Rep Power: 0

Here's the story..i have an 2001 Civic ex coupe....a few months ago i replaced the A arms because the bushings were completely shot. At the same time i replaced the wheel bearings on both sides along with the ball joints...everything seemd to be working better but i kept hearing a creeking noise while driving and ignored it..well yesterday i replaced my struts because they were making bad clunking noises...also i broke off 2 studs on the passenger side so i had to take the spindle off and get the hub pressed out and got 4 new studs. they had to replace the wheel bearing (which i just replaced like 4 months ago) but they said who ever installed it tore the seal so im glad i got i replaced.... on that same spindle i got the ball joint replaced again because the same shop who installed the bearing obviously screwed the boot up on the ball joint so that entire spindle is practically brand new...moving along. lol... I also replaced the tie rod ends yesterday on both sides AND the sway bar end links because they were shot..so practically my entire suspension has been overhauled. now when turning i hear a creeking/pop (but more so the creeking) noise just like before but not while going over bumps but if i push down on front of the the passenger side i can hear it when the car goes up and down...not making any sense....also when the the car is in park i can push the car back and forth and hear the creeking/clunking noise..and its not the cv joints because they look pretty good with no tears in them.. when i took the strut apart the strut mount looked okay but i took the "bearing" out and greased it with marine water proof grease and it seemd to move around pretty flawlessly...i am getting frustrated and would like some suggestions...im thinking the A arm i bought has some crappy bushings in it and they are making noise or i didnt tighten them enough or they are too tight,the strut mount is bad, or the sway bar bushings under the frame are making noise when there is tension on the sway bar. i noticed that when i replaced the sway bar end links the whole swaybar moved freely up and down, dont know if thats usual?? or not??...any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thanks for reading

 
Rep Power: 235

Most likely suspect is the top mount(s). I used the old mounts once and had to pay for another set of struts. Might be an engine mount. Sometimes they're so gone that they pop whenever the vehicle moves even a little bit.

The 2001-2002 models have plastic top mount bearings where as the 20003-2005 models have metal bearings. I would recommending getting updated struts assemblies(2003-2005) next time and drilling out the bolt holes on the knuckle to 16mm as the 2001-2002 models have 14mm bolt holes.

 
Rep Power: 0

so you are recommending that i get entirely new strut assembly's and drill out my hub bolt holes??? lol..they dont make an updated strut mount. one would think the strut assembly's are similar and the strut mount would be interchangeable?? guess thats not the case...and im sorry but im not buying entire new strut assembly's. if i were to change the strut mount would that help the problem or are you saying the new struts i bought are shot now??...kinda confused...

 
Rep Power: 0

UPDATE: the A-arm has two bushings in it. there's a vertical one that sits like a pancake and the horizontal one. If you're standing on the passenger side the horizontal one would be on your left.
Now, with that being said..
I put the car on jack stands and placed my floor jack under the ball joint...
Raised the A-arm up and down, over and over again...
At first i thought it may be the brand new sway bar end link but i narrowed it down to the horizontal bushing in the A-arm.

Obviously when i installed the new A-arm i over tightened the bushing and thats where the noise has been coming from all along. Im wondering if it was just too tight or the busing itself is shot...sucks because like i said i just replaced it about 4 months ago. So if youre having a weird popping/creeking noise when you turn this could be one of your problems so try to loosen the bolt (19mm) that goes through the A-arm (but not too much). It seemd to help fix the noise temporarily but it came back shortly after driving it so i cant say that its making that noise because it was too tight or not...but thats definitely where its coming from..so now on to order a new A-arm or just some busings.....

:russ ian: