Just swapped out the 2 front stabilizer/sway bar bushings on my 01 last night. Thought I'd share my thoughts on this inexpensive bit of maintenance.

My car has 70k miles on it. And as such I wasn't sure if I was going to experience any improvement. 70k seems like too low of mileage for a rubber bushing to be ready for replacement. But 14 years seems like a long time for rubber to be exposed to the elements and still behave like new. As this was $45 worth of parts (incl shipping) from Sewell, I figured it was a cheap gamble.

The job is exceedingly easy (Took me 30 min as it was my first time doing it on this car). So I won't go into details. I'm sure you can find instructions on this forum should you need them.

As it turns out it was a good decision. When I first pulled out the old bushings and compared the feel of them to the new bushings, it almost seemed like the old were stiffer. Certainly nothing about their outward appearance and feel made it obvious they were in worse shape than the new bushings. I was beginning to think I just wasted $45. But that changed once I swapped them out and got the car on the road.

What I've noticed is a decrease in side to side weight shifting during slower speed turns. Say a 15 - 20mph right hand turn, for example. The car stays flatter. Doesn't lean like it had been. And my obliques aren't flexing to keep my upper body up. Definitely added some comfort there.

Haven't had much time on the freeway yet, but the car feels a little bit more planted there as well. Probably not as big of an impact as the sport rear sway bar made. But not far off either.

Anyway, if you've got a ton of years and/or miles on your stabilizer/sway bar bushings, it seems a worth while investment to swap those bad boys out and regain some flattened stability.

 

This is good information. Thanks for posting

 

as i'm in the market for another LS I"ve been checking maintenance history and have noticed several cars with that kind of mileage that have had those bushings done. Strikes me as somewhat unusual. The cynic in me says dealerships are replacing these as a simple quick job, and charging a good bit for it, high profit.
anybody have any idea what a dealer would charge for this?

 

an important wear and tear item that makes such a great improvement on daily driving.

not sure about the cost from a dealer tho, but i couldnt imagine it being more then 1 hour of labor.