156 sway bar mounting bushes

[ozchips]

i wantto replace theseasthere is a bit of side to side movement and some clunking
however i am having a bugger of a time trying to find them ?
anyone know of somewhere to purchase these and are they all the same size ?
Also if i get the outsdie diamater , can I use a universal ?
Still on suspension , I managed to get the front shockies ok as mentioned I was after them in a previous post .
the only other thing i will need to do to the suspension is replce the fornt lower balljoint , by all accounts i have to replace the entire control arm , it is not shagged , but should be done...are the ones on ebay ok ?
thanks everyone

[ozchips]

one more question does anyone know the diameter of the bog standard front swaybar in the 01 156 ?

[L4OMEO]

Hi ozchips

The standard 156 front swaybar is 22mm, rear is 18mm (GTA is different). Not sure on the best place locally to source the bushes locally but there are several places in the UK which do them and can ship to Australia. Try ebay.co.uk, or search in http://forum.alfa156.net/forum/ (not sure what the protool is with recommending an alternative forum, but if it helps  ).

Replacing them is a painful job as you need to drop the front subframe, and I think you will need to drill out the bolts holding the brackets on to get them apart. I've been quoted 3 hrs labour to do mine by someone who is quite familiar with the job. Its also possible your clunking is coming from the drop-links rather than the mounting points, these can wear quickly. There are plenty of after-market replacements on ebay but I don't know what they're like.

Not sure on your other questions, hopefully someone else can help.

Cheers
Rory

[ozchips]

Thanks for info L4omeo
I had the car looked at , at they told me i needed to replace the tie rod ends as one is stuffed , the lower left had ball joint which unfortuatly means the entire lower left hand control arm and the sway bar mounting rubbers
I got inot contact with Fulcrum and they said they do a universal which will fit the alfa but needed sway bar diameter
i will ring the place and double check it was the mounting bushes

[L4OMEO]

Sorry ozchips, just realised I've put you wrong in my earlier post - the standard anti-roll bars on the 156 are 22mm/14mm f/r, not 22mm/18mm. The Eibach kit is 26mm/18mm f/r, or in percentage terms an increase in stiffness of around 95%/175% respectively over standard.

Rory

[wankski]

if you mean the lower wishbones, it depends... generally ebay ones are ok, but there are several manufacturers... the top ones differ by only very little cost from genuine, so u'd be mad to skimp on that and wind up with a problem...

if the ball joint is shagged then yes, you have to replace the lower as a complete arm... u'd be mad not to replace the top wishbones as they are relatively cheap, so u ought to renew now and cover it with the same amount of labour, more or less...

[ozchips]

thanks for the replies everyone
i had a service and cam belt change at humphrey motors in Toowoomba and he checked it for me .
3 different places had checked the fron t suspension and 3 different ideas .
I will go wit hthe humphrey motors diagnosis as they are the Alfa guys .
I am told I need to front lower control arms both left and right , one is totally stuffed the other is ok but not great . I need sway bar linkages , not mounting bushes , he reckons one bush is slightly dodgey but should not cause too many worries . He also said I may need front uppers as well but that would need to be checked . he said tie rod ends looked fine to him (but i figure i may as replace them at the same time) and shockies seemed to be ok
bloody expensive sounding to me lol , I still have not priced this as yet