After finding one rear bushing had failed, I replaced all of the rear bushings with a new Elephant re-greaseable polybronze bushing kit (including the shafts). The rear suspension still squeaks (not the front) I was under the impression that the Elephant bearings would cure the squeaking.

What else is there that could be sqeaking?

Nick

I have the Elephant polybronze bushings in the rear of my car, and they're still noisy, even after lubing via the zirk fittings.

What's the deal, I thought these were an upgrade. I bought some for the rear, now I'm wondering if I should send them back.....I have enough squeaks.

Jeff

I would like to know what is going on as well as I am about to order the rear bushings. I just installed the front bushings and everything is cool. You should give ER a call and see what they say.

I installed the hard polyurethane bushings that Eric Shea R&D'd and sells for our cars. Cheap option and they work great with a minimal amount of work. No squeaks.

Chris Foley also sells a great delrin kit, ready to go.

I think the Elephant ones are overkill and I keep hearing people having issues with them as well. I think a set of hard poly or delrin bushings is the way to go for 99% of people. And both of those vendors are active here to answer questions..

Did the pitch or tone of the squeak change after you replaced the bushings? I wouldn't expect that the solid bushings are going to squeak in the same way that a rubber busing would when they bind (they don't bind and slip like a rubber bushing does). I would look elsewhere for the pesky noise. Can you recreate it by bouncing one of the rear quarters heavily by hand?

My Elephant stuff is utterly quiet unless I forget to grease them enough.

Good luck

The quality of the sound is about the same as before, but not quite so loud. It is most evident when the car is jacked up/down. It is hard to make the suspension make the squeaking sound by bouncing one of the rear quarters by hand because the suspension is very stiff - the car has 200 lb springs and a rear sway bar (V8). (I also replaced the sway bar bushings, and they are not the source of the sound).

Nick

Can you tell whether or not the sound is coming from one particular side? If it is most evident when the car is jacked up/down you could try to isolate by placing the floor jack under one of the trailing arms and jack it up and down and try to listen where the sound is coming from (it might help to have a helper). You may need to disconnect the sway bar to do this to (if the squeak is still apparent then that would confirm that the sway bar is not the culprit). Also, just to confirm - when you installed the bronze bushings you pre-lubed them with grease right?

Role the car up on something short, like the solid 4'' cinder-blocks under all four wheels and have someone big jump up and down on a corner while you feel each joint underneath, That way you might be able to isolate where it's coming from. As well...

Another source of squeaks is when some of the structural sheet metal has broken away from the spot welds and the two pieces are rubbing each other. If this bushing-hunt doesn't turn up anything I'd go that direction, or make sure nothing in your spring system is amiss.

Good luck!

For the rear, to make things easy, just disconnect the shock/spring. Then
you can move the arm all you want.

Getting ready to do mine. In several threads here I read the info is to to sand / trim down the large lip of the bushing so it goes a little further in the tube of the swing arm. The shoulder of the metal center threaded rod needs to hit flush the body of the car. If the outer lip of the bushing is too thick, it's squeeking on the body and the rod is not seated metal to metal.

Since I havn't inserted my bushings yet, this is only a read from threads. Are your metal rod shoulder to the body or is the llip of the bushing too thick? Something to look at.

The threads also tell of taking a small saw blade to score the inside of the bushing and pack with grease before installation.

Let me know you figure this out. Thanks Bill

I think that I figured out where the squeaking/binding comes from...

The Elephant Racing poly-bronze re-greasable bushing/spindle kit is not the source of the binding or noise.

Click to view attachment

I removed the rear shock bolt that attaches the shock to the trailing arm and the trailing arm moves smoothly and quietly up/down (both trailing arms are smooth). It is well greased.

I am pretty sure that the noise must be coming from the bushing/sleeve at the bottom of the shock, although I could not recreate the sound with the car on jackstands.

Click to view attachment

I have rather old Bilstein shocks and I suspect that the rubber sleeve is not rotating freely around the metal sleeve ash the trailing arm goes up/down. There is a small angular change between the trailing arm and the shock as the trailing arm moves. The sleeve shock sleeve is fixed in place when the shock is bolted to the rear trailing arm, and the rubber bushing should slightly rotate around the sleeve when the trailing arm goes up/down. I don't think that it is freely rotating and is the cause of the squeaking/creacking sounds.

I understand that any squeaking/creaking/binding has a direct effect on the responsiveness of the suspension and thefore the car's handling.

Maybe it's time for new rear shocks...

Nick

The Bilstein bushing part number is: #e4-b46-55

Each one is $1.59 from Bilstein customer service out of Poway, CA.

ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America
14102 Stowe Drive
Poway CA 92064
United States

Phone: +1 858 386-5906
Order.desk@bilsteinus.com

Nick