Glad you got it...or most of it.

Thanks for coming back with an answer, too many times threads go into a deadend as most don't let everyone know what the "fix/answer" was.

 

You know, it's funny because those endlinks weren't broken and didn't even look that bad inside (I ended up popping the ball studs out so that I could get a solid grip with the Vise-Grips before impacting them out). There does appear to be a low-pitched squeaking from the back, so I'm sure that replacing the rear links will fix that.

 

Replaced the rear links. There is still a creak from the back when going over bumps and dips, but it appears to only happen when it's cold. The weekend was pretty nice here and it got up around 70 degrees, and it wasn't making any of that noise at all. It was perfectly quiet. But now that the cold has set in again, the noise is back. I was thinking bushings being affected by temperature. Any thoughts?

 

Sometimes a little wd40 or something will help narrow it down.

Next time the temps are going to drop, spary a a bit on a bushing or two. Work the suspension, getting the lube/solvent worked it. See if the noise is there....it so, move to another set of bushings, at some point you should/might come across the one giving you the issue.

 

Well, the rattling in the front is back with a vengeance. It even happens on fairly smooth road surfaces with very minor imperfections. On rough roads it makes me cringe. I had a shop inspect the front end and the driver's side lower ball joint was found to be worn out. The guy suggested that the noise could be the strut bushings. Any thoughts?

 

It could be the strut mounts - hate to guess with these types of things as it could get costly. If you go for the strut mounts, you are almost at the point of replacing the whole strut assy - they sell "loaded struts" that come with the strut, spring and mount.

 

Joining the bandwagon here --

The suspension on our Honda is driving me nuts. Two years ago I installed Eibach Pro Kit springs and Koni STR.T shocks -- but I didn't replace the rubber on any of the shock assemblies. Big mistake I think.

I also made the mistake of replacing the stock front sway bar links with Duralast aftermarket ones, and threw away the OEM link hardware ... I'm on my third set of Duralast links now.

I also replaced the rear sway bar bushings and end links with Beck/Arnley ... another big mistake. Fortunately I saved the OEM end links for the rear, so recently I put them back with fresh OEM rubber bushigns on them. I haven't replaced the rear sway bar bushings with OEM yet, and they are squeaking like crazy.

On top of all that, I can hear from minor shifting in the front suspension over bumps, and the rear just sounds like a bunch of loose metal parts shifting and banging over any sharp bump in the road.

Ugh!

Fortunately I like DIY'ing and don't mind tearing the car apart. This weekend I started the process of elimination:

* removed trunk floorboard and all lining. Put jack and jack tools in the passenger compartment so I know they aren't banging around.

* folded down the rear seat to open up the trunk to the interior cabin. Now I can hear every fleck of dust kicked up from the road, but I also have a much better rear on the noises. What a mess back there!

* I'm going under the car next to check for anything that could be loose. I may just remove the rear sway bar just to be sure it's not that.

* Among the few things left ... rear shock assembly rubber. I've purchased all of the OEM rubber for the rear shock assembly and will replace it all next. I ws stupid not to replace the top rubber mount donuts when I did the shocks ... but at the time I had KYB mounts and because of the way they looked I thought they were the wrong ones.

* Beyond that, I don't know that there is too much left in the rear of the car except for the exhaust pipe (which doesn't seem to be loose) and the trailing arm. I've already replace all suspension links on the right rear

 

(Moderator -- shouldn't this be in the Tech Help section?)

An update on my quest to solve the noise problems ...

This morning I pulled the spare out of the trunk, removed the rear swar bar (and endlinks), and drove the car around a bit. Still get the noise.

Then with the rear up on ramps, I banged around underneath with a rubber mallet. This is what I've found so far:

* No issues with exhaust system, bumper mountings, or gas tank.

* The left side rear suspension seems to have no unusually loud noises ... the problem appears to be on the right side.

1) When I hit the bottom of the shock with the mallet I get a loose light metal sound. My attention turned to the e-brake assembly or rotor backsplash, but if I hold those while I hit the shock I still hear it. I tried holding the control arms, trailing arm, shock body ... no change. I'll have to try this again when I have the car on jack stands with the tire off.

2) When I hit the rear lower control arm I get a metal-on-metal clunk. The left side control arm doesn't get that. On the right side, the inner mount is a bit tweaked -- I think the car came this way when we bought it two years go. Those bushings have very little rubber in between the two collars, so I'm thinking that the inner mount is just a tad bit off square (a couple of degrees?) and is causing the bushing to flex, and therefore "bottom out" during an impact such as a sharp bump in the road. The control arm on this side is a Beck/Arnley replacement that I put in last year ... possibly another problem ... however I seem to remember this noise long before I installed that replacement control arm. I'll take another good look at this when the wheel is off the car, maybe pull the arm out and try to straighten out that inner mount bracket.

 

What do the bushings on the trailing arm(s) look like?

 

The large trailing arm bushings actually look okay. I was thinking that the smaller ones are bottoming out since they have so little rubber in them. Same goes for all of the control arm links in the rear -- very little rubber in those bushings.

However, I just pulled the rear shocks apart this weekend to replace the rubber, and the one of the noise problems may have been due to the end of spring bottom pushing up against the insulation rubber on the seat of the shock that angles upward. When I replaced the rubber I reseated the spring so that it is a good 1/2" away from that angled part of the shock seat.

I didn't have much time to do a through driving test -- that metal-on-metal clunk may be done now ... but now with the liner out of the trunk and rear seat area, and with the seat back down, I am hearing much loader noises, as if someone threw a couple of tire irons inside the body panels and they're just sitting loosely. It's hard to check this out by myself ... I'll need to recruit someone to drive the car while I sit in the back to pinpoint the source of the noise.