My car is making a knocking noise and I want to find out if its the end links of the sway bars.

I will put the car on jack stands and use another jack under the control arm to raise the suspension as high a possible, then do I check for play in the links? or is there some other method?

With the wheels off the ground the sway bar should be unloaded, which allows checking for play in the sway bar end links. While there, check the sway bar bushings.

With my E46 (2000 323i) the bad sway bar links checked out as "Good" with the front wheels in the air. The only way I could check them is with the car on the ground. With the wheels on the ground, try to wiggle each end of both links (one on each side).

Any movement indicates that the link is bad.

one last through way to check is to crawl under the car(drive car on ramps if you don't fit) then have sombody bounce the front end up and down by pushing on it, grab on to the end links and feel for slop, if that dosent work check other things like the tierods, trailing arms, strut hats, the same way. make sure you have good light and listen closely.

Actually, the sway bar is unloaded as long as *both* wheels are in the air or on the ground. It only loads up if one spring is compressed more than the other.

I could tell mine were loose when the car was jacked up. It's an easy DIY, was cheap, and got rid of a lot of noise.

Thanks for all the replies.

I drove up on a ramp and checked the link ends for play. On the drivers side it was completely solid it didnt twitch a bit. On the passangers side it moved very little. By a very small marginal. Other than that it seemed pretty solid.

So could my passanger side link end be shot as its not suppost to move at all? or is it within spec ?

Also can I change one side of my sway bar links or do I need to do both sides?

any play that can be heard and felt is too much. bolth end links should be nice and tight. you can do one side only no problem

Ok. I bought a replacement set and I am just wondering how to change them out? Do I need to jack up both of the suspensions to get the end links to go loose? Is there another way to do it being I only have 1 jack?

well you could jack up one side and then lowe the suspention down on a jack stand, the bar cant be pre loaded meaning bolth sides have to be even.

Can't you just jack up the car as usual and put it on jack stands. The wheels will be off the ground and the suspension will be unloaded? will this way work?

yea, bolth sides just have to be even. up or down it dosent matter