I recently replaced my front brakes with ebc greenstuff brake pads, new front rotors, new caliper hardware kit, and replaced the sway bar bushings with ones from energy suspension. Now I have more problems than I started with.

The issue that I have is with the sway bar bushings installation. The mechanic told me that he had a difficult time re-installing the sway bar after he did the bushings. The problem wasn't the bushings, it was the actual sway bar. He claimed that after he bolted on the passenger side, he had to use a winch to pull back the drivers side. He said he was fighting with the winch trying to pull the drivers side back in place for his assistant to thread in the bolts.

I wouldn't have a problem with this installation, however, I now have new issues. I am not a certified automobile mechanic, but I am mechanically inclined and understand physics. I know that if it took that much force by using a winch to pull one side back to place, then there is an equal amount of force being exerted in the opposite direction. I also found a repair manual that states you should undo the tensioners in order to install the sway bar.

The new issues that I am experiencing aside of the ear pierceing squealing of the brakes, are that when I brake, I hear and feel a thump on the floorboard. It sometimes happens on the passengers side and sometimes on the drivers side. It first began when I slowed up to turn. I had a cv-halfshaft-joint replaced before, so I know its not that. However, I have researched on here and wonder if it is the tensioner bushings.

So what could this thump noise be? Could this noise be a result of the improper re-installation of the sway bar? Should I ask the mechanic to re-due the sway bar installation and to undo the tensioners? I mean, I dont want to be the person that tells someone how to do their job. However, I cannot afford to be replacing part after part all because of the improper installation of one part.

Thanks in advance!!

 

Your font end is aligned with the sway bar in place. If you take it off, it sure can be tough to get lined up again with the holes, cause the position of the control arms has been moved from where the bar naturally wants them to be. Using a come along to get the bar back into place is not wrong to do. If you can ever just bolt on a sway bar without some convincing you are lucky IMO. There is no tensioners on the sway bar, I think you may have been reading about the torsion bars instead.

As for the clunking, its an old truck, and could have worn out lower control arm bushings that are clunking under the torsion of the brakes being applied. It could also be the pads moving in the calipers. Did you bang the tangs down with a hammer so the pads were held onto the outside of the capliper??? Or do they just snap into place and come off fairly easily? Did you use all those little metal things in the bag that might have come with your new pads?