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Poly Urethane Spring Isolators.

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Old Jul 22, 2011 | 05:23 AM
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Default Poly Urethane Spring Isolators.

Is anyone running these? I'm curious because I put them in when I did my new suspension and rear and the cars NVH wasnt to bad at all, then I got caught in the rain with the car and once it dried it makes some real crazy creaks and what not going over bumps and I'm thinking that the light grease thats on the isolators out of the box got washed away with the rain and now there making noise. Anyone else have any expereince with these?
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 05:44 AM
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Polyurethane suspension components--isolators, bushings, etc.--are infamous for creaking unless greased at installation and regularly thereafter. Often they come with a tube of silicon based grease that will last quite a while. However the spring isolators for our cars do not seem to come with any--I have a set I got from Summit that have been on the shelf for over a year, in part because I know there will be "issues" when they are installed (and the car will likely sit higher with them)--they are a sort of "just-in-case" the OEM isolators crap out thing...

Urethane is one of those things that offers a lot of benefit, but has downsides as you have found. Bushings and stuff made from it are cheaper to make than the synthetic rubber stuff used by automakers, however the makers don't use them because of their tendency to squeak (and crack if poorly cast)...
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 05:46 AM
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Guess I'll have to grease em, was gonna take em out and see the difference but I got my pinion angle set perfect and dont wanna mess with it.
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 07:37 AM
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Use a synthetic base grease, I have used Green Grease and had good results--dino based grease will eat up the urethane...
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 07:53 AM
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I got mine from AM a couple of months ago, and haven't had any problems.
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 08:06 AM
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I haven't had any issues with mine either. I bought them from AM as well. But my bushings on my lower control arms need to be greased. I forgot to do it when I did my springs.
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 08:40 AM
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How do you grease a spring isolater without having to remove the spring? Aren't they located at the top of the spring? Isn't the area space limited?
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 09:07 AM
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Originally Posted by dominant1
How do you grease a spring isolater without having to remove the spring? Aren't they located at the top of the spring? Isn't the area space limited?
You don't have to remove the spring, however you do have to relieve the pre-load. With many lowering springs this can be done on the rear by just jacking up the chassis and letting the axle drop.

On the front you generally have to remove the strut shaft nut and let the lower arm drop as much as it can (the tie-rod and anti-roll bar may have to be removed from the spindle as well).
Old Jul 22, 2011 | 03:31 PM
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Keith and I talked about my car creaking really bad after we installed rear lowering springs and LCA's.At first we thought the poly end of the LCA was creaking,but then Keith said he thinks it's the poly isos creaking bad.Looks like he's right.I'd like to remove them if I could bc they drive me nuts.
Old Sep 8, 2011 | 06:13 AM
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Originally Posted by cliffyk
Use a synthetic base grease, I have used Green Grease and had good results--dino based grease will eat up the urethane...
Hey Cliffy what is the base of that grease? I remember when I was greasing my poly control arms when I had em they said to ONLY use a sythentic "silicone" base grease, you have any insight on this? The only silicone base sythetic I was able to find is that super lube stuff, had to order from summit at the time, if I can use that green grease I rather just walk in advanced and buy it.



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