Thanks for the kind words!

The Rod ends used by BMR and Spohn are made byQA1. They have a teflon-coated ball, so they do not need lubrication. However, I do suggest giving them a periodic squirt with WD-40 or Kroil or something like that just to prevent them from rusting and to keep them moving freely. When I change my oil every 3,000 miles, I wipe off the zerks and the rod-ends with a rag. I give the zerks a little bit of grease and then I spray a little bit of PCL (my favorite brand of spray lube/rust prevenative) on the rod-ends. It's overkill to do this every 3K, butit only takes a couple minutes and it's easily done while the oil is draining--and what can I say? I'm **** when it comes to my suspension being in tip-top shape.

Anyway, there is no need to grease the bolts, and greasing the outside of the zerk fitting doesn't do anything except attract dirt. If you are going to lube the bushings there are two ways to do it. You can either take the bushing out of the control arm, smear the grease all over the inside of the hole where the bushing goes, and on the inside hole of the bushings (where the inner sleeve fits), and then re-assemble them. This is what you have to do on brands that don't use grease fittings like Steeda. The other option is to use a grease gun and pump the grease into the zerk.


I completely agree that whomever sells the control arms needs to explain proper installation an maintenance much better. That is probably my largest gripe with most aftermarket parts...the parts themselves may be great but 90% of the time the instructions are complete crap....if you get any at all. That'sallright most of the timeif you're an experience mechanic...but even then we make mistakes or need additional information that would really help.

By the way, Dynatech (headers) and Stoptech (brakes) are both companies that have FANTASTIC directions.

 

Okay, so I looked at them again, and while not oozing out, I was able to feel around the edges of the bushing and there was a little bit of semi-clear substance that even with a very little bit on my finger felt tacky...so I am thinking they are pre-lubed...I will call tomorrow to confirm....

Thanks again!!!!

 

Spohn recommends Super Lube which can be purchased at many Ace or True Value hardware stores or from SuperLube direct. It is a silicone grease.

 

Got an e-mail back from BMR....NOT GREASED!!!! Now he said a "fully synthetic grease", but as discussed earlier synthetic != silicone!!!!! So I will call Ace today to see what they got!!!!

 

Also, if you're going to pump the grease in, make sure the bolts are not torqued down. You can split the bushings. Either pull them out and do it by hand, or pump it in and the torque them down.

 

Yay for search. I know this thread is kind of old but I am having a bitch of a time trying to locate silicone grease cartridges for my grease gun.

The only place I have been able to find it has been on BMR's website. I looked into Super Lube and this is the response I got back from them:

Derrick, Super Lube® Multi-Purpose Grease is not silicone based, however it can be used to lubricate polyurethane bushings. Regards, Bill Reilly
Operations Manager
Synco Chemical Corporation



Take what you will from that. I have found some locally but don't think I'm gonna use it since I have a cartridge of silicone on the way from BMR.

In the meantime, I'm an impatient kinda guy and was wondering if it would be the end of the world if I installed my panhard rod before properly lubing the bushings. Will it bind them up badly, possibly damaging them or something else?

 

You can get it from Summit or JEGs. You could use non-silicone grease for a little while, the problem is that it will start to breakdown the poly. If you do use non-silicone grease, just make sure you take the bushing out and clean itand then apply the silicone grease when you get it.

 

CrazyAl,

Synthetic grease and "natural" greases are bothbased on carbon based lubricant chemistry. Obviously Silicone isnot, so this line is correct.

But your next paragraph is only partially correct,oil based grease either out of the ground of fabricated in a chemical plant are bothstill carbon based, this is correct. The problem is with your statement thatoil based grease "will be eat up the polyurethane [bushings] just the same as regular old grease will." This isincorrect! Polyurethane bushingsare not adversely affected by petroleum grease either out of the ground or pure synthetic based. Polyurethane bushings do not breakdown or get eaten up by using carbon based automotive greases. The only real reason to use a silicone based grease is the tendency to stay where youputit a little better than other standard automotive grease. But this canbe overcome by usinga marine grade grease. Marine type greasestend to last longer and stay put better than standardautomotive grease just like silicone based greases do. There is no advantage to using a silicone based grease on your polyurethane bushings if you are using a marinegrade carbon based grease.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for that F1. My ailignment shop shot some regular grease into my poly bushings and I was worried. I had planned on having my mechanic re-grease the bushings with silicone grease this weekend...that was before I realized I couldnt pick up the stuff locally. x.x

 

So I have to loosen the torqued bolts to inject tho silicone grease into the poly bushings? I thought torqued bolts are only good once..so I have to replce my bolts everytime I loosen them to grease my LCA's? [sm=wtf.gif]