W124 creaky new sway bar bushings
 

Hello all,

So I redid my whole front suspension and steering system and it feels great! However, I have a nasty creak coming from my new sway bar bushings. I know it's the sway bar bushings bc I had the creak, talked to my Indy who gave me the correct grease and the noise went away for a week. Now the noise is back...anyone ever run into this before? It's annoying considering everything in the front suspension is new...that was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears :)

Front suspension... is easy compared to the rear links!

Haven't tried it... but what about several wraps of Teflon tape (the stuff plumbers use on threads) around the sway bar where the bushing goes, then clamp that down?

Just an idea.

Castor oil works for me. I use it on all the suspension rubber bushings that I install.

Did he overtighten the brackets? If so, you will be replacing the hanger-brackets soon, the swaybar is supposed to move in the bushings.

This is one avenue that confuses me, half the crowd says the bushing and bar twist as one and half say the bar rotates in the bushing.

Odd part is that on some cars I do find the sway bar bushings to have a cross hatch matrix cast in them to hold some lubricant to prevent squeaking, some are smooth. I use teflon infused silicone grease on them.

Where did the bushings come from?
 

I'm curious as to the source of the OP's bushings. My experience is that factory rubber is the only way to go. My front sway bar is new-to-me, a T-sedan transplant and much stiffer than the wimpy one the '95 E300 came with. The rubber is all new factory parts and there are no squeaks.

Jeremy

There have been many on this forum who have had brackets fail (at the bend where it mounts to the frame extension), and have replaced the same bracket multiple times. The FSM has a procedure for tightening the bolt, it is not very tight, I presume so that it will allow movement (the nuts are torque-prevailing / self-locking). New with factory bushings and a smooth painted swaybar would be easy, old and rusty and with aftermarket bushings that might be different hardness, different dimensions, might change the dynamics.

Anyway, the bracket is steel, at the frame it has a right-angle bend with a dart to make it more rigid, I do not see any evidence that the bracket is designed to bend as the swaybar rotates. Bending at the right-angle will quickly cause the steel to fail, flexing will also just more slowly (elastic vs plastic deformity, don't crucify me on the technical explanation here but I can just see the FEA in my mind, ... lots of red at the bend!).

does this mean they have that single-use plastic/nylon center? what is the correct replacement for these nuts?

Likewise Jeremy. I used the factory bushings in my rebuild approx 25k ago and no squeaks. From memory the bushings were lined with a nylon material of sorts which gives it dry lubrication. No silicon grease required.

I think these can be purchased OEM as well without the dealership price tag.

Update...

Thanks babymog, I definitely did over tighten the brackets. I just went, reloosened and retorqued the bolt, paying close attention to hit 20nm and not one nm more! The creaky has softened substantially but is still there...I wonder if it just needs some driving to adjust??? I'll report back

Back in my go-fast car days, the Nissan and Subaru urethane bushings and swaybar kits came with a grease, which if you didn't use would result in squeaking.

A lot of people are raving about Dupont Krytox. I've been using it for a couple of years on anything from my colour laser printer to rubber parts on the car with good results so far.
It is pricey but a little goes a long way.
I bought GPL 205 and GPL 207 (205 a bit thinner than the 207)

Update...I bought some silicone grease and put a ton on the bushings and then torqued down to specs, paying careful attention to not over tighten. The creak is gone, but I'll have to see in a few days...

Some of the things mentioned may not be good for the rubber involved..
this has been the standard for 40 years that I know of....
check the archives for ' Ru Glide' ...
it is dilute Muratic acid...
Used to be in gallon container with just some in bottom... you add water to make proper strength.... no use shipping that much water.... with a pull out spray end... can get up and under stuff easily...
the same stuff in eye drops....

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