I was going to blame it on the poly LCA bushings to get you to chime in. It doesn't even take that anymore.
Just took another set of those powdered up poly bushings out of another car that came here. The guy said he put them in 3 years ago. I told him he didn't install them properly like you said. Yours lasted over 20 yrs. Putting the lube on takes experience. You know whacks on Whacks off. I warned him. You gotta have the correct amount of lube .