What caused this sway bar bushing failure?

[Nine]

In November or December I installed a set of BMR sway bars along with a bunch of other stuff. At the time of installation I greased the bushings, and since then I've driven the car maybe 3500 miles and greased them at least one more time (possibly twice.) I went to grease them again the other day and noticed that the passenger side one in the front was split apart and in obvious need of replacement.

I ordered up another set of bushings and swapped it out this past weekend. I read BMR's thread on needing to grease poly bushings, but from the look of my bushing's bearing surface, and the fact that it was greased at least twice in 3500 miles, I'm not thinking it was a lack of grease. You can see in this next pic that there's no melting or smearing inside the bushing, the material looks like it's supposed to:

From the top you can see it split, with the failure going through the area where it fits into the hole for the grease fitting. Is it possible the bushing was just faulty from the beginning?

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[BMR Tech]

I have a few like that here, and we have come to the conclusion that it is a defective bushing.

We use this same bushing from Energy Suspension on over 20 other products here, with a similar saddle design.

Unfortunately, when we see these poly bushing failures occur...it is often times that "batch" of bushings that has issues.

On that note, do you race the car? This would be the first time I have seen an issue if not. Other issues I have seen were primarily on cars that were raced with the bars on aggressive settings.

Lastly, you did not pay for them did you? If so, please remind me of this....so I can assist you on your next BMR purchase to compensate. I would have immediately sent you new bushings out at no charge if I was aware.

 

[Nine]

I haven't tracked it yet, and other than enjoying the occasional freeway onramp I really don't normally push it that hard on the street. I do have a track day coming up later this month, I'll pay attention to the other side and make sure it survives since I only replaced the one that failed. The bars are both on the middle hole (on that note, where should I start as a baseline when I go to the track?) I'm happy to hear it's likely just a bad bushing.

I did pay for them, I just snagged them from Summit since they weren't really expensive. I do appreciate the offer though, I'll definitely take you up on it when I order my next round of goodies from you guys.

 

[BMR Tech]

The settings I suggest to start with would be based on the tires you use, as well as the rates of your coil springs, etc.


Feel free to call me if you want to discuss. I am always down for some suspension chatting. ;)

 

[Nine]

The settings I suggest to start with would be based on the tires you use, as well as the rates of your coil springs, etc.


Feel free to call me if you want to discuss. I am always down for some suspension chatting. ;)

Thanks! I'll give you a call this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

 

[VinnAY]

Possibly an issue of the split in the bushing not being oriented to the front of the car, I know some past experiences in sway bushings always insisted the split has to be facing the right way, I'd swear split to the front.

 

[Nine]

Possibly an issue of the split in the bushing not being oriented to the front of the car, I know some past experiences in sway bushings always insisted the split has to be facing the right way, I'd swear split to the front.

I considered which way to orient them. The BMR instructions don't specify and I figured the clamping of the saddle essentially forces it to act like it's a single unbroken piece. There's a pic on BMR's product page where you can see theirs is installed with the split facing rearward, so I installed mine with the split rearward as well.

 

[BMR Tech]

I have spoken to Energy on this topic and I was informed that the orientation of the split "should not have an impact on the durability of the bushing"

However, it would not hurt to reverse the orientation Nine.

I just looked at ours, and we have them oriented the same way. We have about 10 hard track outings with Hoosier 295 tires and the bar at full stiff, and the bushings appear to be in great shape.

Let's see how the new bushing holds and go from there. If something needs to be addressed, I will ensure it gets addressed.

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