I can't believe it....the damn noise is back! I give up..........:CRY:

Have you had your ears checked? :LOL:

Maybe it's a "Telltale Heart" kind of thing...

Did you try the rear inner control arm bushings? There is a post on SCOF for this (adding grease fittings). I had the same type of noise on mine, so I removed the bolts, shot lube into the bushing and reinstalled the bolts. The noise went away and has not come back since.

Andrei

This time, only lube one spot and then take the car for a ride. If the noise is still there, do another spot and go for a ride. That will at least tell you what's making the noise even if the lube is just a really short-term fix.

Release your sway bar where they bolt to the a-arm so you can move the sway bar up and down in the bushing with you hands and see if the noise is there. Mine did it much worse when cold out.

when i say lubed, I am talking about taking the bushings out so they are in your hand and smearing silicone grease on them where the sway bar rides, not shooting an aeresol can at it.

Yep Maxx, I did that ....completely off the car and I took all the rubber off and lubed every bushing (over lubed) with silicone grease.:CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CR Y::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY::CRY:

Just grab the roll bar and give it a yank on the drivers side...and "crack!" on the rear passenger side under the car. Wondering if its the body mounting points

Hey wanab5150, I am living with exactly the same problem with csx 4990 right now. Dry rear upper wish-bone bushings. I relubed and "squeeek/crack" was gone for a while....and now its back, just as you described.
Did you fix it yet??
I was just thinking of pulling the bushings and putting in some new ones....
Very frustrating.....I hate that crack...its no good for anyone
Energy Suspension makes a graphite bushing that seems to right size to replace these "crack" bushings. Anyone have any experience with these??

Cobra 25, the crack, pop has been back since my last post. I had already done ALL the bushings with silicone grease and the noise came back within a very short time.

If I take the bushing out or even loosen them, the ride height will be changed as they are bolted in and tightened at ride height. They do not rotate in the control arm so where ever you tighten them, they flex from there and ride height (and alignment) could be altered, and I just don't want to change anything in that department.

On a good note after reading your post, I shot some silicone on to the upper control arm bushings and the noise stopped dead in its track...so I know it's coming from one of those two bushings.

I assumed that by greasing the hell out of the bushings with "molly" spray grease before, there was no way it could be them again. But, after your post, I thought "what the hell" and gave them a shot of silicone. Quiet at last...I swear, you could hear the pop 50 yards away. It sounded like someone was actually banging the control arm with a 20 oz. ball peen hammer every time the car hit the smallest imperfection in the road. You could even hear it on the highway over the engine and road noise.

Thanks for the post....It stirred me to look for it again and now I will just break out the silicon spray once and a while. Maybe I'll market it as a new product and call it (pop-b-gone)! Finally I can stop taking Zanax before every drive now. tom

It drives me crazy, especially when you get teased by the silence just after lubing the bushings. My noise can get louder than the pipes too...One guy said, "nice car but why does it squeak so much?" Uuuuggghh...

I am going to switch out the stock green bushings and try Energy Suspension's graphite bushings coated with anti-sieze in a few weeks. I will let you know how that works.

I am a little concerned that the brackets welded to the frame are not true and the bushing is binding up. I really hope thats not the problem but considering it is just one bushing making all the noise especially after all the truing and greasing of said bushing, its starting to look like it. But, I will check that when I replace the bushings.

Failure again....I've now tried Mobile 1 silicone grease...spray Lithium grease...spray dry lube ( can't remember the company ) and WD-40.
All have failed within a day or two except the WD which lasted 5 days.

Let me know if you find some poly bushings...I'll make the swap too. It is absolutely the top bushing!
It's unusual that these are different cars...CSX and Superformance and have exactly the same symptom.

I'm wondering if the actual steel tube where the bolt fits is rotating in the ears of the control arm mount. It is a metallic sound.
I will check the fit by removing the control arm and either add a washer or bend the ears a few thousands. Or....drive it off a cliff....
tom:CRY:

Last resort, but have you thought about Andrei's suggestion of adding a grease fitting to the control arms? The other thing you may need to do is pull it apart and grease it.

I used some Krytox grease I conviently found at w(*)(K. It will last but is very expensive although I think you can buy in a small tube, a full tube is about $500. I think GM used to recommend for there weatherstrips. The spray aint going to cut it, you are going to have to disassemble and wipe the grease on and reassemble.

I did a complete dissasembly and regreased with some redline grease. I have since learned the was not the best choice of grease. Anti-siese was recommended along with others. When I thow on Energy Suspensions bushings Lubed up with anti-seize, I will let you know.

I removed the upper control arm and cleaned up all the other crap I have used on it. The misalignment you mentioned appears to exist. more on the front mount even though this is a completely different car.

The steel tube through the bushing has a washer between it and the mount and i greased everything as I assembled it with Mobil 1 synthetic grease as prescribed by our local shop and other posts I have read. I thought about the anti-seize but am trying the synthetic first.

I can't for the life of me figure out how this control arm/bushing could make that kind of noise. I'm wondering if the whole bushing is rotating slightly between the mounts just enough to make the noise. I am going to tighten the crap out of it to the point it can't possible rotate at all.

Zirt fittings as suggested will not do anything because it is a rigid mount bushing with no internals (unlike the sway bar bushings) that could absorb the grease. There is actually no reason to even have to grease them and are dry from the factory as they only flex (or are supposed to flex) not rotate in any way. This one has an issue and I am trying to get rid of the noise any way I can without re bushing a virtually new car.

I will have it together tomorrow an we'll see how long it will last this time. If it doesn't...then I will also seek out poly bushings and give them a try.

Stayed quiet for two days...........

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain....My George I think he's got it!!

No...I mean it was only quiet for the first two days, them back to noise.

Something is different. I have not heard any noises and I don't think my suspension has been lubed since the day it was delivered! The guy I bought my Cobra from at 1,700 miles was not a "suspension" type and can't believe he did any greasing. I've pulled the wheels and looked around and cleaned but I have not done any greasing. I want to, but don't see any grease fittings on the back. How can the Cobra's be so different unless the installer did something different? I'm certainly not complaining, just wondering what is going on.

Wardy, there are no zirks on any of the control arms and don't really see why grease would be necessary other than to solve noise issue like mine. The bushings flex and shouldn't really move. The rubber in the center is all that SHOULD move. Mine is an exception in the noise dept.

All but the right top control arm is perfectly quiet. Like I said, I can even squirt wd-40 on the bushings on the top control arm and the noise will go away for 100 miles or so but come back overnight. So, I'm absolutly sure its one of the bushings moving, spinning, twisting...sh%#, I just can't figure it out.

ANY ONE KNOW OF A COMPANY PRODUCING UPPER CONTROL BUSHINGS FOR A SUPERFORMANCE PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Tom

As I said earlier, I took mine completely apart and regreased with some redline synthetic bearing grease and put it back together. The offending bushing/sleeve were jammed tight when I got to it. I took my dremel and smoothed it out and everything went together like butter. We jumped in the car and drove it about 50 miles and the noise was starting to come back.

I ordered Energy Suspensions bushings and they look like they will fit a CSX. Yesterday I took the car out for a spin before I start put it up on jack stands for a while and there was NO noise...........:rolleyes:

So its now back on the drive and enjoy program.

My advice is find a good grease or anti-sieze and take it apart. You just might find the sleeve jammed in the bushing and it just needs some TLC;)