Z22SE Vectra B Rear Anti Roll Bar Bracket Snapping

corsaZ22se

Senior Member
GM parts lasted longer than any powerflex ones on mine.
replaced all bushes front and rear, only up grade ones was the upper rear link arm (21 in the image) that i had eccentric ones in. also had Spax coilovers and a lot of sound proofing with a boot full of audio. on the scales she came in at 1750Kgs.
front left.jpg
 
OK so after ordering, waiting and buying a new arb bracket, I went to look how hard it would be to do without using my axle stands, and low and behold the other damn bracket has broke in the same way. Really don't know what's going on here. They were even fitted correctly. Stud through the flat plate into p part then through the cross member facing away from wheel and axle then nut on and tightened. Anyone correct me if that's wrong. Anyways I've since removed the arb completely and tbh I don't see much reduction in handling quality. Maybe a bit more body roll but not that horrible feeling of "will it/won't it" when really giving it some round a corner. All in all I don't see a massive difference. Why? Do I really need the arb or is there something else I should put money into first? Still has the slight skip over bumps round corners. Mystery lol
 
Ok so replaced all the front sub frame bushes and the rear trailing arm and upper and lower arm bushes (not the arms or inners) and it's been good for a while but left bracket jus snapped again yesterday. Had 4 wheel tracking check after all bushes done and reassembled and one side was out slightly on the back but not by much. Would this really make that much difference enough to snap the bracket still?
 

KevinH

Senior Member
Jon, EPC is showing that the different models of Vectra B's were fitted with five different sizes of rear anti-roll bars for different type chassis e.g. SRi models had a lowered sports chassis (one ARB is no longer replaceable).

15mm - part # 90495587
16mm - part # 90495647
17mm - part # 90497791
17.5mm - part # 24455460
18mm - part # 9191934 (NLS use 24455460)

There were only four sizes of bushes fitted though - part #'s 90373771, 90496706, 90497793 and 9191933.

Now the interesting thing on EPC is that it seems to show two different lots of part numbers for the brackets (so they too are possibly different sizes depending on the size of anti-roll bar and bushes fitted).
These are as follows (part #'s 1 go together and part #'s 2 go together):
Bow, Bearing, Rear Stabiliser Shaft - part #1: 90496703 ; part #2: 90575574
Plate, Bearing, Rear Stabiliser Shaft - part #1: 90496704 ; part #2: 90575575

I would suggest ringing your local Vx parts department, with your VIN No. handy and ask which size ARB was fitted to your Vectra CDX and verify the bracket part numbers required.

The brackets should not break, so maybe you have rear suspension alignment issues. Have the rear trailing arms been removed? If so the vehicle will require rear toe alignment which can only be done using a special GM tool (Kent Moore KM-900) even if the trailing arm front bushes have been replaced with Powerflex. If you have 4 wheel alignment done all it does is check the front wheels are in line with the rears, so if the rears are out the car will 'crab' on the road.

Hope that helps. :)
 
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Spoke to Tony LeVoi Lakeside as per usual. They took my reg and told me my VIN which is correct and gave me the part numbers they hold.

Rear ARB #90497791 (17mm) or #24455460 (17.5mm) depending on whether the car has sports suspension or not (they couldn't tell me if it did or not)

Only 1 bearing/bush part number and also therefore only 1 bow/plate part number.

Plate #90575574
Bow #90575575

So now I need some expert knowledge lol. He said that if he takes the VIN filter off the parts system it does give him a second bow and plate part number and that it is indeed #90496703 and 90496704 and that they are for an earlier version.

I wonder if Powerflex used an older bow and/or plate as a pattern for their ARB bushes and just adjusted the internal dimension to fit the different ARB.

Would anyone happen to know for a fact if bow #90496703 is slightly bigger than #90575574? Also how are the plates #90496704 and #90575575 different?

The guy says he can order the older parts in but I have to buy them as he doesn't want loads of parts floating around and they already have a bow and plate that I left them with when I ordered last time and found they had 1 bow sitting there which was all I needed so took it lol.

Heeeeelp!!!?
 

KevinH

Senior Member
So now I need some expert knowledge lol. He said that if he takes the VIN filter off the parts system it does give him a second bow and plate part number and that it is indeed #90496703 and 90496704 and that they are for an earlier version.

That's strange because if I put my VIN into EPC it only shows #90496703 and #90496704 (if I remove it EPC shows a load of extra part numbers including #90575574 & #90575575). EPC also tells me that my Vectra (2001 SRi) has the 'lowered sports chassis' (which I knew already) and a 17mm rear ARB. My local Vx parts department have confirmed these are correct for mine along with the appropriate ARB bushes part number, so I'm not convinced that your man is correct saying those part numbers are for the earlier models (presumably pre-facelift 1995-99).

As far as I know the only models that had the lowered sports chassis were the SRi (140 & 150), the GSi (2.5 & 2.6 V6) and the ST200.
 
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Well something is different for a start cause I've got 17.5mm rear arb. Measured it myself. I would have said bigger as it used to have paint or whatever it is on it but I was told 17 or 17.5 so 17.5 it must be. I have the CDX Z22SE so not sure what difference that might make.
 

KevinH

Senior Member
What did you use to measure the diameter of the ARB?

Also, when you removed the ARB, did you remove the end shackles? (No. 4 in the diagram above).
 
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