New Sway Bar links and bushings?

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I'm looking at replacing these parts for my 1994 Corolla to help eliminate body roll and refresh the suspension. Struts are fairly new Monroes. Question; will replacing the end links and bushings for both sway bars restore the handling? The bushings look a little worn out; nothing too bad. The end links don't have any play I can feel but maybe that's from the weight of the vehicle on them.

Thanks!
 
Had a clunk in the front end link of my 04 Rav4, 114,000 miles. Found my left front had some play. Replaced all 4 sway bar links front/rear. Clunk gone and suspension feels tighter.
Got 3 Deeza links (made in Turkey and high quality) from rockauto on closeout, bought the fourth on Amazon and had Prime.
Total cost $75 in parts.
Did a post on rav4world.com on it.
 
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You could start by replacing the bushings only and see how much of an improvement that would be. In my car (04 Trailblazer) the front and rear bushings were around $15 if I remember. Easy to replace and cheap. I certainly had a vast improvement when I replaced my links and bushings but I can't specifically point to them alone as I also did the struts/shocks at the same time.

Tight suspension improves safety. When in doubt, replace.
 
I'm asking whether people have noticed an improvement/restoration in vehicle handling simply by replacing the above parts.
 
If your car wanders, replacing sway bar links and bushings won't help. If it has excess body roll in steady-state cornering, new links and bushings will help.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I'm asking whether people have noticed an improvement/restoration in vehicle handling simply by replacing the above parts.


The bushings may help some, but not likely. The links shouldn't help at all: there should be no play in end links like that for struts. If stuff rattles, replace it. If it's not, I wouldn't worry about it.

A handling improvement would come from changing the bar bushings to polygraphite. New rubber would probably feel better for a few months, until it wears in.
 
Handling will suffer if they are worn out. Handling will improve if worn out parts are replaced. If the parts are not worn, you won't notice a difference by throwing new parts at it.

Being it is an old car, I would check for worn parts before replacing.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I'm asking whether people have noticed an improvement/restoration in vehicle handling simply by replacing the above parts.


If they are broken, yes. And of course eliminating any play will help the handling in theory. I've never had a noticeable change to the handling, just less clunking in the sound and feel when replacing worn links and bushings.

Most toyotas of that vintage just have soft suspensions, it's what makes them great.
 
I'm sure a bunch of them are dry rotted and you will notice an improvement with new ones.

That Corolla will be on the road a long time if rust doesn't kill it.
 
If the bushings look ok, then you aren't going to notice new ones. In theory with the car on flat ground, the end links are unloaded as well, so if they are tight, new ones won't help either.
For flatter handling you will notice, stiffer springs and/or sway bars will do it. Does your car have a rear sway at all? Adding one will reduce body roll a bit, but mostly make the car more neutral. A bigger front sway bar will keep the car flat but encourage more understeer.
Did a Celica of that year share parts with the Corolla? Maybe get some springs from one of those. A clamp on spring compressor isn't hard to use safely IMO.
 
The bushings look great, it has both front and rear sway bars. Like I said, fairly new struts. It lists over like a battleship in corners though.
 
Did you put new springs on when you put the new shocks and struts on? I've worked on a few cars over the years that had more sway than normal with new struts, shocks, and sway bushings & links. It turned out that the springs had lost some of their stiffness.

Also, could the shocks and struts you put on be a softer, more forgiving set? I had a friend replace shock and struts on his car but unkowingly bought a softer type set. The car rode great, nice and smooth, but would lean like a mid 70's caddy if you turned andwhere close to sharply.
 
Go ahead and replace like the others said, but make sure you have both wheels in the air or on the ground. Don't jack up one side at a time. The bar will be on a bind.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Question; will replacing the end links and bushings for both sway bars restore the handling?


It can help quite a bit yes.
 
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
make sure you have both wheels in the air or on the ground.


They're supposed to be on the ground for replacing end links.
 
Update: I replaced all 4 bushings. The originals were very squishy and did not fit tight around the bar and the rears were cracking.

It made a noticeable improvement in handling. The links till look good with no movement so I'll wait on those until they feel worn.
 
Question: Is it normal for there to be any side to side/lateral movement of a sway bar as it moves torsional with suspension movement? When installing the sway bar bushings, I tried as best i could to get them in the exact spots as the old ones. ie where the witness mark on the bars were. However, after taking the car for a drive and rechecking the bolts etc., I noticed both front and rear bars had shifted laterally a small bit in the bushings. The end links all look good and not tilted to either side.



Normal??? Thanks
 
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Best way is to refresh the LCA (lower control arm) bushings and also check tie rod ends and ball joints for play.

No use if our LCA bushings are mushy and/or your tie rod ends and ball joints have excessive play.

Q.
 
It's too bad you didn't get the polyurethane end link bushings; they make the car handle a lot better than rubber bushings.
 
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