TTagz

The dogbone install was quick and painless. took about 20 minutes. Anyone who has been putting this off, stop. just do it, it's worth it. Shifts are much more positive. The car is easier to drive in stop and go traffic. I don't feel like I'm being as hard on the clutch anymore. A little more cabin vibration is noticible. I'm told this will calm down as they settle in, or maybe I'll just get used to it. but it's not bad as is.

As for the front sway bushings. PITA. The drivers side bushing mount has a nut on the engine side at a strange angle holding a transmission line in place. it was the one that held me up the most. I had to remove the airbox to finally get it out. Then I pryed the mounts off and removed the bushings.

To install the power flex bushings, you have to remove the plastic collars that are on the sway. These are what makes your car sound like granny's rocking chair while going over bumps. The driver's side collar looked like it was moving rather freely while the passenger side looked like it it was pretty firmly in place. I used a combination of a utility knife, a dremel, and a hammer and chisel to finally get these off.

the new bushings were a b!tch to get on. you probably will alreay have the bar completely free from removing the old, but to get the new ones on you will definitely need it free. after several other attempts, I assembled the bushing and clamp on the bar out from their mounting point, then gradually worked them into place. used an air rachet to tighten them down. getting the nut on the driver's side mount to hold the transmission line on was an equal PITA to its removal.

all in all, the new sway bushings make the car feel much more solid. turning is sharper. even braking feels much better. and the creaking is gone. now to replace that ball joint that's popping. yet another dreaded trip to the dealer.

OldSchool AG

Those are next on my list... thx for the write-up.

BTW if you did all that on your own, why would you take it to the dealer for a simple ball joint? Are you still under warranty?

TTagz

if they would give me the ball joint for free I would replace it myself. They won't warranty replacement with aftermarket parts. I wanted to go poly for the dogbone and their fix for the sway bar was to replace the whole sway with a different part. I didn't trust them to do all that and I didn't want to go without my car for as long as it would have taken them. I don't have very much faith in the local dealer. besides the poly bushings on the sway are a better fix than what they were going to do.