Just put new strut assembly( strut,spring,cap all in one) on front of my 202 Nissan Altima. Got more squeakin’ & creakin’ now than before. Auto parts salesman says I need to put new control arms on each side and new bushings on sway bar. I said - “WHAT???” Does this guy know what he’s talking about? I’ve done struts before and never had this problem. These are Monroe strut assemblies and supposed to be better than original…I dunno’ …
Did you replace the struts because if the squeak/creak? If so, then it just sounds like your diagnosis was wrong. Its quite possible for control arm & sway bar bushings to get squeaky and creaky. In fact, they often do. I don’t know what you’d need whole new control arms for though. Perhaps on the Altima you can’t replace the bushings only? If you want to try to pinpoint it, try to get some kind of penetrating oil into them one at a time & see if/when something changes.
Struts were shot…been in since I bought the car in 2002. I’ll give the bushings in various places a squirt of lubricant. You can replace bushings on an Altima, but need a tool to press the new ones in…and I don’t have it. Thought at first it was the bottom of the sway bar stabilizer, where it bolts to the sway bar, but it was tight when I changed the strut.
Control-arm bushings are notorious squeakers…Sometimes a shot of silicone lube works, sometimes not…
Remember when cars had about 16 grease fittings on the front end?? No squeaks…
You can just pull the control arms and take then to a machine shop - or really any shop with the appropriate press - and have the bushings installed. This has to be cheaper than whole new arms. I used to have a parts store that did machine shop work. They could have sold you the bushings and installed them in the arm for a nominal fee. Check around for someplace like that.