jclanin

Hi all,

All of the sudden my front suspension has become very, very squeaky. It was completely quite before. Now even just pushing down on the front results in a very noticeable squeak - down and back up.

Hopefully I just need to grease components? Or is there a bigger issue here?

thanks,

--JC

User 4221

Mine is doing the same thing. It is more prevalent in warm weather.

I have narrowed it down to the Control Arm bushings in front..

Elephant racing has a good visualizer here: http://www.elephantracing.com/suspen...iondiagram.htm


The next question is whether you can lube them. I've looked into this and to lube them properly, you will need to remove the control arms, lube and re-assemble. You will be better off to remove, install new bushings and then re-install.

An alignment will be needed, too.

rusnak

The front suspension bushings have de-formed, and now your torsion bar is rubbing on the top of the control arm.

The only good fix is to replace the bushings. Fortunately, there are now kits from Elephant and Rebel. I bought the Elephant rubber bushings, and I am very happy. I took pics that I can post if you go this route.

jclanin

Thanks guys - I may go with the Polybroze bushings:

http://www.elephantracing.com/suspen...11bushings.htm

I've never attempted this type of task so I'm a bit nervous about taking it on. It does look pretty straight forward though...

-- JC

Ed Hughes

You may have Neatrix bushings in place, which are well known to be squeaky.

rusnak

A note about the polybronze bushings. They are not maintenance free.

Ed Hughes

It only take 5 minutes to hit the zerks with a grease gun every 6 months. Pretty low effort.

GothingNC

That's what I have on my Targa.

They get squeak a bit when it's below 40 degrees outside and the PO installed Zirk grease fittings; little bit of grease once in a while keeps them quiet.

jclanin

mine are original and need to be replaced.

How difficult is it to remove the control arms? My Bentley manual makes it seem fairly straight forward except for disassembling the arm from the joint lock plate. Do I need a special tool for that?

Also, does the torsion bar just slide out from the control arm? I'm a bit confused by this. Once I get it off the car I think I have good instructions on the bushing replacement.

thanks,

-- JC

rusnak

No special tools required, except you'll need an impact wrench, a long pipe wrench for the balljoint nuts, and two new wedge pins. You might want a large (10 lbs) sledge hammer to tap, not pound, the wedge pins out. The extra weight just makes it much easier. A plastic mallet or prybar is helpful to push the a-arms out of the balljoints. If you are re-using your old tie rods, then a tie rod tool is necessary. Just don't use a pickle fork.

rusnak

Shoot.....need to append above.

You can leave the balljoints alone if they're good. The prybar pushes the balljoint out of the strut housing. You might get away with leaving the struts in the car with the tie rods attached, but I've never tried it. I drop the a-arms and crossbar and swaybar together.

jclanin

Hmmm.. this is starting to sound more difficult than I initially thought... I may just grease the current bushing on the car real good for now and plan on a complete suspension overhaul when I have the money.

Ed Hughes

Front suspension bushings is a pretty simple project.

jclanin

well then I may just have to give it a shot...

thanks,

--JC

User 4221

The fronts are next on my list.... Along with rears.. Ugh