Does bad suspension always make noise?

[DougS550]

If your going to replace your rear LCA bushings, I would recommend not go back with OEM "UNLESS" you want No NVH increase. If you have the mechanical expertise to remove and reinstall the rear LCA and associated parts, then I would remove my LCA, buy a good set of "Upgraded" bushings and have a shop press them in. When I replaced my rear LCA bushings, It was not worth my time fighting to replace them myself so I just paid $100 for a shop with a press and with experience in replacing bushings to do it. Good Luck

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[Metz3020827]

If your going to replace your rear LCA bushings, I would recommend not go back with OEM "UNLESS" you want No NVH increase. If you have the mechanical expertise to remove and reinstall the rear LCA and associated parts, then I would remove my LCA, buy a good set of "Upgraded" bushings and have a shop press them in. When I replaced my rear LCA bushings, It was not worth my time fighting to replace them myself so I just paid $100 for a shop with a press and with experience in replacing bushings to do it. Good Luck

What made you replace them?

which bushings did you replace with?

 

[DougS550]

What made you replace them?

which bushings did you replace with?

I upgraded the weak areas in my suspension/drivetrain due to my HP upgrades, and to reduce/prevent wheel hop, floating and stabalize my suspension while corning and spirited driving. If I did not upgrade my HP, I would not have upgraded so many drivetrain and suspension parts. If your staying stock AND have a manual transmission, I would upgrade the areas which are shown to fail on stock mustangs "with" manual Transmission.

 

[Metz3020827]

I upgraded the weak areas in my suspension/drivetrain due to my HP upgrades, and to reduce/prevent wheel hop, floating and stabalize my suspension while corning and spirited driving. If I did not upgrade my HP, I would not have upgraded so many drivetrain and suspension parts. If your staying stock AND have a manual transmission, I would upgrade the areas which are shown to fail on stock mustangs "with" manual Transmission.

Im slowly learning more and more which are known parts to fail. I’m a manual transmission and going to stay stock.

are these really a huge failing part? I don’t see many forum posts about these failing. I’m surprised mine are bad at 61k miles.

 

[DougS550]

Im slowly learning more and more which are known parts to fail. I’m a manual transmission and going to stay stock.

are these really a huge failing part? I don’t see many forum posts about these failing. I’m surprised mine are bad at 61k miles.

Some people hammer their cars from a dig, power shift etc and some are more gentle. All cars will break at some point and that is directly related to our driving habbits. All we can do is try to minimize those times.

 

[Metz3020827]

Some people hammer their cars from a dig, power shift etc and some are more gentle. All cars will break at some point and that is directly related to our driving habbits. All we can do is try to minimize those times.

I never launch my car, I’ve never done a burn out etc, sure I punch it from time to time but it’s not being floored everywhere etc. seems like it should’ve lasted much longer.
Can’t even imagine what it’s going to cost to replace them.

 

[DougS550]

I never launch my car, I’ve never done a burn out etc, sure I punch it from time to time but it’s not being floored everywhere etc. seems like it should’ve lasted much longer.
Can’t even imagine what it’s going to cost to replace them.

They definitely should have lasted longer by the way you drive. Do you have a friend with a garage who has done mechanical work like this before? Plus I would verify all other bushings, sway bar end links, sway bar bushing, vertical links etc are not worn out. I would actually recommend taking it to a Ford Dealer and pay for them to inspect everything and give estimate for replacing or upgrading those parts. Then you know exactly what is causing your noises, clunking etc. Then you could shop around for labor cost or do it youself.

 

[Metz3020827]

They definitely should have lasted longer by the way you drive. Do you have a friend with a garage who has done mechanical work like this before? Plus I would verify all other bushings, sway bar end links, sway bar bushing, vertical links etc are not worn out. I would actually recommend taking it to a Ford Dealer and pay for them to inspect everything and give estimate for replacing or upgrading those parts. Then you know exactly what is causing your noises, clunking etc. Then you could shop around for labor cost or do it youself.

The thing that gets me is it’s dead fucking silent man. It doesn’t even make any noises. It makes like a bottoming out type sound sometimes over lane dividers but that is IT. Nothing else.
It just drags my car all over shitty roads. That’s the only thing.

 

[DougS550]

The thing that gets me is it’s dead fucking silent man. It doesn’t even make any noises. It makes like a bottoming out type sound sometimes over lane dividers but that is IT. Nothing else.
It just drags my car all over shitty roads. That’s the only thing.

That seems odd for sure. And not looking at or driving I can only sugest. For piece of mind, I would still pay a Ford dealership to check it out And verify exactly what is causing your issues.

 

[Metz3020827]

That seems odd for sure. And not looking at or driving I can only sugest. For piece of mind, I would still pay a Ford dealership to check it out And verify exactly what is causing your issues.

I guess I just feel like if something was wrong (other than my tires) it would be making noises? Nothing seems entirely evident.

I’ve looked at the suspension, and it looks fine. The only thing that sucks about dealerships around here, is you have to keep it there for days on end for them to diagnose it. My car sat at their place for 9 days before they even touched it last time. It’s my daily. I can’t have it sit like that.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Every rubber bushing in the car will fail with age and use at some point. My RLCA bushings were torn through pretty early on because I track and autocross a lot. I replaced those with sphericals (no NVH from that alone).

Did the Ford Performamce resr toe bearing at the same time.

Then at 98k I made the mistake of looking at my diff bushings. All torn. So we replaced the cradle to get fresh ones and reinforced them with the bracing pucks. I’d go with the softer ones next time due to noise. We also reinforced the cradle to body bushings too. I did that all to try to prolong their life.

Around the same time my mechanic noticed a wheel shifted when he bumped it (ok he kicked it) so a front control arm was bad. On inspection the front control arm big bushings were torn on each side so replaced all four front control arms.

I still have some old rubber in the vertical links, so might as well hit that too to finish the job.

None of the torn bushings made any sound since they were all still rubber to rubber contact. Most were not noticeable. I wasnt suprised about the front ones because small bumps on the front were more jarring than I figured they should be.

 

[DougS550]

I guess I just feel like if something was wrong (other than my tires) it would be making noises? Nothing seems entirely evident.

I’ve looked at the suspension, and it looks fine. The only thing that sucks about dealerships around here, is you have to keep it there for days on end for them to diagnose it. My car sat at their place for 9 days before they even touched it last time. It’s my daily. I can’t have it sit like that.

Have you tried new tires? How does your car track during spirited driving and cornering?

 

[Metz3020827]

Have you tried new tires? How does your car track during spirited driving and cornering?

My car feels fine, unless it crosses a solid painted line, the edge of outside lanes for example.

I have miss matched tires, nitto g2 in rear and continental extreme contact sports in the front. Probably not the best idea but I don’t really think it’s that huge of a deal or is it?

 

[Metz3020827]

Every rubber bushing in the car will fail with age and use at some point. My RLCA bushings were torn through pretty early on because I track and autocross a lot. I replaced those with sphericals (no NVH from that alone).

Did the Ford Performamce resr toe bearing at the same time.

Then at 98k I made the mistake of looking at my diff bushings. All torn. So we replaced the cradle to get fresh ones and reinforced them with the bracing pucks. I’d go with the softer ones next time due to noise. We also reinforced the cradle to body bushings too. I did that all to try to prolong their life.

Around the same time my mechanic noticed a wheel shifted when he bumped it (ok he kicked it) so a front control arm was bad. On inspection the front control arm big bushings were torn on each side so replaced all four front control arms.

I still have some old rubber in the vertical links, so might as well hit that too to finish the job.

None of the torn bushings made any sound since they were all still rubber to rubber contact. Most were not noticeable. I wasnt suprised about the front ones because small bumps on the front were more jarring than I figured they should be.

So you replaced the bushings with which? From who? What part should I look for? If I can go through the process of never having to do the RLCA again that would be great.

seems hard to find a competent mechanic in my area: the dude I had paid $500 to install my Steeda shocks/struts and swaybar endlinks told me that the swaybar endlinks didn’t fit my car and he reused my old coil over ones that were half the length and claimed the clunking noise was “the springs settling.” Mind you, this is a guy who installs fuel systems and pro chargers on mustangs.

it’s been beyond a headache finding someone to help that isn’t a dealer: I swore to myself after my swaybar link incident that my dad and I would do everything ourselves together but this RLCA seems like a difficult job to tackle in the driveway.

 

[NightmareMoon]

So you replaced the bushings with which? From who? What part should I look for? If I can go through the process of never having to do the RLCA again that would be great.

seems hard to find a competent mechanic in my area: the dude I had paid $500 to install my Steeda shocks/struts and swaybar endlinks told me that the swaybar endlinks didn’t fit my car and he reused my old coil over ones that were half the length and claimed the clunking noise was “the springs settling.” Mind you, this is a guy who installs fuel systems and pro chargers on mustangs.

it’s been beyond a headache finding someone to help that isn’t a dealer: I swore to myself after my swaybar link incident that my dad and I would do everything ourselves together but this RLCA seems like a difficult job to tackle in the driveway.

I used the Steeda Bearings and I bought the cup tool.

Its a bitch of job to get the old ones out and the new ones in. If you can get the control arms off the car, I'd happily pay a shop to replace the bushings with the bearings. Or just pay somebody to do the entire job. We destroyed one control arm in the process (used heat, which annealed the temper on the forged aluminum control arm... don't do that). You CAN buy new control arms from Ford as repair parts, and they will come with fresh rubber bushings installed if you want to go that route.

Find where your local racers and autocrossers go for shop work. I wouldn't use a dealer unless someone had a gun to my head.

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