I have searched and searched and I just don't know what to do. My car is making an awful noise thats getting worse by the day. I have narrowed it down to the rear upper control arm seen here:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...oM219daOt1EHsg

The noise is definatly coming from either the ball joint or the the bushing that has the bar with two bolts in it, possibly both. The car has 100K miles

I have found replacement bushings, but no ball joint replacements.

Anybody know of any other options other than the OEM piece?

 

The bushing with the bar w 2 bolts is replaceable. But...the factory one is actually bonded in place so the bar resists twisting. This is done as a torsion spring to limit the travel of the arm and to help stiffen the rear.

Poly Replacement bushings will turn so you may have to go stiffer on the rear suspension. And the old one is not going to come out easy.

It sounds like the bonded bushing may have sheared the rubber inside which would make an awful rubber screech when moving. To diagnose, squirt brake fluid on the bushing and let it penetrate, Repeat 2 -3 times. then go road test the car. If it gets real quiet, you found the issue.

If the upper ball joint is shot, you have no choice but to replace the arm as there are no replacement ball joints available. To diagnose, jack the car up and then use a large bar to move the upper arm, while looking to see if the joint has up or down play in it. It should not. Neither should the two bushings so check those while using the bar

If you need to replace the arm then look for a matched set of used ones..Usually someone on here has some for sale very reasonable. I picked up a full set of uppers and 2 trailing arms for $150 total.

Milburn