So...I decided to do a quick check of my rear suspension on my lunch break to investigate a somewhat harsh ride and some knocking coming from the rear when going over bumps, etc. See the pics for what I found. Any clue as to how this may have happened? The bar appears to be welded to the frame, so it doesn't seem like it would be an "easy" bolt-on fix. Is there anything else I should be concerned with other than ride quality?

 

This pictures might be easier to see.

 

It looks to me that a weld broke and should be re welded to the right where the other rust is. You could unbolt the bracket and take it off so maybe it will eliminate the noise

 

ccash, unfortunately, that is going to require a weld job to get the car back. Some other members have had the same thing happen. All you can do is get a new bracket, have a weld shop weld it on to your car and then make sure to get under the car and do a good paint job on the new bracket to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

Thermo - Do you know what that part is called? I've searched for different rear-end suspension diagrams, but the ones that I've found either do not show that part or don't label it. Although the bushings are readily available! Not that it helps me any...

 

ccash, I don't know the technical name for it, but I would anticipate that it would be called "rear sway bar bushing mount". This may be something that you will either have to get through the dealership or have a local shop that can fabricate for you. Shouldn't be that hard to make.

 

Do you guys think any shops would object to performing an alignment with that breakage on the rear sway bar bracket?

 

I am far from an expert, but why would you want to get an alignment done until something like that is fixed? You have wear issues with your tires? I would think something like that would only continue to deteriorate over time and even if a shop could get the alignment within spec that would not guarantee it would stay that way. Get the real problem fixed first.