TRD Camry rear sway bar snapped! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

greylock · 10-20-2007, 02:51 PM

Will post pics later. Turned into a parking lot and heard a snap/bang from under the car day before yesterday. Heard a bang from under the car yesterday. Changing the oil today so got under to check and saw my TRD rear sway bar broken. It snapped just before the bend towards the wheel side. Took a look at the break after I removed it and it looks like I might have put a nick in the powder coat during install and it started to rust from that point creating a weak spot. Good thing I kept the stock sway bar with the bushings. I've got that installed now. Will have to check into a replacement.

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-20-2007, 05:36 PM

wow...

but it would take ALOT of rust for it to create a weak point...how long was the swaybar installed for?

TRD VVTi · 10-20-2007, 05:50 PM

What year Camry is it?

EvoFire · 10-20-2007, 05:51 PM

Are the TRD sways solid bars or hollow?

greylock · 10-20-2007, 05:54 PM

2 years. You can see discoloration at the break point where the rust worked its way in. That nick with the rust and the constant flexing of the sway bar probably accelerated the rust working its way in and fatiguing the metal. There is a small entry point and a funnel shaped discoloration getting bigger from that point as in gets further in where it broke.

2005 SE with the TRD factory body kit.

They are hollow.

TRD VVTi · 10-20-2007, 06:04 PM

Damn, that sucks.

Did you have it on the stiffest setting? Do you still have factory springs?

TRD doesn't make a body kit for Gen 5's by the way.

liquidi3ladz · 10-20-2007, 08:52 PM

Curious, got any pics of the bar?

Trueno90Deuce · 10-20-2007, 09:23 PM

woa i thought those things were invincible... i better keep my stock bar around just in case...

greylock · 10-21-2007, 09:32 PM

The pics are 1600x1200 uncompressed jpg's and are about 800kb each. The closeup pics are a bit blurry due to trying to go macro. The orange rust is flash rusting from recent rains the day it snapped, but you can see the darker color where the rust that caused the break started.

http://members.cox.net/greylock/Whole%20bar.JPG
http://members.cox.net/greylock/Big%...%20closeup.JPG
http://members.cox.net/greylock/Brok...%20closeup.JPG

It was set for the middle setting and never change as I was satisfied with the way the car handled. As for the body kit, it was the factory body kit which to my knowledge was supplied by TRD exclusively to the factory so I just call it that.

TypeRex187 · 10-21-2007, 09:51 PM

Question: Will TRD cover your damaged sway bar?

***PhatRoyale*** · 10-21-2007, 10:04 PM

Yikes!

I've heard of Hotchkis snapping before, but have never seen a TRD one do the same until today.

Which brings me to ask the question, did you do any auto-x after you installed the sway bar?

greylock · 10-22-2007, 09:25 AM

TRD warranty is for 1 year for DIY installs. Past that unfortunately.

No auto-x but plenty of hard cornering.

TRD VVTi · 10-22-2007, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhatRoyale

Yikes!

I've heard of Hotchkis snapping before, but have never seen a TRD one do the same until today.

Which brings me to ask the question, did you do any auto-x after you installed the sway bar?

TRD sway bars and STB's are made by Hotchkis.

It's clear that the metal was flawed. I'm going to get a TRD sway bar, not without some apprehension though.

Hopefully when I get mine it won't break as I'll have it adjusted to the stiffest setting.

Thanks for the info and posting pics. I'll make sure that I have a repair order written up for the installation so that I'll get a longer warranty.