Poly bushing squeek - anyone try adding thin shims?
 

My SC has Weltmeister front (through body) and rear sway bars and the front is just driving me nuts with all the noise from the bushings. I've squirting them with WD-40 and as everyone says, it's just a temporary fix.

I'm thinking of trying to slide in a thin sleeve, may brass shim stock, between the bushing and the bar thinking it might solve the problem. Has anyone tried anything like this? I know I can grease it but I think that's just a temporary solution.

thanks,

mike
'81 911SC

I'm no expert but I'm thinking any brass shim stock thin enough to slide in there will wear thru quickly. I think the best solution is to take them apart and grease them well with the correct grease. On my SC I have some type of plastic A arm bushings that were modified with zerk fittings and cut for internal grooves, when assembled last year we loaded them up with grease and zero squeeks. Good luck.

when elephant bushings were not available in the past, we would take the new plastic bushings and the arms to our machine shop to fit them , rifle groove, and place grease fittings so they received even lube.
Guess what? we no longer install the plastic bushings due to all the work and the superior elephant bushings that are now available

I have have run different poly bushings in my car since 98 and have never had a squeak from any of my bushings on a daily driven car. The secret is to use the correct poly bushing grease. It is a white grease that is formulated specifically for poly compound bushings. Use it liberally and you will never squeak. Our Sponsor Pelican Parts carries it, part # PEL-SUS6RS8 suspension bushing grease. Cheap and works.

Guys,
Looks like the poster runs through body sway bars which are squeeking. He's not talking about elephant poly bronze A-Arm bushings.

I use Tarrett sway bars and don't have any squeeking.

Are you sure the sway bar mounts are co-linear - IE in a straight, continuous line?

Doug

Guys,

thanks for the suggestions. I will try some of the correct grease, can't hurt.

>Are you sure the sway bar mounts are co-linear - IE in a straight, continuous line?

Not sure what you mean here, are you referring to the arms that attach to the bar at each end (with the squared off ends).

Another question, I've looked at the mounts on the body that the sway bar runs through and started removing it to have a look at the bushings but quickly realized that I wasn't sure I'd be able to get at the nuts on the other side of the bracket. How do you access these? Do you have to remove the fuel tank???

Mike

Mike,
First, both mounts should be square to the bar itself. However, imagine if one was 1/4" lower than the other. They would be not co-linear (definition is circles sharing the same center). This would cause excessive drag and rubbing as the bar spins and possibly create the noise you are hearing. When I mounted my front bar, I made sure I could spin the bar by hand before it was tightened up. IE the drag was minimal.

If you take the ends off of the bar, can you slide it one way or another? If so, you can pull it to one side and lube it and then push / pull it the other way to lube the other side.

Hope that makes seen.

Some of the nuts are welded to the chassis. If this is the case, you can remove from the outside without removing the fuel tank. If someone modified this, you'll likely have to take more apart.

Doug

Doug

Doug,

Thanks, I think I'll try lubing them using the technique you describe. I think I understand the "square" thing, I actually wondered about this when I had it apart last time.

Regarding the chassis mount, I'm quite sure there's loose nuts on the other side because I loosened a couple of bolts and could tell the nut was loose on the inner side of the body. Fortunately I managed to get them retightened.

Mike