how many MM's is the Z52 rear swaybar?

[Edmond]

I need to replace the bushings on the rear sway bar of my 88' Z52 coupe and I noticed there are various sizes.

Anyone have any idea how thick my swaybar is?

[Ken]

Per Mike Antonick's C4 "Corvette Specs" book:

Stabilizer material and bar diameter: HR steel; 0.75" (base, Z52); 0.94" (Z51), painted to protect against corrosion.

[c4cruiser]

I just installed new poly bushings all around on my 87 Z52. The front bar is 30mm and the rear is 22mm.

You may want to swap the front bushings at the same time if you are considering poly bushings. New bushing in the rear only will change how the car handles. The end link bushings should be done at the same time. A complete set of poly bushings should be around $50-$70 and figure up to around $50-100 for labor to install the end link bushings.

When I did my 87, I found a lot of rust on the nuts and bolts that hold the bar bushings to the body. You will have to remove the spare tire carrier (easy!) to get to the nuts and remove the bar from the car. Be ready to soak the nuts with WD-40 or equal. One nut did not want to turn because of the rust and I was afraid I would snap the bolt which is pressed into a bracket. After about a quater can of WD-40, it started to turn but got really hot! All of these nuts are 13mm, so make sure you have 6-point sockets. The nuts on the end links are 18mm and the bolt is 15mm.

I cleaned up the threads with a die and used all new nuts and some anti-sieze compound for the re-install.

[Edmond]

It seems like everyone is going with this poly stuff. Can I still buy the rubber bushings?

It's not a money issue but it's more of a time and work issue. I thought that if I were to buy poly bushing for the rear sway bar, I may as well buy a complete set of poly bushings and do the whole front and rear. The problem is that I don't have the time to undertake such a task.

[c4cruiser]

I had my front bar and the end links and lower control arm mounts off the car in about 20 minutes. The rear bar took a lot longer because I had to soak the rust on the bolts with WD-40 and let it work in, but the actual work time for the rear bar was about an half-hour (the spare tire carrier took about 10 minutes to remove).

I took the bars and the end links to my local Corvette shop to have the poly bushing pressed into the end links and the bar ends. You can do these yourself if you have a fairly large bench vise and large sockets. The lower control arm bushing mounts are supposed to be bonded to the aluminum bracket, but they should push out or you can just drill out the rubber and clean the inside of the bracket before pressing in new bushings.

OEM Rubber bushing are available, but the poly bushing will greatly improve the handling and reduce body roll over the OEM ones.

[Edmond]

I know the poly bushings will last longer than the rubber ones but I'm afraid of wear onto other parts of the car due to the poly bushings being stiffer than the rubber.

My car is a daily driver, I don't bring it out on the track or anything like that so anything more than stock handling isn't really necessary.

Where can I buy OEM rubber bushings at?

[Edmond]

So where can I order OEM rubber bushings at?