Out driving with the wife over the weekend and she commented about the creaking noise when braking, especially to a stop, which has spurred me on to do something about it. It has been doing this on and off for a few years and thinking it through I reckon it is down to the anti-roll bar bushes. It happens as the nose dips coming to a stop and the only thing on the suspension that can rotate is the roll bar in its bushes I assume. The bushes are polyurethane which according to one vendor are "self-lubricating" although they then go on to list "polyurethane bush lubricant"
The creaking disappears in humid, damp or wet weather only to return as conditions improve. I did get rid of it once by spraying all the suspension bushes with silicone spray but this seems like an unsatisfactory fix for a number of reasons. My thoughts are to dump the poly bushes and go back to quality rubber types as I am becoming convinced polyurethane ones are the cause and offer no real improvement over the standard spec ones.
Any thoughts before I start?
