I recommend Brake Caliper - Synthetic Grease made by "Sta-Lube". Part # SL3301 and comes in a black 2.5 oz tube. Sta-Lube is on of the CRC companies and it is available at most all auto parts stores. It contains moly, graphite and Teflon and is highly water resistant. Cheap, plus you can use it on your brake caliper hardware too when doing a brake job.

I use it. Works very well.

 

When my original stock bushings began to squeak and pop, I tried silicone and white grease, but as stated, they began to squeak again after a short while. I noticed the bushings had a cloth/mesh/nylon type liner, that was pretty worn out. I just popped a few bucks for new bushings, and they had the liner.
So, the question is; should the stock rubber bushing adhere to the bar, and flex as the bar twists, or should the bar slide within the bushing as it does with poly bushings? I strongly believe it's the former.

DG

 

Bar should rotate inside the bushing. The "mesh" type material is there mainly to assist in retaining the lube.

 

Lonestar, thanks.
Seems logical, what you said. And I certainly won't strongly disagree with a fellow Texan without more knowledge. But now, I got my curiosity up.
What about the following food for thought?

-Chevy does not lube the bushings from the factory, or when replacing bushings; just that fabric-type liner.
- I have worked on many cars (most with softer, larger rubber bushings of course) and have found most adhered strongly to the bar, but have also seen some that had obviously been rotating/sliding around the bar, resulting in significant bushing wear and slop.
- I just checked my new '08 Caddy - The rubber in the bushing flexes, the bar does not rotate/slide in the bushing. No sign of any lube.
- ALL other GM suspension bushings (control arm/A-frame) do not rotate/slide on the bushing; They flex/twist the bushing for movement.
- Of course, my original Vette bushings had been obviously rotating, and had worn out the fabric liner, and were squeaking and sloppy.

So, based on this, my theory is that the fabric liner is there to provide positive adherence of the bushing surface to the bar, so that bushing flex/twist, not destructive slide/rub, occurs as the bar moves. Lubricating a worn, slipping bushing will serve to stop squeaks and reduce more wear, but is a band-aid for a worn bushing that has broken the bond with the bar.
Lubing a new, well-adhered bushing will make it slip on the bar and will accelerate premature wear and noise. HMMMMM?
This, of course, is opposite to the way poly bushings work - designed to slide on the bar.

Okay, I'm ready - counter theories please.

DG

 

Actually, GM uses both the sway bar bushings and the control arm bushings as part of the "suspension". Although I haven't had my C-5's arms off, I've replaced MANY older "A" and "F" body car's control arm bushings, and they had the pointed serrations on their ends that would "dig in" to the washers, which were in turn, hels in place by the retaining nuts. This caused the bushings to pivot by twisting the rubber, as much as rotating on the cross shaft.

Why GM chose to do this, I don't know, but in my experience, I've seen a lot of sway bar bushings that "squeeze" the bar, and in effect, work the same way as the a-arm bushings.

 

Yeah, Leadfoot, that's where I'm at with this.
If the bushing actually adheres to the bar and twists the rubber, then it would definitely act a little on the car as a spring component.
Perhaps the litmus test would be to disconnect the end links from a
swaybar in a fairly new Vette, and pull up and down on the bar.
Should be able to easily judge if the bushing is sliding on the bar, or twisting the rubber.

Thinking more about this: I like to occasionally spray axle boots, tie rod boots, etc; with silicone lube, to counteract cracking and aging of the rubber.
I'm sure I have also sprayed swaybar bushing before. So, theoretically I could have loosened the bond between bar and bushing, resulting in eventual wear from the sliding. Maybe that's why my original bushings made noise and showed inner wear at 20k?

Hmm, 50 years working on cars and I never really thought about this.

DG

 

When I retro-fitted my '99 FRC to full Z06 suspension, I bought both anti-roll bars and bushings (all bought new from Fichtner Chev). The new bushings, in addition to having the fabric type mesh you spoke of, also had some lube in/on them. Not a whole lot mind you, but it was there nonetheless. They were NOT dry, in other words. I wanted to be certain I had enough lube so I added some extra, using the synthetic caliper grease I spoke of earlier. As a matter of fact, there is NO WAY those bushings would ever come CLOSE to bonding/resisting bar movement as the clamps simply will not tighten down enough for that to happen; not to mention they have a slit in them for installation too. If GM had wanted those bushings to be bonded, and thereby become a de facto, or auxiliary suspension "spring", they would have bonded the bushing to the bar at time of manufacture. Same thing with Hotchkis, Addco, etc. Personally I don't see what purpose that would serve, as that is the function of the main suspension spring, not the bushing on a bar that sees twisting/rotational force. The bushings are "D" shaped and the bar MUST be able to rotate somewhere in order to fulfill it's function and the bushing isn't going to rotate inside the "D" shaped clamp, so the bar must be able to rotate slightly, even if only a small amount. Rubber of course, like any other component can/will begin to deteriorate over time and become sloppy/worn to some degree on it's own anyway, so I contend the lube helps minimize/delay the wear (or "wallowing out") factor by providing the bar an easy way to move. Same with polys; the bar rotates in them as well, as designed.

 

"We run the large sway bar on the front ( make sure the grommets are free so they don't bind the sway bar ). On the rear , we use the small bar, and again we make sure the bar does not bind between the rear U-shaped clamps and the frame. We us two flat washers so the rubber is not pinched too tight and yet the bar is not too loose."

This is a quote from " Insider Hints ". This is a book written by road racer Myron Cottrell, owner of Tuned Port Induction Specialties, of Chaska, Minn.

I hope this helps.

Roger T

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, the GM service manual say's nothing about lubricating the sway bar bushings and that's the confusing part.

When I installed Z06 bars on my car with 3000 miles on it I noticed a blackish colered lube on and around the rear bushings. It was kinda like the color of moly-graphite grease. I should have used that instead of all the other lubes that I tried and had dried out in 6 months.

No way do I believe the sway bar bushings should be dry. My suspension performs much better with fresh lubrication on the bushings.

 

I baught some ZR1 sways and I cannot loosen any of the bolts, they are on too damn tight, any suggestions?

 

Eat more Wheaties or use an impact wrench; they'll come loose. Since your going to be using some extra grunt, I would recommend you be sure to use 6-point sockets. No slippage/rounding. Check/clean threads and use a little anti-seize on the threads compound when re-installing.

 

Re lube:

If you're using the GM rubber bushings, the rear ones come pre-lubed, and the front ones don't need lube. They have the embedded fabric whatever it is. If you look up the Hotchki's install, it says the same thing about the fronts.
Sure enough, no squeaking.
Unbelievable what these bars do. Like new legs for the vette.

 

Sounds like some more "testing" is needed.

 

No squeals and no maintenance. About 3 or 4 layers which go about 1/2 inch wider than either side of the bushings. Make the end links as tight as you can get them or they will eventually clunk.

 

Bump

 

You will have to lube them eventually again. Do yourself a favor wrap that area with teflon tape. It will never make another noise on you again. Screw all this grease crap. Teflon Tape..

Just noticed how old this thread is. Probably will get locked.