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Rod ends bushing sleeves are tight/ zero play. I haven't had time to mess with it lately. I'll look over everything this weekend. It almost sounds as though something is interfering with the chassis. No noise at all over rolling bumps. Sharp bumps (road dots, man holes, driveways) make it clunk. Is it possible the swaybar is making contact with the watts cross member?
Speaking of sway bars, if I jack the car up using jack points under the car and allow the rear Axel to rest all the way down, the center section of the rear sway bar moves under the watts cross member. Lowering the car back down (raising the Axel up) causes the swaybay to get stuck. This requires the sway bar end links to be disconnected, bar moves, car lowered, then end links re attached. Seriously?
Yup, that's why I'm looking at the Fays. It's been on the market much longer so all of the bugs should have been worked out by now and people who have it swear by it, plus there's no price advantage to the BMR and it looks heavier, don't know if it actually is.
I also looked at the Whiteline/Griggs/Cortex, but since I already bought a GT500 finned cover I really don't feel like getting rid of it. Plus, they are way more expensive.
I really don't think it's any fault of BRM, more like I did something wrong and haven't caught it yet.
I like the BMR design over the FAYS. And for cortex (really nice but $$$) and Whiteline, I didn't like the diff mount. BMR looks heavy, but it's only like 7-10lbs more than the stuff you remove. Benifiofar out weigh any weight penalty.
i have a suspiythat it may be the large Steve that is installed on the body bracket where the panhard bar mounted to the body went. It has to be tourqued down pretty hard. Maybe I didn't get it all the way right...
now how do I fix it? I contacted BMR about noise. They said you can just remove sway bay all together. No need for one when using a watts link. Any one on here taken their sway bar off with watts link?
So I went to take mine off and see if it helps. Before I did I tried inspecting it a little closer. There is actually no evidence of it making any contact with the BMR cross member. So I started tying to tap it and push/ pull on things to see if I could feel or hear and play. Well I discovered the poly rodend link on the drivers side had some sort of clunk and play in it. I made a video of it. I know the rod end is torqued and the poly end is as well. It almost feels like the play is where the rod end threads into the main rod. Jam not is tight, but that's the nut that was loose last time I checked. It is still tight from when I tightened it.
now how do I fix it? I contacted BMR about noise. They said you can just remove sway bay all together. No need for one when using a watts link.
It doesn't work quite that way, where the mere presence of a Watts eliminates the need for a rear sta-bar. You could take the rear bar off a PHB car, too, with the result being pretty much the same thing - heavier understeer unless you can raise the rear roll center height enough and add some rear spring rate.
So I started tying to tap it and push/ pull on things to see if I could feel or hear and play. Well I discovered the poly rodend link on the drivers side had some sort of clunk and play in it. I made a video of it. I know the rod end is torqued and the poly end is as well. It almost feels like the play is where the rod end threads into the main rod.
What kind of a ball am I looking at there (inside the end piece that you secure with the jam nut)? Is it all metal or is it something like polyurethane with a metal sleeve running through it? If it's the latter, is the metal sleeve longer or shorter than the ball? I only have your pictures to work with, as the pictures on BMR's site aren't describing or showing this in close enough detail.
Do you know offhand how many rod end/link threads are engaged (or the actual length of thread engagement)?
Norm
Last edited by Norm Peterson; 10-07-2017 at 07:23 AM.
im thinking that because the jam nut was loose and had backed off, the threaded portion on the him joint had some play within the main link. This play allowed unnecessary movements within the link threads and this movement caused wear within the threads. This wear has now increased the tolerance between the threads on the grim joint and the threads within the rod link. This increased tolerance allows the heim joint to shift within the rod link causing the clunk.
i made a video of it making the noise, but don't know how to post it.
I installed a BMR watts link last November. I chose the poly/rod end model. I have a 2014 mustang v6 premium AT (ok, you can stop laughing now. I already have a big v8 BMW and got this as a daily for gas mileage)
Back th the post...
Comparing the mustang to my BMW (2001 E38 sport with multi-link IRS that handles AMAZING) the mustang with the panhard bar, did not. I didn't want to get into shocks and springs and all that so I bought the BMr watts link. I chose this o ER the others as I wanted a chassis mount unit, not the axel mount like steeds or white line. I liked the adjustable roll points. WL ONLY HAS 2.
Anyway, best bang for the buck for a solid rear axel car handling improvement. It doesn't affect the ride at all. You don't even know it's there, except when you're cornering, and even then it's un noticeable except it just corners better. Feels more planted. Tracks the line you want better. More predictable handling.
Downsides ( which is why I found this board and post. I'm searching for solutions to these two things)
#1 when using the stock sway bar, if I jack the car up by chassis ( like a lift at a tire shop) the axel lowers and the middle portion of the sway bar moves under the watts link main cross member. When locating the car back down, axel moving up, the bar hangs up on the cross member requiring the swaybar end links to be disconnected and allow bar to move away and around cross member. Then re attach links . Seriously inconvenient.
2) I have a clunk. I can not find and it wasn't there before I installed it. I've checked, check and rechecked all fasteners and torque specs. I found a jam nut on a rod link had had backed off. Tightened that. Still clunk.
It only clunks on small, sharp bumps, like road dots or cracks in the road. It is quiet driving down the road, even over ups and downs, cornering, waves in the road etc. just over small sharp bumps.
It's driving me insane.
Bmrs instructions leave a lot to be desired. Put the DS crossmember on first. Loosely. Then loosely attack ps side with spacers. THEN torque. Otherwise holes on DS will not line up.
Bottom line. The handling is so much better, I can deal with it.
Originally Posted by Gunganish
now how do I fix it? I contacted BMR about noise. They said you can just remove sway bay all together. No need for one when using a watts link. Any one on here taken their sway bar off with watts link?
So I went to take mine off and see if it helps. Before I did I tried inspecting it a little closer. There is actually no evidence of it making any contact with the BMR cross member. So I started tying to tap it and push/ pull on things to see if I could feel or hear and play. Well I discovered the poly rodend link on the drivers side had some sort of clunk and play in it. I made a video of it. I know the rod end is torqued and the poly end is as well. It almost feels like the play is where the rod end threads into the main rod. Jam not is tight, but that's the nut that was loose last time I checked. It is still tight from when I tightened it.
how do I fix this? Replace poly/rod link?
I installed the BMR Watt's link back in 2015. BMR had recently released it at the time and it was cheaper at $549. They have since raised the price. I've had no issues with it other than some minor ones during install. I don't have any clunking noises. Your description of the clunk ONLY happening when going over sharp bumps makes me think it's not the joints. My first thought was how low is your car? BMR has a little note that says, "Cars that are lowered more than 1.5" in the rear, and/or have "soft" spring rates may need to trim the driver side Axle Mount bracket." My car is lowered 1.5" in the rear and I have Steeda Ultra-Lite springs.
If you don't trim the bracket then you will get clunking when going over sharp bumps because the bracket will hit your frame.
08-03-2017, 04:13 PM
