motorsports front lower control arms? (long)

[gmags]

i got a pair of ford motorsports racing front lower control arms installed (m-3075-a's) in my '86, and after getting the car car back, i have a clunk from the front, which wasn't there before. granted, the old arms were beat, and were terrible over bumps. these are MUCH better over the same bumps, but the clunk occurs while transitioning from braking to gas (mostly at low speeds). i feel it it the brake pedal too. i can also make the clunk happen if i don't unload the suspension while stopping, and then take off quickly. it doesn't clunk all the time, just under those certain conditions. i took it back to the shop, who, after checking the car out, told me it was the lower control arm bushings. they said they are too soft...! they showed me what they were talking about, and the bushings seem real soft, softer than my tires! i expressed my concerns to the local motorsports dealer where i bought the arms, and they told me it wasn't the control arms, must be something else....they didn't check the car out. my front end also has new tie rod ends, new kyb gr2 struts, new energy suspension polyurethane upper strut bushings, and new energy suspension sway bar bushings. the end links are also new polyurethane's ( i forget what brand, they are blue) but that's what started the whole thing. my old link bushings were so worn out they were almost missing. has anyone else experience this, or any feedback would be be appreciated! could it be something with the brakes? the front brakes were redone less than a year ago, new rotors, bearings, and pads...

 

[gmags]

anyone?
the clunks has goten a little worse...it will clunk now mainly when i take my foot off the brakes, like when taking of from a stoplight. i've bought PST polygraphite LCA bushings since the original post but wont be able to get them in untill late next week.

 

[79dog]

You might want to ask whoever put them in if they loaded the suspension, before they tightened the LCA bolts. Also you may want to check your inner tie rod ends. I didn't notice but, did you put new lowering springs in? I read somewhere that if you have lowering springs you may need to change the bushings in the rack and pinion to (off set) bushings.

 

[Scott W]

I'm having a similar problem. I had a noise coming from what sounded like a control arm, but it turned out that the new energy suspension sway bar bushing I installed were'n't greased enough. I re-greased them, and the sound went away. Lately it has returned, and it seems to be getting a little worse. I'm going to re-grease again, and see if that fixes the problem.

I would suggest regreasing the sway bar bushings.

 

[gmags]

thanks for the suggestion! do i have to take them off to grease? i've never done them before, and they are only a few weeks old. i think they came w/grease, but i had them installed at the same time as the CA's. i can ask them tomorrow, but maybe they never got any grease - i had the clunk when i got the car back from the CA install...

 

[gruvee87vertgt]

Hey gmags-hows the clunk did the lube on the bushings works?

 

[gmags]

actually the lube did not make any difference....replacing the brand new control arm bushings with some polygrahite PST bushings did the trick!

 

[D3l7a_3ch0]

hey what's up. this is late and after the fact but i had the same problem and it was the bushings.