95carrera

I lubed my sway bar (poly) bushings several months ago and now I hear squeaking again. What is best lube for poly bushings on sway bar mounts and what other bushings should I be greasing while I am under there?

FredR

As I am aware the rubber bushings are not designed to be lubricated they are designed to flex. Unfortunately like most things that have moving parts they have a finite life. The rubber age hardens and the ability to flex reduces. Eventually the rubber breaks down and starts to crack and what you hear squeaking is invariably going to be layers of cracked rubber moving relative to each other or so I believe.

More sudden movements like over speed bumps will more likely manifest themselves into more noticeable squeaks because other dynamic noises are not present thus one can hear them more readily.

Rightly or wrongly I have formed the impression that the bushes on the front upper control arms are the ones perhaps more likely to be generating the squeaks that one hears but realistically after 30+ years the job lot need replacing. I recently replaced the rear UCA control arm bushes and greased the front sway bar bushes to no avail.

It is possible to replace the bushes in the front/rear LCA's and also the front UCA but with the latter there is also the ball joints- they are owner rebuildable on the earlier models but not so on the S4+ models wherein exchange [i.e. specialist rebuilt] units appear to be the only realistic option.

I know that on my 928 the squeaky bushes are at the front of the car and I suspect they are the rubber bushes on the front upper control arms. If I were to target something for immediate replacement that is where I would perhaps look first but given all the bushes are the same age across the board replacement is the only realistic option- that at least is what I am planning for my 928 next year.

95carrera

Thanks. I will take a look at those.

Should have mentioned I have aftermarket front sway bar with poly bushings.
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FredR

I remember many years ago trying some aftermarket roll bar bushings with integral grease nipples for the stock bar- they looked flimsy and eventually I binned them- figured that if they needed greasing they must be useless.

Eventually fitted the Devek bar and never looked back- I think this item uses the stock rubber bushing but not entirely sure of that it is so long since I fitted it [about 15 years ago]. Whatever they are I recently had them out for inspection and they looked in perfect condition- no rips, tears, cracks and were still very "rubbery".

jcorenman

Replace with stock rubber bushings. That's the only answer I could find for the stupid things (fitted by PO on our GT).

95carrera

I'm thinking that is the way to go.

Speedtoys

Bingo.

Now you know whats making the noise.

GlenL

I''ve got these on three cars and never have a problem. They're greased, liberally, with white lithium paste before installation. Apply grease to both the bar and to the bushing. Get the faces where the bushing touches a stop, if any.

928nut

Same experience here, never had any issues with them. Re-greased them once since I installed them many years ago. It would appear YMMV - according to the negative feedback.

95carrera

I ordered OEM rubber bushings for my 28mm. $10 a piece. Will see what that does.