legacycentral bbs

I had my new GR-2's installed by a local shop, and the ride is much, much, improved. Except for the one thing, the R rear sounds like a creaking spring or something whenever I brake or accelerate or hit bumps. The shop looked at it again and said nothing is loose, though it sounds like it. Any advice on this one? It's driving me crazy.

Did you replace the top strut mounts? I would check to make sure that the nut that secures the strut mount to the damper shaft is tight.

Didn't replace the top mounts, and will check the nut in the morning. I don't think the shop checked it today, since the speaker cover wasn't removed.

Thanks for the input.

My rear suspension squeaked before new struts/springs/tophats and it still squeaks. So it could be a bushing or something stupid.

I checked the upper bolts and all were tight. That would be way too simple, of course. I've never had a noise there before, and the other three are silent, so this is nuts. Is it possible that when the strut was mounted the spring was not seated/oriented correctly, and that might be the problem?

How many miles have they been on the car? I know after I installed my GR2's, I had squeaks and I gave it a few weeks to settle and break in and they all went away. You could check other bushings too, there may be some with excessive wear on that wheel, it does happen (and I'm very familiar with it).

Well its most likely either a squeaky bushing or a spring that isnt seated right like you suggested it might be. I dont think either is too serious, but if its that annoying you should just pull the strut and check it out.

Thanks. The creakings and groanings are coming from the top of the strut tower and nothing is loose up there, so I'm guessing that the spring isn't seated in the old depression in the top mount. I'll have the shop check it out on Monday--he'll do it to get me off his back, I'm sure.

If it's just a matter of the spring rubbing the mount, and it is seated correctly, wrap the part of the spring that contacts the plate in rubber or electrical tape, that will prevent it from squeaking. Don't go too thick though.

I finally took a look under the fender today. The installer told me that they had sprayed PB on everything when I took it back. Well, everything inside the car, so that it smelled for a few days. No sign of lube on the upper mount under the fender, so I shot some up there and around the bottom of the spring and bounced the wagon up and down a few times, and the noise lessened by the bounce, so I'm hopeful that this will do it. I just hope PB Blaster doesn't eat rubber. If it does, I'm in trouble. I took it for a short test drive, and it was way, way better. We will see in the long run.

Try some synthetic lubricant in spray can form, I have some I think its valvoline.

Thanks. I have some silicone spray around here somewhere. Probably should have used that first. 20/20 hindsight is one of my blessings.

Go figure.. I kept getting the "creaking" noise even after repeated shots of lubricant to the upper mount. I finally thought to shoot the bottom of the spring again and the noise was gone. Way easier to squirt, too. Firm shocks and no squeaks; what a treat.