Clonk! - over bumps 12 January 2017  |  Stu

Affecting: Anything with wheels

In a word, 'Anti roll'...that's two words. Ok, in two words. 'Anti Roll bar'.... Ok three. 'Anti Roll Bar Links....

The idea of the A.R.B is to help stop vehicle sway when cornering. Ever seen a 2CV cornering? - well they don't have them. 

Ok, you get the picture. The Anti Roll Bar on most vehicles is attached in some way to the front lower suspension wishbone or track control arms. Some of the smaller models like Ax/Saxo/106 etc won't be fitted with an A.R.B unless it's a sporty model. In which case, this is nothing to do with you. For those Saxo / 106 madels that DO have an A.R.B There will not be a 'link' rod as such, but the outer ends of the A.R.B will be secured to the lower suspension arm by an alloy 'u' clamp and rubber bush. This alloy clamp is prone to fracture, which will of course allow the end of the A.R.B to move around and possibly emit the odd clonk.

On Most other vehicles, where the A.R.B meets the front suspension there will be either a long pin with a series of bushes (Clio/Fiat/Alfa's). A 'U' shaped clamp with a bush in it (Saxo/106) or in many other cases a rod with a ball-joint at each end.
They will all wear out eventually, but the rods are favourite to fail first. Common on Xantia C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 306 307 308 406 407 147 156 Punto and many more, but they will all utter the same cry of 'Clonk!' when you hit a bump or pothole. 406's have the added bonus of having REAR vertical rods and rear HORIZONTAL rods. But don't worry they speak the same language.

If your Anti Roll Bar Links or Rods or Bushes are talking to you, the only course of action is to get them changed. Prepare to have to hacksaw the old ones off as the nuts are almost always seized. So make sure you get new nuts with your rods. The majority of rods we supply will have nuts included.

www.eurocarcare.net/front-suspension.html