Bushing replacement in the front end and creaking noises?

[tbromley]

Hey Guys,

I've been wondering where to put this thread and so I'm taking a shot here. You guys on this particular forum are doing your own work for projects so I thought I'd ask if any of you have tackled bushing replacement. Or have tried to track down "creaking" noises in your front end to know what it is that is making the noise.

My car is a 91 - has 44k miles on it and is now 19 years old- so - don't bushings wear out somewhere along the line? Are there bushings that can be replaced without say replacing the whole damn part - like the lower control arm bushing.

But to the point here is that recently just as it was getting cold and I was investigating this ABS issue I had the car went up on a lift. When it came back down the "creaking" started and it hasn't gone away either with driving and use. Actually when it's cold it gets more pronounced which of coures would be normal as things contract in cold weather. When my car recently went back up on a lift at Eiffel's Place - we noticed little cracks in the lower control arm bushings - nothing tha I would think is making noise or is it? Anyone here had any experience in tracking down "creaks".

So the bushing in the lower control arm is not something I understand that can be replaced without some kind of super press machine- so you have to replace the whole control arm. But before I do anything like that for a $700 part - I believe the creaking is due to the shock. It only occurs on the drivers side front. It sounds like it's coming from the shock tower? Anyone had this happen to them. I've got late model OEM shocks on the way - that are at least 14 years newer than my old tired units. Hope this stops the creaking. I just thought I'd ask you guys with all this DIY experience what you've learned about your suspensions in and noises and replacing shocks, and bushings???

Thanks for your help and I am waiting with baited breath for super insight into this latest dilema of mine!

 

[EdinKali]

In my experience suspension creaks were caused by either swar bar bushings that needed to be lubed(more important if you have switched to urethane bushings but hard durometer rubber or old/hard/cold rubber can do the same I imagine) or possibly a bad shock. Could also be a spring seat that has a worn through the rubber gasket(to insulate the spring from metal/metal contact with the seat, most but not all cars have these) or possibly the rubber isolator at the top of the strut is bad.

 

[syam]

i dont know about the nsx, but in my integra, i get creeking all the time.

i recently ripped everything apart (car is a 99 model) and replaced all of the bushings with new harder than OEM rubberones, and replaced the shocks/springs with coilovers. i have found that the springs creek along with the swaybar and associated bushings.

i ended up using brake squeel in between the top hats and shock tower and that eliminated some of the creeking.

then again, the engine bay for the integra is wide open with little bracing whereas the nsx front bay is quite a bit smaller.

i would check the swaybar and surrounding bushings, and the shocks/springs.

replacing the bushings has been one of the best moves i have ever done. everything is SO much tighter and more exact than before (10 year old/100k miles on the OEM ones)

 

[tbromley]

Thanks you guys all this is very helpful.

The NSX 91 has only the sway bar bushings other than shock bushings that can be replaced. Everything else as I understand it is part of a part that only comes pressed in the part from the factory. Like the contol arm bushings. You can't replace those guys - you have to buy the control arm to get the new bushing - $700 bucks - yikes! I've got the shocks on the way and I'm hoping like hell that fixes it!