GS1day

UPDATE!!!! PICS BELOW_
Quick history - I bought the car with 100K from a cop - turns out he may have been playing 'Smokey and the Bandit" in it.

I've always had rattles, but bought an L-tuned setup and figured I would figure out the rattles when I installed it. IT turned out that both of my front lower ball joints were bad . (they had slop and play in the joint). After replacing them, my front right is fine, but the front left still has an occasional rattle that sounds a little like a loose connection somewhere. It kinda sounds like a ball joint.

How do I tell if my upper is bad? I jacked up the car, and let the wheel hang, and then tried hitting on the upper arm, to see if there was play, but I couldn't feel any. I also don't think I was able to shake it hard enough to tell. My upper boot is torn however, and it makes me think the joint might be bad too. Anyone know what these upper a-arms cost?


Someone mentioned in another post, that they thought someone elses bushings were going bad. How can I determine if it is my bushings? Would a bad bushing in the lower arm cause a rattle over depressions in the ground? Can I get replacement bushings from LExus? I can get the arms off to bring to a shop to press them in....
With 100K and a "smokey and the bandit" history, should I just replace my bushings?

thanks,

Fred


LOOKS LIKE THE BUSHING MIGHT BE BAD WHAT DO YOU THINK??

I see inconsistant rubber sticking out around the joint that makes me think its worn out. HOw can I really check it??

DJC

Not sure about the upper joints, but one other item to check is the front strut caps. The strut cap is the round piece that the springs rest upon and the strut rod passes through. There is a hard rubber busing in the center (where the strut rod passes through) that can fail after time. Apparently mine were bad after 75k and after I install L-Tuned/Bilstein combo they started creaking and squeaking big time. I had new ones installed and not a peep since. Good luck.
DJC

GS1day

That is a dirrection that I never thought to look. Thanks. It really sounds like something is loose, like a ball joint.. Does this give the same type sound? HOw much did the strut cap cost, adn how could you tell they were bad (besides the noise).

thanks again,

Fred

DJC

The sound was creaking and squeaking, not really the lower decibel sound of a ball joint. However, they may be worth looking into if you have eliminated everything else. Checking the strut caps involves taking the strut assembly out. The strut cap is the round piece on top that the spring seats up against. It is basically flat on one side and has the studs on the other side where it bolts up through the strut tower. My shop placed the old stut cap in a bench vice and worked a screwdriver in a circular motion through the center to make the bushing move as if to simulate the strut rod flexing. Thats when you could hear them squeaking and creaking. The price for the new ones from my shop was $85ea not including labor.

GS1day

Thanks - mine is less creak, and more like a little slack somewhere. sounds like something has a little bit of play in it, but it only happens on a quick dip or hole. It has to be the right dip/bump combo to happen. The suspension feels very solid, and I've triple checked all my bolts to make sure everythings tight.

Does anyone know what a bad bushing on the lower arm sounds like? Does it sound like something loose?

GreddyEddy

iTrader: (6)

Does your car have the facrory HID's ?If so, check the leveler on the driver side. it was rattling on mine. Sounded like a metal to metal tapping . I thought it was a bushing or loose sway bar bracket.

GS1day

WOW- I would have never thought of that......

I'll check it out - thanks -

You mean the part that is under the wheel well connected to the lower arm that tells the level to the lights? Is that the part you are talking about, or are you talking about a part that is under the hood behind the light?

thanks-

SCV8

To check your balljoints you need to get a very large set of Channelock pliers to squeeze the balljoint stud back into the socket and se if there's any movement, any visible movement would mean that they're worn, and going to cause your driving experience to suffer. This should be done with the wheel close to the loaded ride height.
Also, might want to check the swaybar end-links, they can rattle like crazy if bad, or loose.

GS1day

Well, I got back under there and went back at it - thanks for the tips

Eddy - Sure enough, my HID leveler was rattling a bit, so I took it apart and tightened it up - Relubed those little ball sockets too-

But I still had the noise-
When I looked closely at the bushing on my lower control arm I saw irregular rubber arount it.
ALSO The damn thing is a JUNK YARD PART- It has writing on it.

CARFAX SUCKS
I had a carfax that said light damage in back, but nothing about the two lower arms being replaced up front-

here is a pic of missing rubber on the left side of the arm.

IS this a bad bushing?
I think I need to get this bushing fixed any help anyone?

I can take off this arm, - where can I get a bushing to get pressed into there?

Thanks-

Fred

GS1day

Another pic of missing rubber. IS this normal, or is this a bad bushing??