Creaking Front End

thaywood

thaywood

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Candor, North Carolina, United States
Okay. I have a creaking sound coming from my p/s front wheel that is driving me nuts! Last year, I installed new upper and lower control arms, sway bar links, tie rod ends, and air shocks. I didn't replace the strut rod bushings (which I should have, and I will soon). It was perfectly quiet for several months and then a squeak started on the d/s front. I took the wheel off and greased the upper ball joint because I neglected to do so when I installed the UCA (slap!), and sprayed silicone lube on all the rubber bushings. Squeak solved...for a while. Then it came back and I thought it was the upper ball joint since I ran it for several months without grease. So I replaced the d/s UCA again and greased the heck out of it. Squeak went away again...for a while. Then it came back. So I sprayed everything down with silicone lube again and haven't had the squeak on the d/s for several months.

Now, the exact same squeak has appeared on the p/s. I rotated the tires a few days ago and the first thing I noticed was that the grease boot on the UCA is toast. It's less than a year old!!! That's what I get for buying china junk off fleabay:(. But the squeak isn't coming from the upper ball joint. It's coming from behind the wheel. And it sounds like a piece of flat metal scraping hard against another piece of metal (maybe I'll post a vid). I still greased the upper ball joint and sprayed all the bushings down with silicone lube, but the squeak is still there. And it only squeaks when the steering wheel is turned and when it's under load. Jack it up and pull the wheel off and it makes no noise at all when the wheel is turned. I dont' get it. And I don't think it's the lower ball joint because the grease boot is intact and it looks fine. The only other thing I can think of would be the strut rod bushings. They're pretty rough. It almost sounds like the brake dust shield scraping against something, but it doesn't look like it's touching anything behind the wheel. Anybody got any ideas?
 
My Front drivers side creaks like a motherf'er on susp travel for the first 5 min of a drive. Once it "warms up" it get's very faint. 45+ degree weather it goes away completly.

Does the noise go away when it's warmer out or after a couple mins of driving? There have been a couple members that had creaking on fresh susp's that never figured it out.
 
Have you tried loosening the UCA mounting bolts (while the car is at normal ride height, wheels on the ground), and re-tightening?
 
In my case it was a Strut Rod bushing. One attached to the lower control arm.
 
sbcaprice305 said:
My Front drivers side creaks like a motherf'er on susp travel for the first 5 min of a drive. Once it "warms up" it get's very faint. 45+ degree weather it goes away completly.

Does the noise go away when it's warmer out or after a couple mins of driving? There have been a couple members that had creaking on fresh susp's that never figured it out.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it doesn't go away. And it sounds terrible. Especially when I'm turning into a parking lot. I can hear it echoing off buildings!

98lincmk7lsc said:
Have you tried loosening the UCA mounting bolts (while the car is at normal ride height, wheels on the ground), and re-tightening?
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No I haven't. That is a great idea! I'm off work tomorrow so I'll have all day to mess with it. That will be the first thing I'll do. Thanks!

Dave 88 LSC said:
In my case it was a Strut Rod bushing. One attached to the lower control arm.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm leaning toward. I have to order a new set anyway. If loosening the UCA bolts doesn't fix it, maybe the strut rod bushings will.
 
Have you thought about replacing the ball joint that you ruined by not greasing it?
 
Sapperfire said:
Have you thought about replacing the ball joint that you ruined by not greasing it?
Click to expand...

I did. That was on the driver's side. It got replaced months ago. The p/s got greased, but now the boot is cracked to sh!t. I greased it again but I'm going to have to replace it. But the sound isn't coming from that ball joint. It's distinctly coming from directly behind the wheel. I'm betting it's the strut rod-to-LCA bushing. They'll get replaced soon too. Tax time is a comin'...
 
I have fresh-ish...eh, 4-5 years old components on mine as well and it creaks. Only when I turn my wheels and pull into somewhere it does so.

I think I will try the loosening and re tightening thing too.
 
Gotta pull the front wheels off again today when I get home from work. The P/S front is squeaking and creaking so loudly now I can hear it over the radio:( I am at a loss. The D/S doesn't do it anymore. I finally got it to shut up. Now it's moved to the P/S. And it's worse than it was before!!! It's a metal to metal squeak. It's difficult to describe how horrible it sounds. It actually sounds worse than it did when the ball joints and sway bar links were completely shot to sh!t before I replaced them all!!!! I'm gonna jack up the front end, take both front wheels off, and have me son turn the wheel left and right so maybe I'll be able to pinpoint where the infernal racket is coming from and fix it. I haven't had time the last few days to mess with it. I've just been dealing with it. It's embarassing because I know everyone around me can hear it if I can hear it inside the car. And it pi$$es me off because I spent all that frakkin' money and time on new front suspension parts!!! Dammit.
 
To the tightening trick with the upper's and make sure the tire pressure is correct. I've had creaking go away when I corrected my tire pressure before.
 
Okey dokey...I'm at a total loss:( I loosened and re-tightened the upper control arms and that didn't help. Then I decided to jack the front end up and take the wheel off to look at it some more. The weird thing is when I was jacking the car up, it creaked all the way up until I took the wheel off. After I took off the wheel off, I put a jack under the lower control arm to support it and lowered the body jack. Guess what? No creaking. I jacked it up and down several times to no avail. No creaking at all. Then I turned the steering wheel left and right and no creaking. So I went ahead and greased the upper ball joint, sway bar links, and outer tie rod end and silicone sprayed all the rubber bushings again just for sh!ts and giggles. No matter what I did with the wheel off I got no creaking. So I put the wheel back on and lowered it down. And lo and behold! It creaked all the way down once the tire was on the ground. It apparently only does it with the wheel attached. I just don't understand!!!! Anybody got any ideas? I'm totally stumped...
 
Lower control arms bad in a year... wow. Were those flea-bay replacements also? If that's the issue and it's been happening this long I would suspect they were nearly bad to begin with.
 
yeah mine went bad in around 6 months.
ordered moog part number K8477 and pressed them into my supercoupe performance lower control arms. much better. they are taller than the ball joints i took out though. so an alignment would be needed.
 
I would also put money on ball joints. You can try getting a needle (syringe) and inject some motor oil into the boot. Used works fine. Helps narrow down squeaks since it works better than grease.

Anyway, I bought "URO" brand for my Benz. The upper ball joint was bad within months. And the upper get so little abuse since it just there to guide the knuckle!

I would replace them ASAP! Just get lower control arms for a t-bird unless you can press. I had THREE ball joints fail (factory originals) and the damage was pretty bad all times. One on my 96, both on my 95.
 
Yeah. I got the XCP China junk brand off fleabay because it was cheap (ya get what ya pay fer). Upper on the d/s went bad within 6 months and replaced it with another brand that was a little more expensive, but made in USA. So far so good:) So now it's the lower on the p/s. So I'll be getting a new one at tax time. Once again, spending our whole refund on stuff for the dam cars!!! Gotta get tires for the Cobra too. Looking at about $500 bucks for that:(
 
Interesting...It rained last night and when I drove the Mark to work this morning, no creaking....:confused:

Wierd. The sun's out now and it should be dry by the time I get off work. We'll see if it creaks this afternoon...
 
Maybe because water entered the lower ball joint boot. Might have acted like a lubricant.
 
unity said:
Maybe because water entered the lower ball joint boot. Might have acted like a lubricant.
Click to expand...

Could be. Or maybe it was humidity? Change in temperature? I just don't know. And it would be difficult for water to have gotten into the boot. I inspected the boot last time I had it off the ground with the wheels off and there are no cracks, rips, or tears of any kind in either of the lower ball joint boots. I have no idea how anything could have gotten into or out of those boots. They're still perfectly sealed.
 
Humidity would make sense.





Edit: But if it does return I wouldn't be suspecting any of the sealed bj's. It would have to be something exposed I would think.
 
Yep. As of now, I drove the car out for lunch and still no squeaking. Sun's out and everything is dry. I pushed up and down on the front end and turned the wheel left and right and she's quiet as a mouse?????? Let's see how long it stays that way. I'm crossin' fingers and knockin' on a lot of wood right now:)
 
It will stay that way until the ball joint pop out. At least that is how mine did it as well as other can attest to. A sound going away does not mean the problem has. Keep an eye on things. Check for play often. And dont ever turn the wheels without having the car in motion, doing so adds a ton of stress to the parts.
 
unity said:
It will stay that way until the ball joint pop out.
Click to expand...

:D

unity said:
At least that is how mine did it as well as other can attest to. A sound going away does not mean the problem has.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I know. I'm still going to get new lower control arms and strut rod bushings next month when we get our refund from Uncle Sam.:)

unity said:
Keep an eye on things. Check for play often. And dont ever turn the wheels without having the car in motion, doing so adds a ton of stress to the parts.
Click to expand...

That's something that I try not to do. Especially with these cars. That reminds me of another problem I'm having right now. At low speeds (pulling out of a parking spot, for instance), there is a tight spot in my steering, as if something is in a bind. Then it loosens up and steers fine. At normal speeds it's fine. Just more wierdness.
 
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