Sway Bar Bushings Replaced

Happy Monday All!

 

Just wanted to chime in on sway bar bushings.

 

For the last year I have been getting a weird suspension noise when going over train tracks and sudden bumps in the road. My mechanic checked it out the suspension and told me everything was tight. He couldn't explain the noise. I took it to the dealer and they told me the same thing.

 

Long story short my mechanic checked it out again when I did my last oil change and recommended I change the sway bar bushings. They looked solid and there was no wear or play in them. I went ahead and took his advice and we changed them this past weekend. After driving for a couple of days with new bushings I find the suspension is a little tighter and the noise is gone!

 

I had mine replaced at 146k km (91k miles) and the vehicle is 3.5 years old.

My front ones were shot after 1 winter. They were replaced under warranty and have been fine since.

 

All it takes is a bit of sand to get in them and they get chewed up and start squawking like hell. Grease the shit out of them and that will help keep sand out.

Yep, a few years ago I was getting weird squeaking sounds over speed bumps for the longest time, ended up being from the sway bar bushings. Greased them up with napa sil-glyde, no more problems. Not a bad idea to replace the bushings like you did, I replaced mine at maybe 130k since the bushings aren't very expensive, I also put grease on the new bushings too. My original bushings looked fine, but the new ones had a slightly different design and I would imagine the new/tighter rubber might help slightly improve handling.

Are there any aftermarket bushings with grease fitting for our cars? I put a set of energy suspension greasable bushings on our tribeca and they work great!

Yep, a few years ago I was getting weird squeaking sounds over speed bumps for the longest time, ended up being from the sway bar bushings. Greased them up with napa sil-glyde, no more problems. Not a bad idea to replace the bushings like you did, I replaced mine at maybe 130k since the bushings aren't very expensive, I also put grease on the new bushings too. My original bushings looked fine, but the new ones had a slightly different design and I would imagine the new/tighter rubber might help slightly improve handling.

 

I didn't think of using grease on them. Wish I had thought of using some grease during install. Oh well - at least I know it's not expensive to do if I had to do them again.

I'm going to do this and see if the noise I'm getting randomly goes away!

You can get a needle for the grease gun and inject some in an already installed bushing. I use marine wheel bearing grease, it is thick, sticky, and holds up well to being under the car exposed.