The nut/stud combo holding the sway bar bushing U-bracket to the larger sway bar mount had turned into a lump of rust. While cutting it off with an angle grinder, I nicked the sway bar with the cutting wheel.

Here's what it looks like now:





Is it at risk of snapping or something at that point?

 

Aren't these things supposed to be solid steel all the way through? I would honestly forget about it, but if you really care, remove it. Lots of people deliberately run without rear sway bars to reduce the oversteer our FCs have. I can't see why it would be catastrophically bad to run without one on the street.

 

You may eventually see some cracking on that bar. It's a big spring, so introducing a gash concentrates that force.

If you want to use it you can take a flap wheel to smooth the transition and polish it out, removing the stress areas as much as you can.

 

I can't speak on this sway bar not knowing it's origins but, some are hollow. The place to get a hint whether it's hollow or not is the end that is flattened. Clean the very end edge and see if it looks like a smashed tube or just a flattened bar.

 

The bar is cactus. If you want to do the experiment just for ***** and giggles, put in back in and see how long it takes to shear and report back.Just make sure that if and when it fails it doesnt hit the ground and carnage your fuel tank and under carriage.
As said some people dont run a rear bar but if you are buying new bushes and brackets i woulndt waste them on that bar, get another one.

 

You could do what Aaron said.

Or you could buy another used one or an aftermarket one. It looks rusty, not that it effects the performance of it much. I'm sure plenty of people are throwing their stock ones away or selling them for dirt cheap. We're not as rich as the 3rd gen guys, so we end up selling parts for cheap, or lowballing when buying parts

 

That's certainly something I'd like to avoid. I think I'll play it safe and either use the thinner bars that came on the base model that are in much better shape than these slightly thicker factory ones, or purchase the even thicker Racing Beat ones when the time comes.

 

I wouldn't reuse that bar - it won't fail immediately, but like Aaron said, it's a spring, and the cut creates not just a weak point, but an area that concentrates force. These cars have too much rear bar, so if this was the 14mm bar from TII/GXL/Sport suspension and you have the base 12mm bar, you'll find it's actually an upgrade. I've run a base 12mm rear bar for years, and went to a 28mm front bar as well, and the car is still tail-happy on track. Your rear suspension can't put power to the ground well when the stiff bar is trying to lift the inside rear off the pavement.

 

Interesting, I'll keep that in mind. I plan on doing autocross and maybe the odd track day, so that's useful info, thanks. The bar in question is indeed a 14mm bar, which is why I was harvesting it from my rustbucket in the first place. I had assumed that thicker=better.

 

Ill say its personal preference. I have racing beat sway bars on my Tii and wouldnt go back to even stock Tii sway bars.

 

Perhaps for the street, but most who track these cars go for no rear anti-roll bar, or significantly less relative to the front (ie., more front bar and the base rear bar). More rear bar on the street makes the car feel more responsive and agile, but at the limit, as on the track, FC's are notoriously prone to over-rotate - which can be entertaining to a point (or great for drifting), but slow. And then there's the point where you're leaving the track backwards into the weeds. Most people who track these cars also get rid of the DTSS bushings at the rear for the related reason of snap oversteer. I'm not on stock springs either, which makes a difference - 350lb/in fronts and 275lb/in rears with coilovers - which means I've also added significantly more front spring rate relative to the stock rear rates - and the car still likes to rotate - sometimes too much.

 

sell whole car, buy new one. you know like you would do if you wanted to go turbo.