Hotchkis Front Sway Bars Clunking

[black leaf]

I decided to purchase Hotchkis front and rear sway bars for my 2007 Mazdaspeed3 GT via TireRack. I had the bars installed at a TireRack approved dealer on Saturday, Oct. 27. They spent the entire day on it (they gave me a loaner car), but as soon as I drove the car off the lot, I heard sharp clunking / banging noises.

Immediately upon return of the car to me, I noted strong clunking noises from both front end sides. These noises emerged on any uneven roads. Even the slight depression in the road from a manhole cover was sufficient to cause this sharp clunking / banging noise. Uneven paved roads, bumps, speed bumps, and similar normal obstructions all cause serious noise from the undercarriage.

I immediately alerted the installation garage to the issue via email. I also sent an email to Hotchkis to someone named Corey (cbedortha@hotchkis.net), who according to the Hotchkins website, is the appropriate party to contact for installation issues. No reply from Hotchkis ever came.

I taken some pictures, as best I can, by jacking up the car and taking photos of the front sway bar:

Self Taken Photos of Installation Work

My search of prior threads on this topic revealed several people who have had similar problems.

The First possibility : that the bars were installed in reverse. But, from what I could see of the stickers, the bars appear to be inserted in the correct manner.

Second possibility: That the bars were installed without load on the suspension:

Clunking Hotchkis FSB

Hotchkis FSB is a bitch to install!

Now, this garage did have the car on a ramp type lift (I saw it) , so the suspension COULD have been fully supported, but the lift also included a way to raise the suspension while the car is on the lift, so it COULD have not been under full weight. It is impossible for me to say for sure.

Here is another thread that suggests the issue is lack of full weight on the suspension during installation:

**SUSPENSION GUIDE** Mazdaspeed3 MS3 (What's available, specs, user impressions)

Even more information:

Adjusting Hotchkis Front Sway Bar

Hotchkis FSB problem...Update Page 4

Issues Installing Front Hotchkis Sway Bar

Apparently, large numbers of people have problems with these particular bars. Had I known it was going to be this much of an issue in advance, I would have probably picked another brand. But the reviews I read before showed that these bars were regarded well. Only now that there is a problem and I am searching in that context am I finding all these negative stories.

I sent another email this morning to the installation garage, after I went back in person and was able to take a mechanic out on a brief drive to highlight the problem. The owner dropped me an email back, and said that they would look at the problem, but they want to charge me labor again.

So, I kindly informed them that the repair order clearly indicates that there is a warranty for 18 months or 18,000 miles for their labor. As I have made no changes to the car since then, and as I heard the noises immediately (as I documented in my emails), this is clearly a defect of installation. So, I replied by saying that "should you elect not to honor your warranty, I may elect to seek alternate assistance & may elect to seek remuneration for expenses I incur via appropriate civil legal action." (i.e., fix it or I will sue you, in polite and legally sophisticated language). Isn't it nice I went to law school and I am a attorney? Yes, yes it is.

My parents were in town yesterday, so I showed them the "new toy". My father sat in the front seat, and commented several times on the clunking noise. It had seemed to me that the noise was getting less prominent over the last two weeks, but perhaps I had just become used to it. What is clear is that the noise is noticeable and probably represents "bad stuff" is occurring to my lower support arm or other suspension components.

So, serious problems abound. At this point, I regret having the front bars installed at all, and may just go back to stock.

I will let you know if there are any updates. In the meantime, I would have to recommend some other brand of sway bars if you are considering replacement from stock.

[TurboDreams]

i had clunking issues after i installed my hotchkis too. i solved the problem by going under the car and checking to make sure everything was tight. it turned out bolts for my subframe and rear sway bar needed to be tighter....it solved all my clunking problems.

[kingpin748]

Generally the clunking from a front sway bar is cause by installing it without any weight on the wheels. If they did it on a hoist lifting it on the jack points that is probably your problem.

You can run a search on this. There are dozens of threads on it here and on other forums.

[black leaf]

Originally Posted by kingpin748 Generally the clunking from a front sway bar is cause by installing it without any weight on the wheels. If they did it on a hoist lifting it on the jack points that is probably your problem. You can run a search on this. There are dozens of threads on it here and on other forums.

I know there are dozens of threads on this topic - I linked to many of them in my original post.

I also mentioned that they did this on the ramp style lift (not just 4 point lift), but this lift included the ability to raise the suspension while on the lift (basically, the lift has a lift built into the lift), so I can't say one way or the other if the wieght of the car was on the suspensions when they tightened things up.

I heard back from the installing garage. They agreed to take another look at it on Monday, and if was due to their fault, to fix it for free (as they should). So, perhaps happy resolution is yet to come.

[Laloosh]

wow perfect, my bars just came in and i did the rear first cause i didnt feel like doing the front. I will do it in my garage and just jack up the tires once the car is on jack stands.

[Lymerock]

the brackets need to be slid all the way back on the subframe
if they put them all the way forward, i could see how it might hit often