What grease for sway bar bushings?

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The other day i stupidly decided to apply some 3m Silicone paste to my rear sway bar bushings(the bushings that hold the bar to the chassis). Totally disregarded that the bar is painted black from the factory so the 3m silicone lube was useless. A few days later i am getting annoying squeaks going over dips and bumps. Its very annoying. Prior to this, no noise at all.

I think what happened is that the lube glazed up between the bushing and sway bar and is causing the squeak. I sanded down the glaze from the bushing and sway bar. Im 1000% sure it is these bushings causing the noise. The bushings are rubber and the sway bar is painted BLACK from the factory. Anyone know of any rear sway bar bushing lube that mixes well with rubber bushings and the black paint of the sway bar? The bushing doesnt make direct contact with the metal off the sway bar.

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I swapped out those bushings and used silicone grease with no noise yet (this was just last fall though). I've read that petroleum based grease can cause the rubber boots on caliper slide pins to expand, so I figured it might be similar for the sway bar bushings.
 
this depends, what kind of bushing you have.

If you have poly bushings, then you get poly bushing grease (e.g. prothane or energy):
http://www.prothanesuspensionparts.com/p...uoK_Z12Cb7w_wcB

Apply LIBERALLY, like 1 tube per bushing.. It actually goes on sticky like caulk but it is silicone grease.

If you have rubber bushings then no grease, but I would use the poly bushing grease as the good best alternative if you wanted to use something.

You sanded your bushings? If I were you, I'd get new bushings while you're ordering the grease if they are cheaply available and replaceable for your vehicle.
 
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How about a little teflon tape? A couple wraps around the swaybar keeps the poly bushings on my TSX quiet.
 
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No grease is best, but PFPE-based grease doesn't have the stiction that silicon-based grease has. Expensive, but will be quiet.
Krytox 204.
 
Permatex brake caliper grease. It is a synthetic grease that looks like a green jell. You don't have to buy the big jar, you can get it in the little envelopes at Autozone in the Permatex section. Try some of that, it's good stuff.

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Originally Posted By: Pablo
How did you apply the lube?

Did you take the bushings completely off?

Silicone grease or boat trailer bearing grease usually works fine.


Applied a thin coat. The sway bar bracket would force all the extra lube out, so i didn't liberally add it.
 
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
How about a little teflon tape? A couple wraps around the swaybar keeps the poly bushings on my TSX quiet.


wouldnt the teflon tape shred away in a matter of days?


I agree that no grease is best...but too late now. I will probably end up buying two new oem bushingsf or 5 each.
 
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When I replaced the bushings on my escalade and my corvette, I wrapped the portion of the sway bar that would be covered by the bushing with Teflon tape, then I used syn valvoline grease on top of that. Then wipe off the excess. No squeaks at all.
 
Originally Posted By: barkingspider
When I replaced the bushings on my escalade and my corvette, I wrapped the portion of the sway bar that would be covered by the bushing with Teflon tape, then I used syn valvoline grease on top of that. Then wipe off the excess. No squeaks at all.


Sounds promising, i'll give that a shot. How long has it been now?
 
Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
How about a little teflon tape? A couple wraps around the swaybar keeps the poly bushings on my TSX quiet.


wouldnt the teflon tape shred away in a matter of days?


I agree that no grease is best...but too late now. I will probably end up buying two new oem bushingsf or 5 each.


No, it will last quite a while, and costs next to nothing.
 
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
How about a little teflon tape? A couple wraps around the swaybar keeps the poly bushings on my TSX quiet.


wouldnt the teflon tape shred away in a matter of days?


I agree that no grease is best...but too late now. I will probably end up buying two new oem bushingsf or 5 each.


No, it will last quite a while, and costs next to nothing.


I will give this a shot tonight and report back. Did you apply any lube?
 
None if they're rubber - the rubber is supposed to grip the bar and twist with it, so no noise, if you grease it, your noise is the bar moving in the rubber...put new bushes in, make sure it's clean, repaint the area you sanded off because spring steel is very susceptable to surface corrosion cracking, and don't grease them this time.
 
Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
How about a little teflon tape? A couple wraps around the swaybar keeps the poly bushings on my TSX quiet.


wouldnt the teflon tape shred away in a matter of days?


I agree that no grease is best...but too late now. I will probably end up buying two new oem bushingsf or 5 each.


No, it will last quite a while, and costs next to nothing.


I will give this a shot tonight and report back. Did you apply any lube?


It's an aftermarket swaybar. It originally came with teflon grease (poly bushings), which lasted about two years before it became squeaky. I lived with the squeaks for about a year, then this past winter (once I installed the lift in my garage
grin.gif
) wrapped the swaybar with teflon tape where the bushings engage (no additional grease). No squeaks so far after about 6 months. I've put about 15k miles on it in that time.
 
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I added teflon to the my rear sway bar and its whisper quiet now! Hope this last a while! Thanks all for your recommendations!

I also have a tsx(gave to sister) and i put a progressive rear sway bar on it and it is also squeaking. I will add teflon tape to it when i get a chance.
 
I just bought a JBR rear bar for the MS3, it comes with polyurethane bushings and brackets equipped zerk fittings. The grease they provide for installation is Super Lube NLGI Grade 2.
 
When I replaced my 323 sway bar bracket bushings with EnergySuspension polys, they came with some very tacky/sticky silicon grease pack. I used them in my sway bar bushings (only used once during installation, no re-lubing afterwards) and they lasted for years w/o squeaking at all.

My sway bar also has paint coated on the area where the bar meets the bushings, never an issue.

Q.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
I just bought a JBR rear bar for the MS3, it comes with polyurethane bushings and brackets equipped zerk fittings. The grease they provide for installation is Super Lube NLGI Grade 2.


That is exactly what UMI suggests for their Roto-Joint type rod ends as well.
wink.gif
 
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