Rusty door hinge front suspension

[NXRacer]

i just picked up an 89 for my g/f and i'm trying to iron out this extremely annoying squeaky door hinge noise i'm getting from my front driver side.

the noise occurs when going over bumps, rough road, even driving, and when turning left. its NOT a CV shaft going out. i can put weight on the car when its stopped and i can make it make the noise. pretty much anytime the front end moves at all it squeaks.

at first i thought the front end needed to be lubed, but then i remembered that there are only 2 zirk fittings to grease.

then i replaced both UCA's because the ball joints were shot and the bushings were bad.

noise was completely gone for about 30 miles, then back just as bad as ever. i'm thinking now maybe lower ball joints. maybe steering rack? but the noise doesnt seem to be coming from the rack and its not leaking PS fluid or anything.

[DBMaster]

Did you use Moog bushings on your UCA's? I replaced my UCA's about three years ago with aftermarket stuff and it was noisy as hell no matter what I did. Even with the Moog bushings I had to trial-and-error the amount of tightness on the bushing nut to get it to quiet down. Believe me, I put up with various noises like that for several years and know how annoying and embarrassing it can be.

[2drSE-i]

Ya its the damn upper control arm bushings. I almost wish I had left my 20 year old worn out ones on, at least they were quiet...

[Dr_Snooz]

x3 on UCA bushings. It's very difficult to find ones that don't squeak.

[DBMaster]

I must have taken mine apart and reassembled them ten times since 2008! I finally determined that multi-purpose grease works well. High temp wheel bearing grease is too thick and regular lithium grease is too thin. Also, at 40 ft-lb (the recommended torque spec) my Moog bushings were quiet when the weather was below 70, but above 70 it was awful.

Here is my recommendation, which I am sure Dr. Snooz and Lostforawhile will disagree with because it is not per spec.

Replace the chrome plated bushing caps. I bought mine from Majestic Honda.
Only use Moog bushings. The have bronze friction surfaces rather than whatever harder metal the Chinese generic ones use. I could not get my generic ones quiet no matter what I did.
Adjust the tightness of the lock nut when the ambient temperature is above 70.
Jack up the car, adjust, lower it, then bounce to check for noise. Do this until they are quiet.

You may then have to deal with a more pronounced "clunk" when shifting into reverse. Don't worry if the nuts don't seem that tight. Mine have not loosened at all - ever. 40 ft-lb is NOT going to result in quiet bushings.

Seriously! Mine were noisy from the very day my mechanic replaced the UCA's. I replaced them myself and had the same issue. Finally, I spent the bucks and bought Moog. The cost was almost three times as much as the generic. Whether it is worth it or not depends upon your frustration tolerance. Mine is pretty low so I learned never to cheap out on suspension parts for these cars.

[NXRacer]

I heart this place. I knew I could find exactly what I was looking for. You guys rock.

I just replaced the UCAs and bushings with what the parts store had. I did lube the sh*t out of everything with white grease before assembling them. Funny thing is I did both sides and only the driver side is making noise (which is the side that always did). The bushings were very tight in the UCAs and I had to compress the crap out of them to get them together. If I didn't think they would be hella hard to get out i'd think about maybe trimming them down a little.

I'm also thinking maybe the sway bar bushings might be partly to blame. Now that I've done all this suspension work it needs an alignment, so maybe the shop that does the alignment might have some suggestions.

[NXRacer]

Oh yeah DBMaster, I have that pronounced clunk when shifting it into reverse. I thought it must be the worn out pass side trans hanger that's partly to blame. I'm also going to replace the front engine mount. I already replaced the dogbone which helped a little. I don't know if the front is broken, but no matter what, with 300k miles on the car, its due to be changed anyway I'm sure

[2drSE-i]

Mine is on the driver's side too. Pretty annoying, embarrassing, and disheartening to do hours of work only to have a noisy end result.

[w261w261]

I'm afraid to even write this. Mine have been quiet for over 2 years now. I'm holding my breath as summer is coming.

[Dr_Snooz]

The bushings were very tight in the UCAs and I had to compress the crap out of them to get them together.

Yeah, my first set did that. They are defective. They should slide smoothly onto the spindle. The assembly should rotate easily. If not, they will definitely squeak.