger front sway bar creates understeer, and a smaller front sway bar will reduce understeer. the opposite is true about the rear sway bar, going bigger reduces understeer or creates oversteer. now this has to be balanced with controlling body roll.
now going of the cobalt ss, these cars dont have excessive body roll problems. people generally add a rear sway bar as it helps reduce understeer. going stiffer in the front negates some of the gains of the rear bar, so most doing upgrade it. in fact, from the original fe5 suspension on the ss/sc to the fe5 ss/tc suspension, gm reduced the size of the front sway bar from 24mm to 23mm to help reduce understeer.
none of this info helps the situation, its just some info as to why your not finding much info on aftermarket front sway bars.
Damn this whole time I had that backwards. I thought the sc cobalt had the 23mm bar and TC cobalt had 24mm
After today, honestly I know the stock bar works(I threw mine out) but I could get one from a junk yard for 40$ and have this over with.
My drive home today: horrible. 9.8” links, 11.8” links neither work. i think after today I give up. I fold.
Koni shocks on on the way, I’ll probably just have a stock bar put back in when they install new shocks. This has been reficulous.
I would rather be nit picking nuts and bolts than working clearance suspension issues any longer.
I could do electrical in my sleep, this, just isn’t fair.
I did, with the bar still in place. The noise was still there.
Links play a part in bar position, the bar regardless of being in a 9.8”/ 11.8” position, is hitting my control arms and the the frame from above, as it comes into the wheel wells.
As my shocks go down body goes down, closing the frame to bar gap.
As control arms go up, it’s closing the gap from below.
As I go over a speed bump what I am hearing is the bar grinding on the control Arms, as I come down, I hear my body coming down on the bar.
Not sure if this bar is simply not curved to clear everything. Been comparing their bar to stock bars all night and I’ll twll you even an fe5 bar like 1 mm smaller, angles like crazy at this point, bending all over the place to avoid everything.
The zzp bar just does not appear curvy enough to avoid the two
I have purchased a lot of their components, some that were less $$ than I could get with my GM discount as they were new take off parts. Regarding their proprietary parts you need to be careful and know your stuff.
Your front bar is a prime example. Approx. 1/8" steel, about 3mm thick, 26mm in diameter VS a solid OEM 24mm bar. This is why there are few comments.
When I see this I just email Tim and ask him. He is straight up or if he doesn't know he will say so.
The stock bar isn't really solid is it? Seems way too light to be solid. I would have guessed it is a tube.
Just saw your post did you ever fix it? I have the zzp bar, I like it. Its 25mm. I did the rear bar first, but the front still felt lacking. car handles great now. It was harder getting the stock bar out, it was heavier. I didn't have to drop the subframe. I unbolted the passenger tie rod and was able to twist the bar in. It will get scratched up installing it. The problem was the steering rod its tight. Remember to spread some silicone grease in the clam shell bushing, helps it to not bind. The end link length is for ride height. Are you lowered? I think the bend in your bar looks different.
The end link length is for ride height. Are you lowered?
I don't know where this started but I believe it to be a common misconception. As far as I can observe the different length end links correspond to the different geometries of the FE1 and FE5 sway bars. When side by side the FE5 sway bars curve upwards further on the ends than the FE1 bars do thus requiring a shorter end link to keep the bar clocked the same relative to the pivot point. Considering the geometry of the suspension it doesn't make any sense that a lower ride height would require a shorter end link as that would just clock the sway bar even further from it's stock position. See illustrations below which are exaggerated for clarity.
^^Definitely agree. I'm assuming the GM engineers optimized this geometry in the stock configuration and that using the wrong end link for the bar will rotate further away from the stock clocking and that the shorter bar combined with a lower ride height moves it even further in the same direction rather than correcting to stock geometry for the ride height change. Therefor I don't see how it makes sense to use a shorter bar because you dropped your ride height.
Those are good illustrations. Its great to learn more about it.
I never put lowering springs on my cars. I thought lowering the car changed the suspension geometry, control arms, sway bar relative to a fixed point like the subframe. The body is lower but the suspension is up higher in the wheel well, making for less travel. I guess with bigger wheels and more grip and ss suspension shorter end links won't flex as much as the base model links and help under higher loads?
Looking at my stock endlinks, the sway bar mount points up almost parallel with the strut allowing force to push down on the bar. I understand with an even shorter end link the bar would be at a different angle (pointing slightly towards the windshield) and the end link would angle back at the bottom. Would that affect the stiffness since now the force is not pushing straight down, its more of a pivot point since its a ball type mount?
Sorry it got off topic you guys are very knowledgeable. I still wonder why his bar hit all over.
07-13-2018, 01:50 PM
