I had my MINI lowererd and added rear sway bar. Since I've had it completed, I have a significant amout of creaking and noise. Does everyone experience this? Does this cause more creaking noise because of lowering? The noise is present at all times except on extremly smooth roads. The car handles perfectly, but the noise seems to be a high price to pay for the comnstant reminder. Any info would be appreciated.

 

... you pre-greesed the sway bar bushings?

 

I've been wondering if my noises were related to the rear sway bar install too.I watched Randy Webb put it in in Nov. and I greased the living snot out of the bushings(H-sport ,Rear),the noise is driving me out the window!Let me know if you come up with a solution to this, please.

 

Have you greased it lately? Did Randy use a grease gun after the install and pump up the grease fittings on the H-Sport bushings?

 

By the way, what sway bar is this?

 

no to both questions, but I used every ounce of the lube that came with the product on the install.It's only been 2 months and about 5k miles, are you saying I'll have to add grease with this kind of frequency always????

 

NO, I don't think so, or at least I don't. I also have the H-sport. I think you need to just hit it with a grease gun and 'pack' some grease in there. I used a good teflon grease and as I said, not problems for the months I've had it in.
You'll need to jack the car and remove the rear wheels I believe to get to it.

 

thanks, I'll give that a try.

 

Oh, is that what those little nipples are for?! What do I pump em up with? I have the same creaking sound he is describing here.

 

I installed the sway bar almost 2 years ago. Never once had a creak, squeak, or anything similar. Installed H&R coilovers about 500 miles ago and they are driving me batty. The car sounds like a '58 chevy pickup. As somebody else said, on the level straightaway, no problems but everything else is absolutely ridiculous. I found this thread by doing a search on "Bushings" as I'm considering replacing every last one of them with polyurethane. So...while I'm here...anybody know if this is overkill or if it will even help the problem?

Ken

 

Well I have "no grease" bushings that came with my promini rear 19mm swaybar, and I still here noises. They arent creaks, rather more of a clunk. Like when I back out of my driveway and off a little curb. I have a vidration comming from the boot that was there before any suspension upgrades, sounds like plastic(have looked all over for anything loose but nothing was found), but I am sorta scared to take it to the dealer for fear they will penilize me for having lowering springs and such.

 

Clunks are usually a loose sway bar link. Jack up the rear (Both sides), pop off the rear tires and retighten the sway bar link nut ( you'll need an allen wrench and regular wrench).

 

Can someone answer this? Those little nipples on the H-sport stuff are to pump em up? What do I use to pump them up?

 

Ummmm, .....Actualy, ..... I thought you were kidding when you first asked the question
It hard for me to believe that a guy with SO many mods on his MCS does not know what to do with nipples, ....arrrhh... I mean grease nipples.

Come on!

OK. Get one of these. :smile:
http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ductId=1289532

 

HAHA! Sorry, I wasnt kidding. This is the first car ive ever worked on so its all a big learning process

 

oh and what sort of grease should I put in there? The stuff that comes with the parts cuz that shiz is long gone

 

I have eibach lowering spring and h-sports rear bar, and is also suffering from the creaking noise. The noise however only happen under sub-zero temperature. Today is -20C and my rear suspension creak like its falling apart.

I already had the sway bar bushing regreased few days ago but didn't help, so I'm wondering either the grease doesn't work under cold weather, or the creak is actually from the spring. Anyone can help?

 

I think your bar may be rubbing the silicone(?) sealant on the chassis. You
can trim it off with a box cutter. I had to trim quite a bit on mine even
though im using only a 22mm Alta. Your H-sports are a much thicker bar,
right? The sealant runs all the way across the chassis above the
swaybar... its body colored and almost looks like a weld, but you can trim
it with a knife as it's only a foam.

Also, the grease that H-Sport includes in their swaybar tends to dry up for
some reason. They even stated that they don't recommend white lithium
grease on I think their RSX swaybar...and only use the grease they include
in their package. I use nothing but white lithium grease on my bushings
(inside/out) and not once have I had creeking noise on any of my cars.

 

Thanks Ken that's good advice, I'd try that when weather gets warmer.
I have the H-sport Sport rear bar so it should be about as thick as your alta bar. Although I still don't get why the creak only happens in winter if it is caused by the silicon sealent.

 

Does anyone know how much I should torque the swaybar clamp bolts down to?

 

It's possible that it ts not your bushings. The middle of your bar could be rubbing up against excess "gummy weld". See pic. go under you car and take a look. You may have to trim it up if it is there. Happened to me with my R-speed bar. The hollow H-sport is bigger, and could be rubbing. The subframe in this pic is dropped.

 

I had PSS9s and ABD (fr/rr) sway bars on my 2001 Golf and I immediately experienced creaking after the install. And the install was by Ron Wood, one of the most reputable VW mechanics in So. Cal. I had remembered that when I installed my GCs on my Impreza I also hear creaks, but most of the issues went away after a couple weeks as the suspension "settled". This never happened with my Golf, and it would creak when I went over bumps, exited parking lots, and some times even when I turned the steering wheel while stopped. There were a lot of other noises coming out of that car, so I just kind of got used to it. In the tot workmanship of the Mini though, it would drive me f-ing bananas.

In my Golf, my driver's side rear sway bar bushing would always pop out too, and I always got the impression that the suspension was lopsided somehow. The only solution I could figure out was to remove everything, check the parts for any bends or uneveness, and perform a new install. I never did that because my level of busyness exceeded my level of annoyance, but when all else fails I don't see any way around checking the product for manufacturer defects and making sure that the installation wasn't compromised somehow.

I'll be curious to see how this goes...I'm getting a new suspension next month, and don't want to deal with this stuff on yet another car.

 

andrew_py_ng- That's exactly what im talking about! Hope it
helps.

 

efcmini, be careful w/ poly bushings, my experience w/ them is that they tend to squeak and creak much more than the O.E. rubber bushings. Generally, poly bushings perform better, but they do require a bit more maintenance to keep them performing quietly.
By the way, I have the H-sport 25.5 mm rear bar and have had no creaking or squeaking. Sounds like the lowering springs may be the common factor. Let us know.

Later.

 

well halleluja!!!! I greased my rear h-sport sway bar bushings today and the creaking and popping VANISHED! thanks all for the very cool observations and suggestions.I thought I was going to go right out of my mind!Unfortunately on the way home from the dealer I noticed a new crack in windscreen #6.For those who remember, this was the FIRST of the "new" windscreens to arrive in the USA to incorporate an increase in temper,and to be fair, I've received some really dramatic rock strikes in the 10 months this was in the car,but I don't think I'll deal with this until well into the spring.Baby steps...........I also had a new belt installed at MOP and since having had a 15% pulley installed, I specified a John Cooper Works belt, slightly smaller than stock ,part # 1 11-28-0-300-802 jcw ribbed Belt. Jock

edit: it vanished for all of about 4 days...........now back again with a vengeance worse as temp drops and better as car warms up,but never totally gone.