2000 Mazda stabilizer links? OK to NOT replace them?

Forgot to add that this car has 155k miles on it and I'm original owner

Darn..... left out more info

This car is a 2000 Mazda Protege ES with 1.8 liter engine

The links are cheap and easy to replace. just do it yourself and save about $100 or more. rusted on bolts/nuts will be the biggest problem.

If it's a 2000 protege make sure you get the right links. Seems there was a design change some time in the model year in the front.

In addition to Brent's comments, replace them *before* you take the car in for the alignment.

it probably won't affect it to any significant degree, but a good rule of thumb to follow is to do any repairs/replacements involving anything suspension related *before* your alignment, so that is the last thing done to the car.

nate

Rock Auto shows the links for about 40 bucks. Takes a couple wrenches or a saw to cut the old ones off. Then you just stack the parts in order and tighten them down. I also recommend you replace the mount bushings as well. Do them BEFORE the alignment. That way the alignment is the last item done. The general rule of thumb is to do any suspension work before any alignment.

As for "Will skipping the stabilizer links adversely affect the alignment, Not really in itself.

tire wear, Somewhat, the stabilizer helps keep the tires in contact with the road. wear is decreased because the less time the tire spends in uncontrolled hops lessens the wear.

safety, Yep, the above reason is also why.

etc, the constant pounding of the worn links isn't helping the rest of the suspension parts.

Understand and def will do that

But was curious if its possible to NOT do the sway bar links at all?

IOW.... what is the worst that could happen if they don't get fixed and instead I do the other work.... I.e. brakes, align?

I'm unemployed at the moment so money is and issue. I will, however, have the sway bar links replaced IF it really is that mission critical

I could try and do the brakes myself so the money saved could be put towards having the sway bar links replaced I guess. I think front disc brakes are easy enough even a dummy like me could do em?

BTW all.... THANKS for the help!

Possibly. hopefully someone else will post and comment, but your average front discs are eminently doable by a relatively clueful mechanic. How much were you quoted, and what was the quote for? e.g. pads and resurface only, pads and rotors, or the full boat brake job (pads, rotors, calipers, and hoses?)

nate

Estimate is $185 for the front only

I know it includes pads and rotors..... but not sure if it includes more than that calipers and hoses. etc

OK so I'm getting from you that sway bar links do NOT affect wheel alignment... that they are two sep systems? yes?

My mech said the same thing but I needed confirming.

HOWEVER.... you say that there are still GOOD reasons as far as tire wear and safety to get the sway bar links fixed. yes?

Just wanna make sure I'm getting this. Ha!

You have it. In theory they won't have an effect on alignment. As long as the sway bar isn't loaded when the vehicle is sitting level it isn't going to change the alignment.

Many alignment shops have warranties BUT if you have those worn parts on there they may have a way out of it if something they do is wrong. "Gee Sir, we did the alignment to the numbers the machine said, BUT when you replaced those worn links you must have moved something, Sorry but that's not covered"

Negative impact on handling.

depends on what conditions you drive in and how hard you push the car. The worst that can happen is a crash if you push the car to the point that not having a sway bar makes a big enough difference. (without the links it's like not having a sway bar because it is disconnected from the suspension.

If you can do brakes then the sway bar links are easy. Seriously, the sway bar links are a couple of nuts or bolts to remove to get the old ones off. The worst possible situation is needing to destroy them to remove the old links. The new links should come with new hardware to use.

Mazda uses a funky design for the links that is prone to breakage. If they had done it like many other makes you could replace them on the cheap with a with piece of threaded rod :) (Did that on a cavalier when a rusted sway bar link broke while fixing something in the general area. The threaded rod was handy. A couple extra nuts, cut to length... perfect functional replacement)

They probably don't, although I could see someone knocking the alignment off if they get a little aggressive in removing the links. A good mechanic shouldn't do that, but it could happen.

Yes, but if you want to put it off, you can put it off a little bit. I'd get it done, though. Especially if you have already put money into good tires, and you want to get as much out of the tires as possible.

--scott

Ok thanks so much Steve (and others)!!

You've been a BIG help!

Ok point taken

I just checked my excel sheet with car records for this car and see that I had the Mazda dealer replace the front left/right sway bars on 7/2/2003.

Car had 52k miles on it then and now has

Does 5 years of life and 103k miles use seem abt right for these sway links?

As I posted earlier, the mazda design for model years around that time and maybe even today, is not particularly durable. I haven't dug into one recently but as I recall there are plastic heat-staked 'caps'. The plastic degrades and the heat stakes break off. The link then comes un-done. When my mustang was in the body shop some years ago one of the rear links on my parents' mazda was separated and clanging and I could feel the handling loss. It annoyed me so I kludged it back together. There was enough left that the link still snapped back together. I then secured it with epoxy or something. I don't remember. I didn't expect it to last but to this day it has as far as I know.