rambo benson

94 Z-28- Over even small bumps the front end squeeks. (Depending on the weather, sometimes it doesn't.)

Also, it rides noticeably harder when it DOES squeek than when it doesn't. (I notice it shakes stuff harder on the inside, it's a vert). So it seems to be binding the suspension up some as well.

Years ago I had Energy poly bushings installed everywhere - the older kind. Then I heard they were noisy and that Energy made a design change with channels and grease zerks. (Great, I dropped a lot of money to have the crappy ones installed )

Mainly suspecting the front stabilizer bar bushings, I recently changed those out to the newer kind and greased them up really well with Energy silicone stuff. (man that stuff is thick...now they say to use any grease)

Still Squeeks... any ideas on how to fix this? It's wearing me out! we couldn't see anything on the lift to get at.

Thanks, Ram

BlackHawk T/A

iTrader: (3)

Well for starters you should not have poly bushings everywhere - only a few key places like the motor mounts, and sway bars really benefit. The rest is all marketing.

What exactly are the other places they were installed?

3.4camaro

iTrader: (1)

did you make sure its synthetic grease? Mobil 1 has some good stuff at autozone.

also, you can never have too much grease on sway bar bushings. Make sure there is too much. LCA, and a-arm bushings are another story. Too much on them and you will deflect the bushings.

rambo benson

ENERGY YOU MESSED ME UP! Come on in Mr. Sponser.

BlackHawk T/A. I plead gullible! Everywhere = meaning everything under the car that moved. \ Motor mounts too. This was in like 1998 or something and that was the Energy "full Kit". Oh, for sure I took out the tranny mount right away, that noisy MF made me think my car was blowing up! Amazing they even sold that thing.

3.4camaro, no, it's that "slow" sticky silicone grease or "ENERGY WHALE SNOT" as the mechanic liked to call it. You can hardly get it off of your skin, it's so sticky and tacky. Think Semi-Frozen Dreamsicle. I think it's too thick personally to move under normal suspension events or anything faster than 5mm per sec.

I understand why you think it should be syn, but any grease won't break down urethane bushings from what I read NOW. Energy Suspension told us that we had to use their Whale Shot....but NOW they say use any grease.

(only rubber is not good with regular grease)

Energy also Fúp all of us with supplying that Silicone exp$ensive slow thick grease that doesn't work...IMO!!!

Now, since I hear it on both front - left and right - front...I think it's my front stabilizer bar end links..

I'll try to get up in there like some of the other threads said and lube the **** out of everything with SYN and let you know. As you said, take it easy on the A-arm bushings. LCA''s don't apply here.

Anybody else have any ideas or guidance?
LS1tech= the best.

COMP CAMS CUSTOMER SERVICE>>>>>THE BEST! Trust me, when you have your engine all over the garage and Red Obert says we are going to cover ALL your problems because we may" have made a mistake, that is golden. NO ONE "but COMP does that! NO ONE AT ALL. EVER.

ram

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

Hmmm I've never had noise from my poly swaybar mounts or endlinks. I'm very happy with my motor mounts (may be switching to solid though!), and I'm incredibly happy with my transmission mount. Their torque arm mount made a huge difference in performance on my old car (eliminated wheel hop issues I was having).

On this car, I've got poly everywhere except the front A-arm bushings. Those are the ones I always hear people complaining about squeaking. Have you checked those?

rambo benson

Well, The guys who let me use a lift next to a Burger King , went ahead and sprayed all the bushings down with Wd-40 while I grabbing a burger....

So I didn't get to do it myself or use the grease i wanted.... Darn...well the good news is the squeeks are all but gone.

Yes, they lubed the a-arm bushings...I think I'll follow up with lithium grease everywhere to "seal the deal".

Thanks for your help guys!

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

Valvoline's synthetic wheel bearing grease works well too.

felton316

Are you sure that you have the correct diameter sway bar bushings for your vehicle? I know ES offers many different diameters to cover all the sway bars that were offered on the 4th gens. Make sure the bushing is tight, if its loose, it will squeek. If all is good and you still have a squeek, you can wrap the part of the bar that goes into the bushing with teflon tape. This will add a bit of thickness to the bar at that area making the bushing tighter, and it will also seperate the metal to urethane connection, preventing them from squeeking.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

i wouldn't say that poly bushings are all marketing. anyone who can think for themselves will realize that poly bushings do exactly what it is they are advertised to do: reduce movement of the components they are used on.

what many people don't realize a lot of the time is that while they do a good job of reducing unwanted movement, it also comes at the price of noisier operation. just like almost anything performance-related, it's all a compromise.

also, while reducing unwanted movement for that one particular part, it may serve to amplify other vibrations in other places....but that's not really the fault of the bushings, those other vibrations should be fixed anyway. simply leaving rubber bushings is not really a fix, either....while it may help to absorb some of the vibration, it's not really doing anything to stop the vibration from happening. depending on what is vibrating, there can be damage eventually in one or more areas if it is not fixed.

so in this sense, poly bushings are good, because they bring to your attention other problems so that you can fix them before worse things happen.

yes, i would highly recommend that you go back and re-lube everything on your own, simply for the fact that when they sprayed WD-40 on the bushings, they likely removed some of the lube that was already there. WD-40 does a pretty good job of cleaning things, including grease. so while it may not squeak anymore at this moment, once the WD-40 evaporates/gets washed away, it is likely to squeak more than it did before.

and do yourself a favor....go buy a set of Rhino Ramps so that you can easily get up underneath the car anytime....makes it easy to get under there and grease fittings/bushings/etc. they're pretty cheap...i bought a set of them at AutoZone for around $30.

rambo benson

Thanks for all the advice guys!

DuronClocker- yep got some of that stuff here in my overly equipped garage! I'll do it! As the WD 40 dries out, it should draw in the grease as well.

Felton318 - Good point, although I thought they might be a size too small since the car rode too firmly. But they just fit. Teflon tape is a really great idea. But since the WD 40 experiment, it's pretty clear it is the upper a arms and more likely ball joints. (Because Wd-40 will not penetrate the whale snot grease from Energy...the anti-sway bar mounts are kinda getting ruled out. )

O2Z28LS1 Thanks...I had some rhino ramps but gave them to my neighbor cuz my Z28 was too low to drive up them. And this is Stock 94 suspension! I use a rolling hydraulic jack and stands, although a little more PITA!

Thanks very much. I'll relube asap!
Ram

rambo benson

Well guys, I spent an hour under the front end with TWO cans of spray white lithium grease with the skinny tube in the nozzle to inject it between every bushing and metal. The only think I couldn't get to REALLY well were the bushings on top of the springs. I would spray it all in the cracks all the way around every bushing, then rub it in as best I could around the bushing.

It was kind of weird down there after a while with all that weight above me, and I was wearing one of those Energizer headlites. It was like milking a giant mechanical cow or something. Maybe Alice in Chains was not the right music to be listening to in the garage late at night, lol!

SQUEEKS were almost gone the first day, but it's coming baaaaaaccckkkkkk. WTF????

DuronClocker: I thought ANY grease would help then I could rub in the good stuff. But if it is already squeeking again...

felton316, OK I will try your idea with the teflon tape...

I wonder if I should take off the Sway bar bushings, clean that GLUE-like Whale snot grease off, wrap the bar with a little teflon tape and put on some good ole Valvoline wheel bearing grease. Because maybe the shear point of the thick silicone energy grease is so high it's cavitating and making noise.

Man reading this thread from the beginning, this is a tough one. Thanks again for your help guys.
Ram

BlackHawk T/A

iTrader: (3)

I would just put rubber bushings in the A-arms.

beaSSt

I have the exact same issue with my 2000 SS. It's the poly bushings in the A-Arms and you can not lubricate those with any external spray for any lasting noise reduction.

If it' cold out or you have sudden extended a-arm travel like on a dip on the highway do you get almost a crunching sound from the bushings? That is the poly bushing binding due to a lack of lubrication.

There are two solutions. As someone above stated, take them out and replace with rubber. I'm about to drill and tap my a-arms and install grease fittings so I can lubricate them with a PTFE grease like you get from Spohn or BMR for their poly bushings. If that works then I've saved the time and effort of removing the a-arm bushings -- which will require a wheel alignment as well.

This classifies as one of those mods I wish I never did.............

rambo benson

thanks BlackHawk and BeaSSt,

This classifies as one of those mods I wish I never did............."



I'll give it a shot "first installing zerks in the A arm bushings to try and save a lot of hassle and amoney.

We will both try BeaSSt...I'll let you know how mine works out.

Why do they sell even this stuff like that? Sucks!

Xraycat35

I had the same problem, its the ball joints in the upper control arm. I just replaced my upper control arms and the noise stopped.

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

You replaced the upper control arms or just the ball joints? If the whole arm, then it was probably the stock bushings were trashed.

Xraycat35

Yeah I repalced the whole arm, I wanted to upgrade anyways, and when I took it apart the stock bushings where pretty much dried out and trashed, so I figured it was the bushings that where making the noise.

BobDoLe

iTrader: (11)

where are you guys getting the teflon tape for the sway bar bushings?
is there a specific kind that anyone has had better luck with?

Major_Lee_Slow

iTrader: (1)

I use the energy suspension bushing grease, but I use alot more then they send with the bushings. For example. On the front sway bar I put enough in the ID of the bushings that it's about 2 mm thick. Then when I assemble it I wipe off the excess.

I disassemble the suspension every winter and re-grease my bushings so mine have never squeaked.

dragonrage

From a plumbing/home improvement store? I assume they mean the same kind you put around threaded pipes.

In case you haven't noticed, this thread = old