Springs, shocks, or sway bar bushings?

[Dr.Manhattan]

Here's the skinny. When I brake, or let off the brake, I hear this crunchy sound. I just lubed the caliper pins thinking it would solve the issue. Nothing of the sort. So what I'm looking at is that the car makes a noise whenever the body moves back and forth, or up and down.

I suspected the control arms on the sway bar, but really no play and the bushings look alright. So I am am speculating for the most part that it is shocks, or springs. I actually moved the car up and down to check this. The sound is coming from the passenger side and when I turn the wheel to the right to look at the hardware inside it no longer makes a sound, but will when straight, or turned to the left.

How can I tell if it is the shock, or spring? I know with shocks you'd see like signs of something having leaked down the shaft, but my stupid ass went and actually sprayed WD 40 up inside of that, so I can't distinguish. I suppose the best way to get the answer is to eliminate the spring as an issue. How can I tell if my springs are going bad?

Again, it makes like this crunchy, sometimes creaky sound. I hear a squeak when I hit bumps and might I add my car feels a little bit unwieldy on turns causing me to have to decelerate a lot and not have a smooth turn. Not to mention for those who have helped me on previous posts, my car still shakes at speeds over 65 and my bearings are fine, thusly I am convinced something else in my front end is loose, or failing.

I gave more than enough info, hope one of ya'll can come up with an answer.

 

[Anime]

Probably the good ol' passenger side radius arm bushing. It gets weak and flimsy from being just a few millimeters from the catalytic converter, and having just the poor protection of a thin heat shield, which is often incorrectly attached so it is in direct contact with the bushing.

New polyurethane bushings are a good fix, though a rubber set might make less noise.


Springs don't go bad. They can sag, but a spring that goes bad is one that breaks. The front coils don't make noise unless they are loose and rattling around, or something else is making contact with them. Shocks don't make noise unless they are loose or something in them is loose. The noise is usually metal to metal contact from bushings wearing out, or some attachment point giving way. The rear leaf springs make noise when the flat spring pads between the leaves wear down, or when the rubber bushings get hard and turn solid. Same for the front end, if the bushings wear out, or break down and let the metal hit the attachment point, like with the radius arm bushings.


If the vehicle makes noise and you want better cornering, I would suggest replacing all the bushings, or the ones you can get to with an Energy Suspension kit (they make one for 91-94 Explorers), perhaps new shocks all around if the current ones are old and rusty, and then check the U-joints and the condition of the driveshaft, along with the wheel/tire balance for that 65+ mph shake.