Dinan sway bar brackets

[Boz M5]

Last tuesday I was driving to Mojave. I got to ride in a P51 Mustang, also saw the space ship one that set the record the day before, but thats another story. Any way on the way, the sway bar bracket broke. Boy what a scary ride that is. I made it home and it ruined the back tires. I mean the inside cord is showing. I call and talk to Dinan this week. And get the run around. They ask me if I have there suspension on. Which I tell them its stock except for the strut and sway bars which are Dinans. He says to me thats a problem, Im probably the only guy that has those bars without there suspension. I say your kidding right. There's lots of people running the same thing I am. They want to see the bracket and would send me a replacement. But no dice on any kind of reembursement on the tires. I ordered new brackets from daniel at beaspower yesterday. The stock brackets and the Dinans are cheesey little piss ant brackets. Sorry to rattle on but tell me what the dinan warranty covers.
Thanks,
Pete

[cali6869]

****... sorry man... I thought Dinan had warranty for everyting?

[Gorilla Beast]

I dont agree why you are claiming Dinan should reimburse you for tires. Im assuming it broke on way back from desert, which is yes a long drive depending on where you live, but i dont see how you can claim its totally the bars brackett snapping the fault of your tire wear? Mabye your camber and or alignment have been off and there was already lots of wear. Maybe you just noticed it when you checked out the bar and had car up on the air?

If thats the case then BMW would have to pay out huge claims against them filed continuously by E39 owners w/ this same concern since the brackett is an obviously known weak link.

I do agree it is B.S. for Dinan to state its a problem that you are not using their "branded" suspension when were talking about an OE bracket part that snapped under normal driving conditions. Im running the dinan bar w/ H&R coilovers, i however soon invested in some BeastPower bracketts to ensure this does not happen.

Good luck anyways if you pursue some kind of claim about your tires.

[Boz M5]

You know I never expected dinan to reimburse me for the tires. But has any body on the board ever had a problem with their vehicle and dinan warrantied it? Also I had zero messed up tire wear until the bracket broke. I pulled over immediately when it happened. I knew what broke as soon as the *** end wanted to come around. I checked it and saw it was broke but I had like 80 miles to get home. And thats all it took to ruin the tires. I just wanted to see what they would say.

Originally Posted by Gorilla Beast

I dont agree why you are claiming Dinan should reimburse you for tires. Im assuming it broke on way back from desert, which is yes a long drive depending on where you live, but i dont see how you can claim its totally the bars brackett snapping the fault of your tire wear? Mabye your camber and or alignment have been off and there was already lots of wear. Maybe you just noticed it when you checked out the bar and had car up on the air?

If thats the case then BMW would have to pay out huge claims against them filed continuously by E39 owners w/ this same concern since the brackett is an obviously known weak link.

I do agree it is B.S. for Dinan to state its a problem that you are not using their "branded" suspension when were talking about an OE bracket part that snapped under normal driving conditions. Im running the dinan bar w/ H&R coilovers, i however soon invested in some BeastPower bracketts to ensure this does not happen.

Good luck anyways if you pursue some kind of claim about your tires.

[ELEVENS]

Originally Posted by Boz M5

...The stock brackets and the Dinans are cheesey little piss ant brackets. ...

Hey Pete, that's funny The Dinans look like they cost a nickel to stamp. BP brackets are bulletproof.

[Redshift]

Your alignment must have been off. You could totally disconnect the swaybar and drive around forever and not cord tires with a proper alignment. I would say that has nothing to do with the bar.

I would disagree with Dinan that most people who have the rear bar also have their suspension. Definitely not the case! I can understand them wanting to see the bracket before warrantying it, but they should at least offer to let you buy one now, then pay you back for it later once they see the broken one. Just the way I would handle it if I were in their shoes.

Get the BeastPower brackets and forget about it! They're pricey but they're worth it for peace of mind.

[Need4Spd]

I also don't understand how a broken sway bar bracket could cord your tires. They're not related problems. My stock bracket broke and I think I must have driven hundreds of miles that way, as the handling seemed mushy for some time before I thought to check under the car and sure enough, it had snapped clean off. The rubber bushing was missing, even. But no abnormal tire wear whatsoever.

For the tires to be corded on the inside edge, you have to have quite a bit of negative camber. To get that, you need to have collapsed springs (and the car weighed down with added load) or other bad suspension components, but the sway bar bracket? I have a hard time thinking that could be the cause. Maybe you had a catastrophic event regarding some other component, the side result of which was a broken bracket, but it wouldn't be the other way around. Looking at the suspension geometery underneath, I just can't see how a broken bracket could cause tire failure. They don't affect camber.

P.S. The ride in the P-51 must have been awesome!

[jeeperjohn]

BozM5,

I have to agree with the others that the sway bar had nothing to do with your abnormal tire wear. That was already there (probably out of alignment from the suspension settling from new or since your last alignment) before the bracket failed. I broke mine and drove for a least the same distance without any tire wear issues.
The sway bar does not load the suspension much in straights and moderate driving (slow turns, etc). In fact, the probabilty of the bracket breaking is most likely when turning into a steep driveway diagonally when the car's suspension is at it's geatest articulation (one wheel compressed and the other side extended to it's limit).
Either way, the brackets are easy to change without raising the car. Just loosen both sides to get the new brackets started into the upper slots and rotate the sway bar down to attach the lower bolts and tighten them.

Good luck, John

[DZeckhausen]

Originally Posted by Boz M5

Any way on the way, the sway bar bracket broke. Boy what a scary ride that is. I made it home and it ruined the back tires. I mean the inside cord is showing. I call and talk to Dinan this week. And get the run around. They ask me if I have there suspension on. Which I tell them its stock except for the strut and sway bars which are Dinans. He says to me thats a problem, Im probably the only guy that has those bars without there suspension. I say your kidding right. There's lots of people running the same thing I am. They want to see the bracket and would send me a replacement. But no dice on any kind of reembursement on the tires.

Can you describe why it was a "scary ride?" The loss of the rear swaybar should simply result in increased understeer at the limit and some additional body roll. Otherwise, the effect on the handling should be benign. Several of my customers have suffered from broken swaybar brackets and only discovered it because of a slight rattling noise coming from the rear. Did you have some "event" that resulted in an immediate change in the vehicle's handling? If so, I think you need to investigate further as the swaybar bracket is probably not the only thing broken.

As others have already mentioned, there should be no relationship between a broken rear swaybar mount and a corded rear tire unless, of course, the swaybar endlink also broke and a component was rubbing against the inside edge of the tire.

Dinan was correct to distance themselves from a claim of consequential damages because their components had nothing to do with the tires. On the other hand, they should have immediately sent you a replacement rear swaybar bracket at no charge and, if it was up to me, they would have done it overnight. To give you a hard time because you were running their bars and not their full suspension is outrageous. If there's a problem with this setup, then why the heck do they sell those parts individually? I started with the Dinan rear bar and front strut brace. I didn't upgrade to the complete Stage 3 suspension until nearly a year later. I don't think your configuration is that rare. I would suspect, in fact, that your setup is more common than the full blown, overpriced Dinan Stage 3!

[Boz M5]

[I just put on a new stock sway bar brace. two new tires and put it on budies alighnment rack at his tire shop. We couldn't align it but the right rear tow and camber were way out. It all had to happen at close to the same time. Because the prior weekend I rotated tires and the tire wear was fine. I run the stock backs in the front also. It still doesn't ride any where close to how it should but its alot better with the sway bar hooked up. Ive parked it for now then I will have it towed on monday to get it fixed. With it on the rack you could see from the back thst the right tire was pointed in and towards the right. Im trying to figure where it happened at. I get off the freeway in a swooping right up hill turn to get to my home. I know I took it pretty fast that afternoon (getting to ride in a P51 Mustang) but it wasn't like an OH S__T turn. The road is pretty rough mid turn but I don't rember slidding as I have some times. Oh well I will fix it and try to make the car better. I should be getting the beastpower brackets. Ive got the H&R coilovers but Im waiting for ground controls camber plates.
Thanks,
Pete


UOTE=DZeckhausen]Can you describe why it was a "scary ride?" The loss of the rear swaybar should simply result in increased understeer at the limit and some additional body roll. Otherwise, the effect on the handling should be benign. Several of my customers have suffered from broken swaybar brackets and only discovered it because of a slight rattling noise coming from the rear. Did you have some "event" that resulted in an immediate change in the vehicle's handling? If so, I think you need to investigate further as the swaybar bracket is probably not the only thing broken.

As others have already mentioned, there should be no relationship between a broken rear swaybar mount and a corded rear tire unless, of course, the swaybar endlink also broke and a component was rubbing against the inside edge of the tire.

Dinan was correct to distance themselves from a claim of consequential damages because their components had nothing to do with the tires. On the other hand, they should have immediately sent you a replacement rear swaybar bracket at no charge and, if it was up to me, they would have done it overnight. To give you a hard time because you were running their bars and not their full suspension is outrageous. If there's a problem with this setup, then why the heck do they sell those parts individually? I started with the Dinan rear bar and front strut brace. I didn't upgrade to the complete Stage 3 suspension until nearly a year later. I don't think your configuration is that rare. I would suspect, in fact, that your setup is more common than the full blown, overpriced Dinan Stage 3![/quote]