Installed sway bars, now noise from rear. :(

[former ti owner]

Hi all. I installed eibach sway bars on my car and I'm getting a clunking noise from the rear. The noise is only heard when I go up or down any slope. I didnt change anything before I installed them so I was wondering if you guys can let me know what I should reinforce or upgrade to fix the problem. Thank you

[spidertri]

Did you replace the endlinks? Everything torqued correctly?

[former ti owner]

Yeah the sway bars came with new end links and the bolts were tightened correctly. One thing I noticed though. I had the rear set really stiff before. When I loosened it, the noise got much much louder.

[jeff]

Did you lube the bushings really well?
What kind of noise?

[Junk]

Rear sway isn't installed backwards right? (if it's even possible) I just know the stock one has a bump to clear the diff mount..

And by loosening the rear I am assuming you mean the swaybar, moving it to the outer holes?

[former ti owner]

No actually I did not lube the bushings so i'll try that. The noise made me think there was something in my trunk when I first heard it. It's gotten really bad now. When I do a sudden turn to avoid a pothole, go down a ramp to a straight road, and now even when I brake or accelerate.

[MPWR]

If you have a rattle/clunk suspension sound from the back, the first and most important thing to check is your upper shock mounts. The OEM parts suck- they need to be upgraded, especially if you have upgraded any other suspension parts. (I put in brand new OEM mounts last summer when I put in new Bilsteins. By December they had failed.)

There is really not a lot about the swaybar that can make sound. If you have it in right, I expect that's not your problem. But a stiffer swaybar could certainly aggravate shot shock mounts....

[former ti owner]

Thank you i'll check the shock mounts too. Do you know of any other brands that I should look at that make shock mounts for the 318ti?

[MPWR]

I replaced mine with the USM's from the E46 M3. They're the beefiest OEM part that BMW sells (and will fit all E46/E36/E30), and they're supposed to be suitable for upgraded shocks. I'm going to keep an eye on them, I only installed them because they were the quickest option to get in hand.

UUC sells an upgraded version which I think may be better still, and Rogue Engineering apparently makes the best. If the E46 ones fail, that's probably my next upgrade.

Make sure that you use an enforcer plate with your USM's. BMW made these for the Z3, and they are an absolutely necessary upgrade for the ti (and other E36s). They can be had from Pelican etc, and several aftermarket companies (including UUC and Rogue) make their own also. If not used, the sheet metal that the USMs bolt into has a way of tearing- not good.

I did not notice that the USMs were deteriorated until I had the car up on a lift one day with the rear wheels hanging. A look into the wheel wells with a good light showed that the mountings were separating. I never would have suspected that a set of five month old mounts would fail- but it did finally explain the clunk/rattle from the rear that I hadn't been able to find.

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by rono174

Do you know of any other brands that I should look at that make shock mounts for the 318ti?

I've got some BWSport mounts from Bimmerworld, I haven't been able to test them personally but I've heard good things about them

[bullmand]

Were the end links that came with the bars adjustable for length? If so, did you put them on while the rear wheels were off the ground? My E30 had this same problem with clunking from the swaybar. It was actually a pretty horrible noise. Installing the end links with the rear suspension loaded took care of the problem. I had them adjusted to be too long. I would look into this soon. Mine was bad enough that the links were actually bent and I had to get new ones.

[former ti owner]

Found the problem. You guys were right, Sway bar end links are horrible and installed improperly. They're bent. This caused that horrible clunking noise when I turned and went down slopes.