Mine have been on for 2 years (36,000 miles) ....no grease....no problems.
I wish I had an answer for those with noise, but I don't

 

I received my Z06 kit from Fred Beans today. I called Jeremy at FB to see what Chevrolet recommended for lubrication on the bushings.

First he said that some people think because they seem to be somewhat lubricated in the packaging people don't add anymore to the bushings before installation but that is wrong. He said "Chevy recommends lithium grease be applied to inner bushing contact area before installation."

Simple as that!

Hopefully I'll have time to install them tomorrow otherwise they'll have to wait until Saturday.

..rickko..

 

I just went through this whole scenario with my Z06 bars,My best friend is a parts manager for a chevy dealership here in san Jose; rear bar install went fine,they come allready packed in grease and I added somemore,the fronts were a different story,when installing the fronts once the bushings are on the bar and up in place with the clamps I noticed that by the time i tightened the clamp bolts there was a tremendous amount of clamping force on the bushings thus really putting a tight squeeze on the bar,I installed them with plenty of lithium grease,after about a 10 minute test drive alll seemed fine until I slowly went over a speed bump,they had a very loud groan,so back home and up on the ramps,I got underneath and pushed and pulled the car up and down and sure enough the noise was coming from the bushings,so off they came,i did a side by side comparison with the stock bushings and the Z06 bushings are a little taller hence the reason they are squeezed so tight when the clamps are torgued down,let me back up a little,as I was pulling the Z06 bars off I just backed off the clamp bolts a little at a time while moving the car up and down in between until they were loose enough that groaning stopped,put the stock bars back on and all was well,so at that point I went to see my buddy at Carl Chevrolet,I thoght maybe there was a differant clamp for the Z06 bars but computer shiows the same part number for all 97-04 vette's,so I picked up a new set of Z06 bushings from him and went back home,when I checked those bushings against the stock ones it was the same as the other set,the Z06 bushings were a little thicker,hmm,meanwhile I ordered a set of poly bushings from Eckler's,they showed up the next day,when I compared them next to the stock bushings they were identical to the stock ones,hmm,so i installed the poly bushings with the special lube they came with,went out for a test drive,no noise,looked for every speedbump I could,no noise,3 weeks later and still no noise,I'm not sure why the Z06 bushings are so much thicker (higher) than the stock ones seeing as they both use the same clamp,my buddy checked with G.M. parts guru's and no one can explain it,anyways that's what my findings were,the poly bushings work great,I have the F55 suspension and what a differance the Z06 bars make.

 

I haven't installed my swaybars yet so after reading laketullochvette's post above I opened one of the front bushing packages and found this (see pics below):

Note: the fiberglass cloth like wrap on the inside of the front bushing.

Were your front bushings like that?

The rear bushings have no wrapping inside, they are rubber and greased.

Did you apply grease to the fiberglass material (or whatever it is)?




..rickko..

 

This is a very similar experience to what I had. Actually, almost identical. I thought I was doing something wrong because the clamps were very difficult to tighten down. I even thought I stripped the bolt holes (maybe a little paranoia). Maybe I should get the new bushings. I lubed the bushings with a white lithium spray grease. Maybe it wore off after my initial test drive. During the test drive I had no problems. It wasn't till later in the day that I heard the terrible noises coming from the front end.

FYI, the rear swaybar was no problem!

 

What Ecklers bushings did you get? Can you send me the part number? Did you have to back off on those bushings too or did you tighten them down all the way?

 

Make sure that you did not install the sway bar backwards! I know this sounds stupid, but it can be done. If you do, the sway bar will rub on a lot of parts.

 

interesting thread....

i installed my swaybar months ago and have not had any problems. nothing rubs, and no noises.

i ordered new bushings with the swaybars, but couldnt get them to install with the new bar. seemed too "thick" when the bar was up i couldnt tighten it down all the way.

so... i ended up using the stock bushing from my Z51 bar. everything bolted up perfect, and like i said... no rubbing, and no noises.

 

Can anyone recall if the inside surface of their new front bushings had fiberglass cloth like wrap glued to them? (See pic below. Note cross-hatch pattern on inner surface that touches the bar)

I'm wondering if there is more than one version of the Front bushing coming from GM. One with crosshatched material and one without.

The rear bushings have no wrapping inside, they are rubber and greased.

If so, did you apply grease to the fiberglass material (or whatever it is)?


..rickko..

 

The front bushings I received with my Z06 swaybars had the cloth type material inside. The rears did not. I attempted to lubricate it with spray white lithium grease.

 

Put mine on in Feb. and no problems. Both front and rear bushings had the woven material on the inside.

 

Do it, it's well worth it. I feel everything on the road and I LOVE IT.

I wouldn't worry about the install.

 

Thanks!

..rickko..

 

I applied the silicon grease and have had no problems. The brackets bolted up to the prescribed torque.

 

Hi,

I installed my Z06 bars from Fred Beans today. These came with bushings only as I have an '04 with metal endlinks.

I ran into one glitch while doing the rear. The upper pass. 18mm clamp bolt came out OK but I couldn't get it to go in squarely (factory screw up?) without serious binding.

I had to go to Sears and purchase a M12-1.75 tap to re-tap the hole. Fortunately the problem seemed to be near the entry threads so I didn't tap in more than a 1/4" or so.

I also deviated from the dis-assembly instructions found on two web sites. In the rear it looked easier to disconnet the upper endlink nut than to try to work from the rear on the lower endlink nuts. That worked perfectly and saved a little time.

The front installation turned out like some have mentioned; noisy over speed bumps or gutter dips.

I made sure the bar went in correctly and the bushing lined up correctly on top before tightening down the clamp bolts. When I was finished torquing down to spec. both front bushings were slightly bulging where they laid on the bottom of the clamp.

Another tool that really helped the process was an impact wrench. It spun off the clamp bolts in a flash and then spun them back just as easily. I had it set on its lowest setting (about 45 ft.-lbs.) so I could finish the torque sequence by hand.

I'm probably going to drive the car for a hundred miles before I try some silicon grease. If the constant friction encountered over that distance doesn't help then I'll pull the front and try silicon grease. Then after another 100 or so miles I'll spring for the poly bushings if the noise issue still exists.

I wonder if the Z06 uses a spacer/shim/washer between the clamp and the crossmember where its attached, to accomodate for the slightly larger exterior dimensions of the Z06 bushing. If not, then maybe just a 2 or 3mm shim might do the trick!

..rickko..

 

Bingo,Rickko,the shim would have been my next option,had some allready to go,one of my employee's in the fabshop made up some real nice ones,but I am real happy with the poly bushings,no noises,and they actually help firm it up just a bit more,I the f55 suspension so when I go into sport setting it is a blast,for michach1 the ecklers part number for the poly bushings is :44872,thats the bushing for a 30mm thick bar which is what the Z06 front bar is,at only 14.99 you cant go wrong,and so far they are working stellar.

 

Thanks. Ordered the poly bushings yesterday. I'll try the install on the front swaybar again next weekend. This forum is great!

 

Ditto...torqueing the bolts is critical to eliminate the rattling. My Z06 front/rear sway bars were not torqued enough and would rattle on the front end.

 

Anyone know the Eckler part no. for the rear Z06 sway bar poly bushing?
23.6mm

Never mind I found it.

 

......#45015.........