Well I got new rear tires today, everything seemed great, I was under the car last night figuring out the best approach to change the oil and the rear sway bar/anti roll bar was fine.


Fast forward to today, I am under the car ready to change the oil and see a metal thing hanging off my rear end...I thought it was the end link, got closer...nope the bent part of the sway bar, completely snapped! Below are pictures. My question is, does this look stock? (I see three mounting points/making it adjustable so I kind of doubt it), secondly, this is my daily driver, is it safe to drive for a few days while I source a new bar? Obviously being extremely careful around bends.

 

Not safe at all. Any suspension damage is unsafe to drive especially a missing or broken sway bar.

 

Hard to see what is happening in the low res pictures. Those are not stock drop links.

 

Could you post high resolution pics? As Elephant Chuck says, realy hard to tell whats broken


But in generell if something in the cars chassi is broken = dont drive the car!

 

Just remove the rear sway bar completely (simple to remove), until you source a new one. I've been driving around for the past month without my rear sway bar and its fine.

 

Sorry but the last guy I knew that gave that same horrible advice, flipped his car a week later and changed his tune. DO NOT DRIVE THAT CAR WITH A BROKEN, OR REMOVED, SWAY BAR. The first evasive maneuver, hard braking... can have catastrophic results. This is not a matter of opinion like what radio sounds best with the top down. Advising someone to drive unsafely in a public forum can come back to haunt you.

 

@denversteve So you are saying that any car is unsafe without a rear sway bar? Lol sorry maybe you are fortunate enough to be lifetime porsche owner, but normal people like me have driven a Honda Toyota etc that did not have a rear or even a front sway bar. I'm sure not everyone is flipping their car on basic evasive maneuver.

With all engineering/tuning that goes into a Porsche, does it all of a sudden turn into a Susuki Samari if it doesnt have rear sway bar?

Of course handling will change without a rear sway bar, but under regular driving conditions it's fine. I'm speaking from my own experience, not from someone else's, and I commute 60+miles on my 996 daily.

That being said, maybe if you driving at 100mph and you decide to take a hard turn, chances are that you are going to flip that car regardless if it has a sway bar or not. If you drive through a race slalom course on the way to he office, then maybe you shouldn't drive a car without a rear bar.

 

Maybe you could actually read my previous posting. I said "do not drive THAT car with a broken or removed sway bar". I made no mention of driving any other car that may have been engineered to be operated safely without a sway bar. Although, most cars have been manufactured with some type of anti-sway or anti-roll bar for the past 50 years or so - for safety reasons.

Additionally, driving a car after knowingly removing a suspension safety feature, and causing an accident, might be cause for charges of reckless endangerment or contributory negligence. You can do what you like with your car and life but I wouldn't advise anyone else to follow suit.

 

Deleted. Double post.

 

Appreciate the advise, most comments on Rennlist are it is okay so long as your careful. My daily commute is 6 miles each way, on straight roads. I do run a lot of outbound appointments, but can move them into my office while I wait for a new sway. I'll let you know if I'm alive come Wednesday or so when it comes.

For comments towards the top of the post, yes I know it isn't stock, H&R lowering springs, Bilstein shocks (maybe coilovers I forget) the sway bars are H&R as well. When it was not broken and I was able to drive fun, it is a hoot, handles ALMOST as well as a Cayman S with PDCC (test drove a few) or my ole' 951 with full Bilstein suspension that is just perfect to drive.

 

We occasionally remove the rear sway bar for certain track events where we want a very still front and a soft rear. You will not have any problem driving your 996 with the rear sway bar removed..

 

Hard to tell from the pics but based on your description and the fact that the bar is black in color, I'd guess you have a gt3 rear sway bar which is hollow I'm nature. It doesn't take much to brake these as its hollow and engineered more for racing over durability. My guess is you or previous owner ran over a rock or debris that put a kink in it. Over time this fatigued enough to break it.

I have an extra OEM GT3 rear bar if interested.

 

Alpine003, Thanks, sent PM about sway bar.

PMKAZZ curious, what events would you want a soft rear? Just curious on benefits.

 

When it's raining, racers disconnect the rear sway bars to reduce oversteer.
Yes, driving without rear bar is perfectly fine

 

Just remove the broken one to reduce further damage if something comes loose and drops off. You will see absolutely no difference in daily driving unless you live on twisty windy roads and travel them at well above posted speed limits. If you do that then maybe you will get a little noticeable body roll. You will not flip backing out oh the driveway. I promise.