good lubricant between rubber and metal (long lasting)

londonTiger

There's a common "fault" on the mk4 golf. The anti roll bar bush or the bar itself has issues where after 10 years of service it makes a right old racket on hot, dry days (or after long period of driving).

It's a bit of a strange one, some people fixed it by just changing the ARB bushes. A few had to change the ARB itself. Others have just applied some grease every month which solves the problem.

it makes a right old racket sometimes - first time you hear it, it sounds like the suspension or the chassis is about the fall apart.

Anyway. There are thousands of lubricants - wanted to know what's a good long lasting lubricant that will interface between metal and rubber without eating away at the rubber.

RTNI

If you want to lubricate rubber (or plastic for that matter) then you need to use silicone grease. This does not dry out rubber or plastics like others do. I have recently purchased some from Amazon and silicone spray for electric window channels for this purpose.

colino

You need to replace your arb bushes, not lubricate them or the arb would have virtually no effect at all.

BeenThroughItAll

Red rubber grease, or silicone grease is common, or another alternative would be something like ceramic brake grease, intended for use on metal/rubber. ECP sell Pagid Cera Tec which is what I use on all brakes and bushes.

BeenThroughItAll

colino wrote: »

You need to replace your arb bushes, not lubricate them or the arb would have virtually no effect at all.

Of course it would, it's still physically connected to the suspension at either side of the car. The ARB bushes the OP's referring to are indeed a common cause of noise on the Golf, A3, Octavia, and Leon of the same age and the VW workshop fix was to lubricate with ceramic grease.


The ARB support bushes are only there to locate the roll bar onto the chassis rails, they don't play any significant part in its operation, that's down to the torsion effect of the bar itself on the opposing sides of the suspension.

colino

Because a garage "fixed" a problem they too didn't understand, it doesn't make it correct. (Jaguar garages do it too to rear bushes).
Perhaps you might like to puzzle out how the arb is effectively put into torsion with the respective wheel moving up or down, while its body location point is simply turning, causing the squeal. The arb body mount is a rubber bushing to reduce noise and vibration, but it has to be clamped tight or the arb is flopping about doing very little.
Just as well so few drivers drive close to the limit of their cars and that arbs can be safely taken off and thrown away and their owners wouldn't know the difference.

londonTiger

Thanks for the suggestion peeps. I will go for silicone or ceramic depending on what I can get for cheap.

arb bushes aren't expensive at all. I would normally have a go at replacing them but don't have much time these days. before I loved doing brake jobs and stuff - now I have no time for it. Waste of a weekend IMO.

J4mes

colino wrote: »

You need to replace your arb bushes, not lubricate them or the arb would have virtually no effect at all.

Rubbish, the bushes in question are between the chassis and ARB/ARB bracket, as long as the ARB bushes and Droplinks are in good condition the ARB will be working perfectly.

OP, keep an eye on the Front wishbone rear 'donut' bush as the MK4 platform seems to destroy these very quickly, replace with Poly bushes as they last approximately four times as long!

londonTiger

colino wrote: »

Because a garage "fixed" a problem they too didn't understand, it doesn't make it correct. (Jaguar garages do it too to rear bushes).
Perhaps you might like to puzzle out how the arb is effectively put into torsion with the respective wheel moving up or down, while its body location point is simply turning, causing the squeal. The arb body mount is a rubber bushing to reduce noise and vibration, but it has to be clamped tight or the arb is flopping about doing very little.
Just as well so few drivers drive close to the limit of their cars and that arbs can be safely taken off and thrown away and their owners wouldn't know the difference.

I'll take VWs opinion there.

If arb bushes were required for structural integrity, I'm sure they would have bolted it to the chassis or have a much more durable metal sleeve on it rather than a piece of rubber.

londonTiger

Thanks for the advice. mk4 golf forum has gone to !!!!!! in recent years. Seems to attract younger drivers now because the cost has come down quite a bit, and they're just interested in cosmetic mods.

J4mes

colino wrote: »

Because a garage "fixed" a problem they too didn't understand, it doesn't make it correct. (Jaguar garages do it too to rear bushes).
Perhaps you might like to puzzle out how the arb is effectively put into torsion with the respective wheel moving up or down, while its body location point is simply turning, causing the squeal. The arb body mount is a rubber bushing to reduce noise and vibration, but it has to be clamped tight or the arb is flopping about doing very little.
Just as well so few drivers drive close to the limit of their cars and that arbs can be safely taken off and thrown away and their owners wouldn't know the difference.

The tightness of the ARB bush (20Nm) has nothing to do with it, its the height of where the ARB is mounted in accordance with the wheels that provides the torsional force when the suspension has the cars weight on it.