Q – My 1979 Carrera make terrible crunching noises from the front suspension until I drive it a few miles and frankly I am embarrassed to drive it through the neighborhood. I was told that they were originally rubber and someone changed them to a white plastic then tightened them down to the point that they are squeezing out. Can I go back to the original rubber ones? Larry
A – Considering the age of the car, the rubber ones were probably shot and when the owner of the car found out how much it would cost to replace them, the white ones (made of Delrin) seemed like a good idea. I would bet that just after they were installed, they didn’t even crunch! Whenever you buy these, they give you a tiny tube of assembly lube and that works great…for a few weeks!
If they are not worn out, you could take them apart and grease them (I wouldn’t) or have grease fittings installed in the arms. If you ever do need to replace them, having the ability to grease them makes a lot of sense since rubber replacements are not practical. In addition to the Delrin bushings which are very hard, there are two other grades that you can buy. Red polyurethane and black poly graphite are the ones I am aware of. I am going with the black ones with grease fittings for my own car. For yours, adding fittings and lubricating them will probably do the job and if not, you will need the fittings for the next set anyway. – MC