I've had the SPL compression rod bushings for about almost a month now and I'm starting to experience a little bit of knocking here and there. More at lower speeds. Not entirely sure if it's from the bushings, but idk.

 

I've had mine for 4 or 5 months now and I've already had to replace the passenger side compression rod due to a bad ball joint (on the end that attaches to the hub). Now I'm pretty sure my driver side c-rod's ball joint is bad, as well as both spl bearings. I will be buying energy suspension poly bushings to replace these.

 

I don't see how the compression rod bushings might cause that though..

 

The ball joint ends on my compression rods never went bad until I replaced the bushings with SPL bearings. Now in 5 months, both go bad? I don't think it's a coincidence.

 

hmmm.. do you think you can describe exactly the noises that you're hearing while you drive before you replaced the ball joint ends?

I'm trying to figure out if it really is the ball joint ends or maybe it's just the bushings. The knocking noise that I'm kind of getting isn't very loud. It's kind of slight and I only really hear it at lower speeds. When I go in and out of a driveway there're definitely some new creaking noises. It wasn't like this when I was on the OEM bushings and it wasn't like this up until a few days ago.

 

If yours is anywhere as bad as mine have been, you would notice right away. Currently, whenever I go over a bump (size doesn't matter) it sounds like my suspension is going to fall apart. It's a rattle/clunk on both sides, sounds like loose suspension components. It hasn't ever affected the drivability of the car, but it needs to be fixed as soon as possible. It could cause premature wear on other suspension components.

One way to find out is to reach under your car and move the compression rod back and forth. If there is little to no resistance, something is bad. If they are good, it won't be hard to move around, but it also won't be "loose" feeling. Mine move around with absolutely no resistance, it's pretty obvious once you feel it. It could be a combo of both the SPL bearings and the ball joint end that are bad on yours (hopefully not though).

These SPL bearings are really great products, but they are definitely not made for street use. Water and dirt get into the bearing and that's how they go bad, lubrication has been proven to do nothing.

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'm happy to help.

 

Should I jack the car up before I attempt to do this?

Thanks for the reply btw!

 

I tried both and they're pretty hard to move around

 

Just started getting that "Creaking Noise" too and ordered a set of these bushing. Hope they're as good as some of the other SPL items I have on my ride....
Gary

 

I'm definitely starting to hear some very disturbing creaking and tapping from my front suspension. I'm fairly convinced that its the SPL bushings which I've had for maybe 4-5 months and btw I daily my car. Anyways I do have a slight suspicion that it could be the sway bar endlinks so I ordered a set of powergrid ones just to be certain. If they don't make a difference then I'm pulling the compression rods and swapping in new oem bushings....its just not worth the fukakta noise they are making.

I'll come back with an update once my endlinks go in....I'll know for sure then.

 

you are wasting your money. I am pretty sure, it's the ball joint of compression rod.

 

I'm confident its not the ball joint since I used brand new compression rods when I was installing my SPL bushing to avoid down time and because my ball joints on the old compression rods were very loose. The entire compression rod on both sides is literally about 4-5 months old, they were brand spanking new so if it does turn out that the compression rod ball joints are now damaged and clunking it will only confirm someones theory on here that the solid compression rod bushings might be accelerating the ware of the ball joints. This is something I have a hard time believing but we'll find out.

 

Video update !

I pulled my SPL bushings after having them in for 4-5 months and here's what I found. I appologize for the poor quality of the video, I'm using my palm pre camera to record (it sucks). Also I've been drinking.....so video skills are less than stellar

 

^^^ I don't normally take the time to comment about vids... but in this case I logged in specifically to say that was very well documented - clear & concise and well spoken... good information - thanks for taking the time to do so.

 

Mine were the same way. Completely loose with no resistance and clunking very loudly.