I took my car to a local shop because of a rattle thats been there for about a month. It usually happens when I go over small bumps. They said both front upper control arms needed replaced due to the ball joints and the sway bar bushings were bad. With a grand total of 600 dollars I didn't want to pay so i did it myself with a fairly mechanical backround. There was some play on both sides, as well as the bushings looked due. So 220 dollars later doing it myself I still hear the noise. I keep reading posts about compression rods? Visually moving parts around trying to get the noise to happen with the car in the air i cant get any noise or movement that shouldn't be there. Everything appears tight and no play? My question is, how can I check the compression rods? They appear good and I've tried hitting it with a dead blow and there is no noise or movement as far as i can see? I've used a second jack to raise the suspension to see if anything changed and got sloppy? It all seems tight? I'm at a standstill?!! Help me!?!

My first thought on that type of noise would have been sway bar end links?

It ended up being the compression rod which 3 local shops said "its a common problem but yours looks fine" the last shop just did it and said he wouldnt charge me if it wasnt the compression rod, only for the new bushing he had to destroy to get it off. It is quiet as can be now!


Thanks