Noisy Upper Control Arms

[2510s]

I recently replaced the upper control arms on my GTR because they had suffered the common fate of the bushes flogging out. I was told each arm is about $200 from Nissan, so I looked for a cheaper alternative. I found some 2nd hand aftermarket ones at a importers with ball bearings instead of bushes, so theoretically they should last a long time. I got both for $100. Whacked them in which is pretty straight forward, but the left hand side still has an audible knock going over speed humps and uneven surfaces, and the right hand side (which wasn't noisy before) now has an occasional very loud 'crack' when going over significant bumps etc. I've jacked the front of the car up to check for play and movement but there is none there. I'm a bit purplexed as to where these noises are coming from, whether its the aftermarket control arms themselves, or something else in the front end. Has anyone had a similar problem with these aftermarket arms? The car also has aftermarket castor rods that seem ok. Stock suspension which is in excellent condition.

Any ideas?

[nizmo_freek]

I had the exact same problem in my r32 gtst, turned out that it already had aftermarket bushes fitted but they were very squeeky as it looked like the shaft that goes inside the arm and the bush had been rubbing on the bolt that holds the bush and the shaft inside the smaller part of the upper control arm (the shortest link if you know what i mean) causing them to squeek, so i ripped them out and replaced them with nolathane bushes (they were actually made pretty crappy as the bolts didnt even fit inside the shafts so i had to go and get them bored out), they completly fixed the problem and made the front a bit stiffer.

[T04GTR]

pretty normal for an old aftermarket arm to knock.

the bearings just get dry and rusty.

you could deal with the noise or take them out and go to a bearing shop like cbc bearings and get new ones for it.

ball bearings arnt expencive, probably under 5 bucks each for the ones in the arms.

i was gonna do mine but couldnt be botherd.

[2510s]

Cheers, yeah I pulled them out and found the bearings to be shagged. Popped new ones in and they,re sweet as.

[T04GTR]

cool. good to here