Scrunching sound from front suspension

David Neibert

David Neibert

SCCoA Admin
For the last three winters, I've been getting this annoying scrunching sound from the right front suspension. It only happens when temp gets below freezing and other than the noise it drives fine.

I've heard it's caused by worn bushings in the upper control arm or something like that. Has anyone else had this problem and how hard was it to repair ?

Thanks, David
 
OMG yes!!!!! I just started getting that too. When my tranny blew it was fine..then when it went back together i was getting that noise from the pass. side front. I couldn't figure out what it was. When it went back together the weather was about 30. I thought i was the only one. Please someone shed some light on this....i feel like i'm riding a mattress.
 
Here's a beam!

Upper control arm bushings..

I had the same problem.. an embarrassing "scruncha-scruncha" whenever it got cold out. Since my upper ball joint seals had cracked (both sides) and the ball joints subsequently had been exposed to the elements and worn out, I had to replace the upper control arm which includes new bushings..

Since then, no more scrunching. :D
 
I thought I recalled someone mentioning that they tracked it down to the rubber hood gasket from the body flexing. Maybe just try some silicon spray to help it slide rather than bind?
 
My 90 SC gets the scrunchies in the front end every winter. So, I refer to it as the winter scrunchies. I'm sure that it is bushings that can be replaced that are just worn out.

Bob
 
Mike I had hear the same thing about the weather stip rubbing against the hood. Put silicone on it and even removed it and the winter scrunchies were still there.

Can the upper control arm be replaced without special tools or the spring coming off ? I've got the Haynes manual and it doesn't look very tough to replace the entire arm, but then again everything looks easy in the manual.

David

PS: Anyone know about how much Ford would charge to do it ?
 
k

i'd back the umm oh yeah the bushings...my car does that a lil too when it's cold....but i think my car may be finding it's way off a cliff, or being sold soon, so i'm not gonna bother with it heh
 
When I got it a few years ago on my base T-Bird it was the strut rod bushings. Hell with all the money you have in that thing might as well do the entire front end with the mn12performance bushing kit right? :)
 
Kevin,

I probably should replace all the bushings, but I'm very ignorant and uncomfortable working on the suspension. I'm not afraid to pull the engine apart, but the thought of changing a ball joint scares the crap out me. Fear of the unknown I guess.

David
 
David, the upper control arms are very simple. takes about 1hr per side. No special tools required. The shock doesn't have to be removed. The Haynes manuals is thorough, but the only thing it doesn't tell you is the rear nut on the pass side can be accessed easily from under the car, rather than trying to work your way past all the wire bundles and A/C hoses. This will clear up your scrunching. :cool:
 
Replace ASAP!!!!

Dave,

I had the same sound on my car. When I would turn the wheel hard while moving slowly or if I would push up and down on the front of the car. It would only happen when it was cold out also. Then it slowly started to show up when it was warm. I tracked it down to my lower ball joint. This does have to be pressed out and the new one pressed in. When I took the old one out it had a lot of play in it. I have heard that some have actually had their's pop out while driving. Not good. I would suggest you replace it soon. Also I'm sure you know but make sure to get your front end aligned afterwards.

Scott
 
Eazy as pie

Dave, this is a job that you can do over the weekend and still have time to watch the race on TV. I would first take a good hard look at ALL the front end parts and see if you can find any cracks in the rubber boots, or if you can see any movement when the wheel is turned. Most of the front end stuff is eazy, the upper comes complete, the bottom you will have to have a press for, but it is all eazy stuff. DON"T let it go and wait, I think it was Pdenise who lost his wheel in the parking lot one time, so get looking on it... Hey one more thing, how did you do when you put on that 85 tb ??? You said you were going to do that, did you?? how much more did you pick up?? take care....Rich
 
TbirdSCFan has it right

Mine was cured by the upper control arm replacement, except that the shop only did 1 side (can you believe that? )a couple years ago because they felt the driver's side was fine. I wish I had told them about the scrunching rather than to just replace them if warranted. I'll be doing that one myself soon I think.

At least I got rid of the passeneger side scrunching, which was the loudest anyway. But yes, this is the cause of that noise.
 
Thanks for all the responses...I'll plan to replace both upper control arms and while I'm doing that I will inspect the other stuff.

Rich,

The 85mm TB only increased rwhp by 7 as compared to the 75mm I had. The gains from the new 87mm MAF vs the C&L 76mm were even less impressive. A big fat Zero.

It looks a little better, but wasn't really needed on my engine.

David
 
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