| | Rear control arm polyurethane bushing Anti-squeak mod I installed Energy Suspension Polyurethane bushings in the upper and lower rear control arms and the axle housing ears on my '86 Cutlass a year or 2 ago. I also boxed the factory upper and lower control arms (welded them with sheet steel). This made a REMARKABLE difference in the handling of the car. The rear end feels positively located now; in comparison before the upgrade, the rear of the car felt like it could squirm about under hard acceleration, especially when turning. There is no wheel hop either, even on the tacky drag strip pavement. After just a few hundered miles they squeaked a little though, so I made a modification to the polyurethane bushings to stop it.
There is an outer shell, the bushing, and an inner steel sleeve. I found that when the suspension moves, the bushing rotates on the inner steel sleeve. The bushing does not rotate in the shell. The fit is so tight that the thick silicone grease they give you gets pushed out of the bushing. I took a 1/4" drill bit and made 6 drill points in the INSIDE DIAMETER of each bushing as well as the sides of the bushing; - 3 at 120 degrees apart, on each side. A "drill point" is when you drill in only deep enough that the cone of the drill bit goes into the material. This leaves 6 cone shaped depressions on the inside of the poly bushing to hold lubricant.
I have put 4-5 thousand miles on the car since and there is no squeaking.
Click on the diagram for a larger view. If you look closely at the rear axle picture on the "86 Cutlass" page you can see the right side boxed upper and lower control arms. CLICK HERE to go to the picture that shows the control arms.CLICK HERE to go to Summit Racing's catalog page for the bushings.
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