Fiesta St Powerflex Sway Bar Bushings don't fit

[settlingabyss12]

Hello everyone, I have the powerflex race front sway bar bushings and they don't seem to fit at all into the stock sway bar bushing mounts. Has anyone else with these bushings noticed this? Is this normal, I've had other cars with upgraded sway bar bushings and haven't run into these issues.

 

[Flaco]

I had the same problem with the street version. I laid on my back 2 hours trying to get theses to install. They were the only PF bushings I could not install. I junked them and put back new stock rubber bushes.

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

I think this is because of the different size of sway bars our cars have, depending on year. I believe 2016+ had the larger size. If you go on the PowerFlex website, they have different sizes.
I actually just went to the PowerFlex USA site, and they only have one size now for some reason, but the UK site still has both.

 

[D1JL]

The smaller size is for 2014 and 2015.
The larger size is for years 2016+ this is also the same size as the non-ST Fiesta

 

[Flaco]

I think this is because of the different size of sway bars our cars have, depending on year. I believe 2016+ had the larger size. If you go on the PowerFlex website, they have different sizes.
I actually just went to the PowerFlex USA site, and they only have one size now for some reason, but the UK site still has both.

I measured prior to ordering the bushes, I have a 22mm bar on my 2016. But they just were a no go with the bushing mounts.

 

[settlingabyss12]

So I tried forcing them on for hours, the bushings fit fine on the sway bar, but there is just no way to get the mounts to sit properly, it's physically not possible. I am going to 3D model some new mounts and CNC machine them out of some extra 7075 aluminum bits I have around.

 

[grey fist]

I got them to work. 80 grit sanding disc. Need to remove enough material to approximate factory shape. Needless to say not impressed with Powerflex. And given install difficulty you aren't going to want to go back in to re-grease when they get noisy. Just go with universal Energy or Prothane with grease fitting.

 

[settlingabyss12]

I got them to work. 80 grit sanding disc. Need to remove enough material to approximate factory shape. Needless to say not impressed with Powerflex. And given install difficulty you aren't going to want to go back in to re-grease when they get noisy. Just go with universal Energy or Prothane with grease fitting.

Did you sand the bushing or the mount? I wonder if Powerflex even tested the fitment before putting them for sale...

 

[grey fist]

Bushings. Can see from the pics above out of the box they're not even close to factory shape.

 

[HAHAFiST]

I had written Powerflex about this issue and they revised the 19mm design. Sadly they didn't bother sending me a free sample despite having an unsable set from them.. Lame.

 

[FlordPerformance]

Just wanted to point out that powerflex is a UK based company and they designed products for the UK car market. This means that if you order from them, these parts will be designed differently or may not fit at all. Also, I suspect that powerflex would rather you use one of their sway bar brackets instead of the factory bracket. This is why you need to order products form a US brand company. We attempted to use a set of the powerflex bushings for our van, but as stated above these are designed differently and did not work. I would look into using the This site for your bushings: https://www.suspension.com/universal-sway-bar-bushings.asp

 

[XanRules]

What van are you referring to? I don't think I've had any trouble with any of the Powerflex bushings I've purchased. Hmm.

 

[HAHAFiST]

Yeah I ordered through whoosh, and then started a collab with Powerflex when i found the issue. They've since made adjustments, this was maybe over a year ago so if anyone has bought the 19mm recently, they probably fit fine by now.

 

[FlordPerformance]

@XanRules

2020 Transit Connect and I contacted powerflex about this. Turns out their design is/was flawed and did not work on our van, Thus I went to the suspension.com site and found a set. This set included the bushings and bracket needed. I haven't had a chance to install this cause I've yet to order the sway bar.