Lawn Gnome

Yesturday at an autox a bushing on the front sway bar tore in half. If I drop the sway bad would it still be safe to drive around town? Both my father and my brother are out of town for the next few days and the 944 is the only car left.

Porsche-O-Phile

Yes. No problems. I had the same thing happen to me and drove it for a few days until I could get down and order the bushing. . . and wait for it to come in. . . and get around to installing it. . .

Just don't corner very hard I guess. I just drove "street normal"

Lawn Gnome

Ok I figured it wouldn't make too much of a difference as long as I didn't drive like a maniac.

Thanks,
Anthony

Yabo

Yup it will be fine.... my daily driver (not porsche) doesnt come with sway bars.

JustinL

I run my 944 at autocross with no front sway bar. Set your shocks to full stiff if you can and go nuts.

Serge944

You can still drive like a maniac w/o a front bar... The suspension won't fall apart.

Z-man

If your car is tailhappy (ie: oversteer) without the front swayar, just loosen the rear sway bar (if you have one on your car)

-Z.

elf89

Is the swaybar under any tension that will release when you start undoing those bolts? If it is, will simply getting the front of the car in the air unspring it for safe removal or is it trickier than that? Thanks,

Porsche-O-Phile

Nope. It's pretty straightforward. The hardest part was getting at the nut on top of the A-arms. You'll figure it out though - it's actually quite simple.

Lawn Gnome

The front end (or at least one side at a time) will need to be in the air anyway in order to remove the bolts connected to the A-arms unless you don't take the wheels off to do that.

iloveporsches

I've been running since last summer without the front bar.

Lawn Gnome

Is there a reason behind this?

iloveporsches

Yes. Matt H and I were going to replace some suspension stuff of mine last summer, including front sway bar bushings. We ran out of time that day, and didn't get around to putting it back on. I have an oil leak I need to fix first any way (so the new bushings dont get destroyed by oil), and I haven't gotten around to that. We've both been busy, and I've just been lazy. Also, I don't drive my car much from September through May, being away at school, so I pretty much ignored it that entire time.

Lawn Gnome

Oil is what destroyed my bushings. I had a leak from the oil cooler gasket and pretty much everything on that side of the engine was caked in oil. I should probably replace all the rubber bushings when I get the chance.

iloveporsches

That'd be a good thing to do. My bushing was literally in two pieces when we took it off.

Anyway, the car's been driving fine for almost a year now with no front bar. Felt a little different at first, but thats ok. There's no reason why it should mechanically harm the car at all.