Why did my front sway bar bushing GO MISSING?!
 

I was doing some inspection on my FD when I came to notice that my new OEM front sway bar bushing was missing after <300 miles of driving.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7f73262156.jpg
As you can tell, the bushing mount is still there. I did grease the bushings prior to install. What could cause something like this to happen?!

Did you use some kind of petroleum based lubricant on the bushing?

That could have softened it and caused it to split and fall out.

I used the following:
It says it's safe for use on rubber, so I would think it's ok.

That is what I would have used as well.

I have no other ideas.

I'm at a loss as well.

Well they either deteriorated or were the wrong size, popped out and fell off. That is a weird one.

Yeah, it's definitely strange. It's a brand new bushing from Mazda. The other side is A-OK.

I was thinking this over more and more. Maybe I overlubed the inside, which overtime caused some of the grease to weep out and caused lateral movement of the bushing?

/shrugs

why did you change the bushing? old age or other?

if old age, i dunno

if other, something is bent, or the sway bar moves side to side (when it shouldn't)

There seems to be something up in the picture with the side-stop on the bar and it's too far away from the bushing too. I'd recommend trying to find (2) 2-piece bolt-on collar to replace those. The side stops are the only thing that will keep the bar from moving side to side under heavy cornering loads. They need to be right up to the side of both bushings to prevent that. It likely was pushed out the side as a result.

I seem to recall that the OD on the FD3 factory bar is 1.125", but please confirm

https://www.mcmaster.com/#6436K39

there are other material options too; aluminum, plain steel, etc. I use aluminum collars on my speedway bars; because race car ...


.

I 2nd getting split collars for the sway bar. The bar moved all over the place on my FC because the strap style ones are worthless. With split collars the bar hasn't moved in 8 years.

That is what I had to do on my S5 when I tried to run the S4 ST front sway bar;
https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-w...-my-s5-989970/

I also had to do that on my Lincoln LS;
https://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/fo...ost-2037382909

My money is on too much lube. Which sounds amusing from experiences playing with wet squishy things. :)