AFE Power Sway bars faulty beware see pictures inside

[coldsteelrain]

Hi Bimmer folk
In 2018 August 1st to be specific I bought a set of AFE sway bars and springs through Bimmerclinc here in NJ. It was all professionally installed by their certified mechanics. Never tracked the car or did anything crazy with it. Never hit a curb or had an accident.
In the mean time I did other suspension upgrades like JRZ RS PRO3 coilovers, iRP camber arms and SPL sway bar end links. Again all professionally installed by the same shop and all torqued to spec.

Forward to last week.
I was driving on the highway and I heard a loud bang. I thought I broke an end link. I was only a mile away from home so as soon I got back I took the rear driver side wheel off (where I heard the noise from) and found the sway bar had cleanly snapped off.
I took the loose piece off and disconnected the other side of the sway bar from the end link.
Proceeded to notify the shop that did the install and tried to get in touch with Afe.

Bimmerclinic has been great in helping me deal with this issue and they took a look at the car the following day to see why or how this happened.
We discovered that one half of the cracked piece was already rusted which means the crack was there for a while before it finally broke (see pictures). There was also stress fractures in the metal near where it split.
Brought us to a conclusion that it was a manufacturing error. The metal was fatigued and I am afraid that there is more of these out there that might be cracked partially or may down the road.

Now the only way I was able to get in touch with someone from Afe was to file a support ticket. After about 4-5 days they decided to answer. In the email exchange we had they requested pictures, my cars vin number, invoice, suspension upgrades and many more details which were provided. He proceeds to tell me that the warranty expired a month ago. When pressed about the rust and stress fractures and the fact that this should not fail ever (never heard of it myself) he doesn't seem concerned that it broke but was busy looking for ways to blame others. After more exchanges at which I requested to have them cover labor cost for a replacement of my own choosing that I will pay for as I wouldn't want another one of theirs. As a token of gratitude he wants to offer me a replacement Afe rear sway bar and that's it. He claims it was incidentally damaged lol

Now at the end I don't care about the labor cost or another one of their faulty sway bars but the fact that at NO POINT was he concerned that it broke, or when offered by me to send it to them to see why it broke he didn't even acknowledge that. He didn't seem a bit concerned about it like this has happened before to them.
Now maybe some of you might not agree with me but I certainly find this very troubling from a supposedly reputable company that sells performance parts.

I already bought another set of adjustable sway bars by Hutchinson. I will be removing the front Afe sway bar as well and I'll have it checked out once removed.
If I find anything else I'll update
Thx for reading

[Tommy L Garage]

Insane. Seems like a very unsafe product and the vendor response is unacceptable. Curious to see how it turns out. But it could have ended very badly for you has you been driving fast or happened to be cornering at speed. Insane

[knightarmor]

That's nuts. Cheap steel or mfg defect.

[pikkagtr]

Wow
This is honestly the first time ever seeing a away bar snap from non accidental damage

[coldsteelrain]

Originally Posted by pikkagtr

Wow
This is honestly the first time ever seeing a away bar snap from non accidental damage

The shop I was at said the same thing and they have been in business a long time.
I just wanted to make people aware if they have the same one
Also be aware of the poor support by manufacturer

[hC1001]

Sorry to see that happen. Thats standard customer service tho. A lifetime warranty blown shock will not cover uninstall and install costs. They couldve denied warranty as well since it was out of warranty. I agree, they couldve been more concerned with the failure and asked for the part back to see what went wrong and learn from it. Looks like bad manufacturing. The thickness is uneven around the bar but not sure if thats normal or not. The bars are meant to twist but i think a uniform thickness would be best.

Ive had some bad experience with bimmerclinic last year. They tore the sides of my armrest when they were loosening the ebrake cables, cracked plastic trim, as well as other things not installed correctly. They didnt have pics of the interior to verify my claim.

[Brasko]

I run the AFE front and rear sway bars on my F80. They have been performing flawlessly for over 5000 miles now. I also run AFE cat-back with dual side exit on my 2020 Ford F-150.

Looking at the pics you provided, it seems like the steel tube design is a bit thinner on one side. See pic. Not sure what that is about, but I would expect the same gauge / thickness in the tubular design throughout. The thinner wall may be the weak link.

I'd also like to note that the orange color in the sway bar is a little more red/orange than acid orange. I only bring that up because my bars were more of an acid orange color which I sandblasted and powdercoated satin black for an OEM look...I know the color won't effect the strength of the product, but it has me wondering if the bar you have was outsourced for manufacturing vs. in-house production, hence the variance in color. Just a thought.

Regardless, I have never seen a sway bar break like that. AFE should replace this item regardless of warranty. It's a defect in workmanship and they should analyze the cause to prevent future incidents.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[coldsteelrain]

Originally Posted by Brasko

I run the AFE front and rear sway bars on my F80. They have been performing flawlessly for over 5000 miles now. I also run AFE cat-back with dual side exit on my 2020 Ford F-150.

Looking at the pics you provided, it seems like the steel tube design is a bit thinner on one side. See pic. Not sure what that is about, but I would expect the same gauge / thickness in the tubular design throughout. The thinner wall may be the weak link.

I'd also like to note that the orange color in the sway bar is a little more red/orange than acid orange. I only bring that up because my bars were more of an acid orange color which I sandblasted and powdercoated satin black for an OEM look...I know the color won't effect the strength of the product, but it has me wondering if the bar you have was outsourced for manufacturing vs. in-house production, hence the variance in color. Just a thought.

Regardless, I have never seen a sway bar break like that. AFE should replace this item regardless of warranty. It's a defect in workmanship and they should analyze the cause to prevent future incidents.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thx for your reply and I agree totally with you but they have stopped replying now
I'll still update once I remove the sway bar next week

[NORAGRETS]

Originally Posted by coldsteelrain

Hi Bimmer folk
In 2018 August 1st to be specific I bought a set of AFE sway bars and springs through Bimmerclinc here in NJ. It was all professionally installed by their certified mechanics. Never tracked the car or did anything crazy with it. Never hit a curb or had an accident.
In the mean time I did other suspension upgrades like JRZ RS PRO3 coilovers, iRP camber arms and SPL sway bar end links. Again all professionally installed by the same shop and all torqued to spec.

Forward to last week.
I was driving on the highway and I heard a loud bang. I thought I broke an end link. I was only a mile away from home so as soon I got back I took the rear driver side wheel off (where I heard the noise from) and found the sway bar had cleanly snapped off.
I took the loose piece off and disconnected the other side of the sway bar from the end link.
Proceeded to notify the shop that did the install and tried to get in touch with Afe.

Bimmerclinic has been great in helping me deal with this issue and they took a look at the car the following day to see why or how this happened.
We discovered that one half of the cracked piece was already rusted which means the crack was there for a while before it finally broke (see pictures). There was also stress fractures in the metal near where it split.
Brought us to a conclusion that it was a manufacturing error. The metal was fatigued and I am afraid that there is more of these out there that might be cracked partially or may down the road.

Now the only way I was able to get in touch with someone from Afe was to file a support [...]

Damn. That’s wild.

I gotta give my honest opinion on afe products.

I have their end links on my f80 and they have been installed according to spec, aligned properly and checked and retorqued after 50 or so miles…all 4 of the Heim joints up front have failed multiple times leading to a floppy end link w zero retention.

Afe customer service is top notch, and they had sent me all new heim joints free of charge (thx afe).

However, it happened AGAIN a few months ago and bless afe customer service they just sent me a whole new complete set of links free of charge. They arrive Wednesday…time will tell.

IMO. If you go afe, stick to their intakes. Leave the suspension parts to brands with more experience

[M3SQRD]

Were you running stock-length non-adjustable sway bar link? I’m not sure but does JRZ RS Pro front struts have sway bar tabs that sit lower on the strut body compared to oem strut sway bar mounting location? I know MCS dampers require a shorter length sway bar end link and the JRZ RS1 that I had on my e92 M3 used shorter length sway bar end links. Running stock length non-adjustable sway bar end links on a strut with a different sway bar mounting tab location can put the sway bar into an incorrect position and then the use of non-adjustable end link may end up significantly preloading the sway bar. I’m not saying this is what contributed to the failure but if RS Pros have a lower sway bar tab location (tab sits closer to steering knuckle strut interface) then it likely did contribute to the failure.

[coldsteelrain]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

Were you running stock-length non-adjustable sway bar links. I do t k ow for a fact but does JRZ RS Pro front struts have sway bar tabs that sit lower on the strut body compared to oem strut sway bar mount location. I know MCS dampers require a shorter length sway bar end link and the JRZ RS1 that I had on my e92 M3 used shorter sway bar end links. Running stock length non-adjustable sway bar end links can put the sway bar into an incorrect position and then the non-adjustable end link may end up preloading the sway bar. It saying this definitely contributed to the failure but if RS Pros have a lower sway bar tab (tan closer steering knuckle) then it likely did contribute to the failure.

No
I was running IRP adjustable end links.
Install was done properly. We had the material tested and it was poor manufacturing.
On one side where it cracked the material was super thin. We cut the other side after on the exact opposite location and it was fine. Of course they denied any wrong doing or to even see the broken parts. Other people might have had a good customer experience with them I didn’t.
I payed way more to prove their stuff was garbage then a new one is worth and I don’t even ask them for a replacement.
Ran a Hotchkis one after without any issues on same set up.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by coldsteelrain

No
I was running IRP adjustable end links.
Install was done properly. We had the material tested and it was poor manufacturing.
On one side where it cracked the material was super thin. We cut the other side after on the exact opposite location and it was fine. Of course they denied any wrong doing or to even see the broken parts. Other people might have had a good customer experience with them I didn’t.
I payed way more to prove their stuff was garbage then a new one is worth and I don’t even ask them for a replacement.
Ran a Hutchinson one after without any issues on same set up.

Sorry to hear about your troubles and a company that won’t stand behind their product.

[coldsteelrain]

Originally Posted by NORAGRETS

Damn. That’s wild.

I gotta give my honest opinion on afe products.

I have their end links on my f80 and they have been installed according to spec, aligned properly and checked and retorqued after 50 or so miles…all 4 of the Heim joints up front have failed multiple times leading to a floppy end link w zero retention.

Afe customer service is top notch, and they had sent me all new heim joints free of charge (thx afe).

However, it happened AGAIN a few months ago and bless afe customer service they just sent me a whole new complete set of links free of charge. They arrive Wednesday…time will tell.

IMO. If you go afe, stick to their intakes. Leave the suspension parts to brands with more experience

You’re right. I changed the brand and didn’t have an issue after. Glad you had a good experience with them.

[NORAGRETS]

Originally Posted by coldsteelrain

You’re right. I changed the brand and didn’t have an issue after. Glad you had a good experience with them.

What did you end up buying?

[NORAGRETS]

Originally Posted by coldsteelrain

No
I was running IRP adjustable end links.
Install was done properly. We had the material tested and it was poor manufacturing.
On one side where it cracked the material was super thin. We cut the other side after on the exact opposite location and it was fine. Of course they denied any wrong doing or to even see the broken parts. Other people might have had a good customer experience with them I didn’t.
I payed way more to prove their stuff was garbage then a new one is worth and I don’t even ask them for a replacement.
Ran a Hutchinson one after without any issues on same set up.

That’s a bummer. How long ago was this?

[coldsteelrain]

Originally Posted by NORAGRETS

That’s a bummer. How long ago was this?

Over 3 years ago.

Bought the Hotchkis. While I had my car this one was solid.
But I don’t have my F80 any more I moved on to the G80 now.