How much creaking is appropriate - urethane

[rammstein]

I just got my car back, and before I post impressions I need to know how much noise is appropriate from the urethane bushings. I replaced ALL of the front and rear bushings with urethane.

The rear is pretty quiet. The front is creaking/popping very loud- you can even feel it. I read that there would be compromises, that there would be some creaking and vibration, but I am a bit suprised to be hearing what is bordering on 'popping' coming from the front at the slightest provocation. Passengers will assume the car is falling apart :D

Also, the differential roar is now quite audible, and I am wondering if that is from the urethane mount? If so, in that case I think some strategic dynamat cal take care of that.

If this is normal, then I'm ok. I am more concerned with if this means there is a problem or not. I can live with the noise if its just 'how it is', because the car feels GREAT. But if there is a problem, I'd like to know.

[rammstein]

Ok- I have done a bit of research again. It appears that the diff noise is normal, so I'll just experimant with some dynamat under the rear seat cushions.

As for the creaking bushings, I am wondering if the shop that installed them used any lubicant on them. From what I am reading, if you get a good lube on there it should help a lot. My question now is, now that everything is already installed, can I still easily lube these bad boys? If I take it in for an alignment tomorrow, it will be on the lift, maybe I can use that opportunity to give it a good spray on these?

Lemme know peeps!

[rammstein]

I brought the car back to the shop- there is no WAY that this is right. I will post back with the results... I really hope this gets rectified.

[jlevie]

The only way to lube poly bushings is to remove them, apply synthetic grease, and re-install. When I used poly bushings on a street car that saw occasional track time I found that most of the bushings needed lubrication twice a year to prevent squeaking.

[nando]

i've put nearly 100,000 miles on poly bushings. never had to re-lube them, no squeaking, no popping. dunno what you other guys are doing.

CABs may be different, but I'd never run urethane in a CAB. OE M3 offset, or THR eyeballs.

[rammstein]

UPDATE - I got the car back from the shop.

Here is what they told me- the control arms have this black paint on them. They lubed the control arm bushings and apparently the paint wore through where there was friction and essentially as the paint came off so did the lube. They re-lubed the now de-nuded area and so far since I picked it up it has been silent.

In their defense, the car wasn't making the noise quite as badly when I first picked it up, but it was certainly ridiculous by this morning.

I will wait to post my final impressions of this setup until I get a few more miles on, and also get the alignment done. But at the moment, it appears I am in the clear.