Stabilizer links how tight is tight?

[Guest Straight eight]

On the 1947 Buick front end there are two stabilizer links. The manual says to tighten all the way up the bolt. Each manufacturer has different length bolts, and different size grommets. Should they just be snugged in place, or squished down and really compressed? <P>Would neoprene grommets be more satisfactory?

[NTX5467]

Any time you "overcompress" rubberized items, you will hasten their deterioration. In this case, unless the bolt that goes through them is a shouldered bolt or has some internal sleeve to allow only a certain amount of compression, then I suspect you'd be better off to just aim for a moderate degree of compression in the rubber as you tighten the bolt.<P>There might be some polyurethane grommets that might fit that application. If the grommets on that vehicle are basically like shock grommets on later model vehicles, then you can use the polyurethane sway bar link bolt grommets that are available from several aftermarket vendors or available with GM part number 464167 Link Bolt Kit (does one side) as fits my '77 Camaro and lots of other vehicles too (that use a sway bar link bolt grommet that is the same as an upper shock grommet on the same Camaro application).<P>I'm not sure if neoprene would have any advantages over the normal rubber, but polyurethane will make the bar mounting more "firm" and effectively increase the resistance of the sway bar by about 20%.<P>Hope that helps.<P>NTX5467