alright so I looked today in better light, and the end of the sway bar is BROKEN. the bottom part of the end is completely broken off, but part is still attached to end link, and the top part is still attached to the end link and has a huge crack.

so looks like I'll need a new sway bar

I dread doing this job especially in the winter. is there a way I can just weld the broken end for now to get rid of the noise and then change it out in the spring?

this same thing happened to my Buick century when I hit a pothole