Failed sway bar link, front and rear, 2013 passat tdi

[hoevesmith]

The sway bar links in the front and rear of my 2013 passat tdi have failed after 18,000 miles of not very hard driving. This results in a loud clunking sound from the suspension area when travelling approximately 20 mph over bumps. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

 

[coowhip]

I think there was another post about this happening to someone else on the rear. May have to search the forum to find the previous posting.

 

[JARED_LA]

This exactly what I am experiencing only after my last alignment.

 

[bumper]

The sway bar links in the front and rear of my 2013 passat tdi have failed after 18,000 miles of not very hard driving. This results in a loud clunking sound from the suspension area when travelling approximately 20 mph over bumps. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

Yes welcome to my world....3 of the 4 have been replaced already on my 2012.

 

[bboshart]

I had my front ones replaced. I am on a vacation trip right now and getting noise from the rear now that I am assuming its the links too.

 

[MichaelB]

I had the rear links replaced about a month ago due to that clunking from the rear. At the time I figured since the car still has warranty, take it to the dealer and have them have a look at it. Last fall I had an H&R rear sway bar installed and unfortunately the dealers tech said the bolts were reinstalled too tight and that caused the failure. They did order new parts for me and install them at my expense as they wouldn't warranty an aftermarket part install. Now after reading this thread I wonder if the dealer tech didn't know what he was talking about. If the end links fail again they can't say the bolts were installed to tight. It's been quite now........but for how long?

 

[passatv6af]

I have had 3 front end links replaced already. Maybe it's because of my hard driving (h&r sway bars). I have 43k.

First set that went bad was at 35k. Dealer wanted me to put on my stock sway bars to even consider replacing them. That's $200 to uninstall and another $200 to reinstall. So I went to a local shop and had them replaced instead of dealing with volkswagens BS service.

 

[MichaelB]

I have had 3 front end links replaced already. Maybe it's because of my hard driving (h&r sway bars). I have 43k.

I had 4k on the sway bar install when the links failed. The car only has 9k on it now. I do not drive hard very often. At least the dealer didn't give any grief about replacing the end links. Just charged me what we all know was too much for the parts and labor. I'm not gonna go looking for the bill right now. A trip to the original installer is 160 miles round trip so I opted to bite the bullet and get in done in about an hour.

Edit: Did you have 35k on the sway bar install or 35k total on the end links?
More thoughts: The reason I ask this is I would like to know if the H&R bars are causing the end link failures or is it a design flaw with the end link? In your original post you did not mention the H&R bar as I did in mine.

 

[MichaelB]

The sway bar links in the front and rear of my 2013 passat tdi have failed after 18,000 miles of not very hard driving. This results in a loud clunking sound from the suspension area when travelling approximately 20 mph over bumps. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

Question:...........Any mods to the suspension? Is everything stock when the failure occurred?

 

[MichaelB]

This exactly what I am experiencing only after my last alignment.

Question: Why did you have the car aligned?

 

[passatv6af]

I had 4k on the sway bar install when the links failed. The car only has 9k on it now. I do not drive hard very often. At least the dealer didn't give any grief about replacing the end links. Just charged me what we all know was too much for the parts and labor. I'm not gonna go looking for the bill right now. A trip to the original installer is 160 miles round trip so I opted to bite the bullet and get in done in about an hour.

Edit: Did you have 35k on the sway bar install or 35k total on the end links?
More thoughts: The reason I ask this is I would like to know if the H&R bars are causing the end link failures or is it a design flaw with the end link? In your original post you did not mention the H&R bar as I did in mine.

I had the sway bars installed at 28k. They went bad within 5-7k. My mechanic said that it's very likely that the sway bars are putting stress on my end links. I hope I don't have to keep replacing them few times a year. I got both replaced + labor was $160 with OE.

 

[hoevesmith]

Question:...........Any mods to the suspension? Is everything stock when the failure occurred?

MichaelB, there has not been any modifications, all is original from factory.

 

[MichaelB]

MichaelB, there has not been any modifications, all is original from factory.

Were the replacement links covered by warranty?

 

[bboshart]

I had my front ones replaced. I am on a vacation trip right now and getting noise from the rear now that I am assuming its the links too.

My rear links were replaced this week. One had excessive play and the other was broke. All four replaced now under warranty.

 

[MichaelB]

OK I have been following this thread. My rear end links failed after installing a H&R sway bar but what I am reading here the end links fail prematurely with stock components. Is this an issue that is starting to rear it's ugly head? Are there better replacement options than OE?

 

[JARED_LA]

Question: Why did you have the car aligned?

Hard right pull

 

[MichaelB]

Hard right pull

And then your suspension end links were trashed? Am I on to something here or is it just my imagination?

 

[Justinw303]

Am I reading this thread correctly? Are most of the end link failures reported here associated with the installation of an aftermarket sway bar?

 

[MichaelB]

Am I reading this thread correctly? Are most of the end link failures reported here associated with the installation of an aftermarket away bar?

Some are some are not . That is why I'm inquiring what kind of failures there have been.

 

[JimNap]

OK I have been following this thread. My rear end links failed after installing a H&R sway bar but what I am reading here the end links fail prematurely with stock components. Is this an issue that is starting to rear it's ugly head? Are there better replacement options than OE?

There is another option vs. OE. Neuspeed offers what appears to be a beefier set of rear sway bar links:

http://www.neuspeed.com/270/0/0/1374/321090-rear-sway-bar-link.html

However, I cannot confirm that they are any better than stock as I do not yet own a set. I've been eyeballing them for some time now waiting for the price to become more reasonable. That and I was also wondering about the material... T6 aluminum? a sway bar link? aluminum really?

Certainly appears thicker than the OEM units which are... what? stamped steel? In the comparison photo on Neuspeed's site the OE's look like toothpicks compared to the Neuspeed units.

 

[coowhip]

I would definately buy them if upgrading the rear sway. Makes a huge difference, and they aren't even that badly priced. Buy nice or buy twice...or three times as they break.

 

[GuyGuy]

I just replaced my front ones last week after 95000kms. I ordered the Moog ones from Rockauto.com ($80 for 2 shipped to my door in Canada) and they come with a fitting to add grease later on.

super easy to change. It takes longer to lift the car and remove the tire then it does changing the end link.

Also the Moog are much beafier then the stock ones.

 

[LokiWolf]

Anybody got pics of a failed one?

 

[MichaelB]

Anybody got pics of a failed one?

You can see nothing from a photo with my failure. They look like new I believe the bearing or the bushing fails and that leads to the clunking sound. When I look at the nuespeed or moog options, yes both look beefier, but the bearings look to be the same size. I really don't know what the failure mode is here that is why I have asked the previous questions. The dealer tech told me the bushings were too tight. So I had them replaced but with only 1,000 or so miles on them it is too early to tell if they will fail again. Supposedly he would not have installed them too tight eh? With the aftermarket sway-bar they still have an out for the repair if the end links fail again.

 

[LokiWolf]

You can see nothing from a photo with my failure. They look like new I believe the bearing or the bushing fails and that leads to the clunking sound. When I look at the nuespeed or moog options, yes both look beefier, but the bearings look to be the same size. I really don't know what the failure mode is here that is why I have asked the previous questions. The dealer tech told me the bushings were too tight. So I had them replaced but with only 1,000 or so miles on them it is too early to tell if they will fail again. Supposedly he would not have installed them too tight eh? With the aftermarket sway-bar they still have an out for the repair if the end links fail again.

Exactly my concern. People are having them fail. The the links breaking or the bushings failing. Completely different failures. A thicker more stout or better made link will help if the link itself is failing, but not the bushing, unless the after market ones are using a different rubber.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[tdiatlast]

My 09 JSW had (front) failed links at 76k miles. The upper bushings were crushed/torn. There was no link failure.
Shop foreman claimed it was a common part to fail, even as early as 76k miles.

 

[MichaelB]

Well after all the discussion here both the front and rear end links are a poorly designed part............do we all agree on that? Is there a solution? Is this going to be one of those wear items that gets replaced way to often due to poor VW engineering? Wow!!!!! And everybody just sit idly by and except it as something that can fail at any time. Clunk Clunk

 

[MichaelB]

Exactly my concern. People are having them fail. The the links breaking or the bushings failing. Completely different failures. A thicker more stout or better made link will help if the link itself is failing, but not the bushing, unless the after market ones are using a different rubber.

Loki,
Have you had a failure? And if so what was the failure mode? Bushing, bearing, or breaking the rod?

 

[MichaelB]

Certainly appears thicker than the OEM units which are... what? stamped steel? In the comparison photo on Neuspeed's site the OE's look like toothpicks compared to the Neuspeed units.

Not stamped, they are welded steel rod("toothpicks") to the ends that contain the bushings that the bolts go through.

 

[tdiatlast]

MichaelB: I think you're over-reacting. There's no indication, other than my tech's off-hand comment, that the link is a "poorly designed part".

How about it, gurus? Is this suspension design any more fragile than previous generations? Are we just dealing with normal QC issues? (That would be my opinion at this point, with the little info we have).

MichaelB: Even a casual reading of posts in this club would tell you that no one here "...just sit(s) idly by and except it as something that can fail at any time. Clunk Clunk " That's why we're discussing anti-sway bar links.