replaced s/b bushings - STILL noisy?

[The Digital MagE]

replacing the sway bar bushings helped - a lot. but still a "tac tac tac" as i drove over washboard-type bumps.

today i removed the top of the link rod between the sway bar and the strut, from the strut. shook it hard and, BINGO! - it made that !@#$%^&*(!! noise!

removed the bottom (requires patience, a 14mm open-end wrench and a metric allen wrench to go into the center of the bolt to hold it from turning). replaced the damn thing - autozone - $25.

now all is quiet, as is fitting, for an avalon

[American Pie]

I just replaced my rear sway bar bushings today; now it's nice and quiet back there.

While sourcing the bushings I found out Toyota used two different rear sway bar sizes on the '96 Avalons: the early bar was either 15 or 16mm and sometime during the model year they switched to a 17mm bar. I had to give a Toyota dealer my VIN# and the parts guy told me my production date was January of '96, which meant my car used the smaller bushings (which I think are more common).