Working on a 1990. Bushings on sway bar are shot. No problems or noise but the bar has a lot of rust on it, on both sides. Passenger a little worse, with the covering on the bar having come off. (pics attached)

Trying to decide if I should get in there a replace the sway bar and the bushings or just let it run until something breaks/gets loose. Daily driver, 120k, do a 2 hour highway commute 2x a week. A little worried bar might pop on interstate.

Anyone got any advice/experience either way on this? OEM bars on ebay for about 100, nothing I can pull in the local yards.

 

The bar on my old accord was pretty rusty and held strong at 300k miles. If you can get the bolt loose, you may just want to replace the rubber bushings. When you tighten it back up, you stop tightening when the rubber bushings just start to compress.

Maybe clean off the rust with a wire wheel and paint using that rustoleum rust converter/primer.

 

If it was a tie rod, I'd say change out. A piece of steel like that should be OK. If you can take it off before you get another one, I'd wait. I might even drive it for a few days without it while you wait for a new one. It does look nasty. My Corvair was missing the bracket on one side, so the sway bar wasn't doing anything. If it were to fail, you may never notice it in normal driving, except a rattle.

Let use know what you do.

 

Thanks for the responses y'all. I think I'm going to replace the bushings and when I've got it pulled apart really take a good look at see how bad the corrosion is. Helpful to hear PA that yours held up in similar condition. I'll post some photos or a follow up once I get the whole thing apart.

Thanks again!!!