Suspension Noise, How to fix your squeaks and creaks Options

[94GT]

About two years ago I got fed up with some suspension creaking and decided it was time to put new struts on my car. At the time I was over 200,000 miles, so I bought KYB GR2s to replace the original factory struts on the car. I left the springs alone and changed out everything else, though: boots, mounts/bearings, bump stops, etc. Much to my surprise, during cold weather I was still getting some creaking sounds while driving over speed bumps. This was later compounded by some squeaking that makes it sound like a bunch of chipmunks in my trunk. The creaks and squeaks seem to come and go with the weather. Cold wet weather seems to bring them both out, and I finally got fed up with them and I think I've solved both problems. By the way, it had nothing to do with my sway bar bushings. I swapped those out six months ago, and that didn't fix my problem. If you have a clunking sound coming from your rear suspension, however, see this thread. That'll fix that problem right up.

First, the squeaks:
If you're driving around and you get a lot of noise from your trunk that sounds like chipmunks fighting back there, it's the upper mount/bearing (aka "suspension support" if you've got the Haynes book for our car). This is the easy one. Buy a spray can of silicone spray from any autoparts store (I don't recommend using WD40 or anything else that is petroleum based, because that tends to break down rubbers and plastics). The one at Autozone is called "Liquid Wrench Heavy Duty Silicone Spray." Open your trunk and pop the plastic top off of the strut tower. Inside there you should see the three bolts attaching your upper strut mount/bearing to the tower and there should be a little plastic cap in the middle of those three bolts. Pry that off and you'll be looking at the nut that secures the strut to the mount. Take your can of silicone spray and soak that bad boy. When I looked at mine, all the snow and slush on the streets had been kicking moisture up in there, which is what is causing all the racket. Make sure to put the center cap back on the pillar, and then put the plastic trim cover back into place. I advise doing the same to the front struts, even if you can't hear any noise from them because if the back ones need it, the front ones probably do too.

Now for the creaks:
This one requires you to put the car on jackstands at a minimum, but a lift would be better. Yesterday I got mine up on a lift and took the left rear wheel off. Like I mentioned, my struts are relatively new, so I left those alone. My major suspects were the strut rod bushings and the rear suspension arm bushings (see pic below). The symptom was that when it was cold/damp, and I would drive over a speed bump, there would be a creak or a groaning sound when the suspension compressed and released. I got an impact wrench and started with the strut rod. First I got the end attached to the axle carrier (the wheel) off, and then I undid the bolt that secured it to the frame. No big surprise, the carrier bolt that secured the strut rod to the bushing in the axle carrier had rust on it and was likely the source of the noise, because the bushing itself looked like it was in good shape. I sanded all the rust off of the bolt, cleaned out the rust from the inside of the bushing as best I could with a dremel tool, and then applied a lot of grease to the carrier bolt just like I would for the bolt on the brake caliper when doing a brake job. I applied some silicone lube to the bushing anyways, since i had it off the car, and then I tried to get to work on the rear suspension arms. These are difficult/impossible to remove for two different reasons. First off, the carrier bolt goes through the axle carrier, and mine is rusted solid to the axle carrier (but not the bushing itself) such that I could get the rear one off by removing just the nut, but the front one wouldn't budge. I inspected the rear one and it was in good shape. The book calls for over 150 ft-lbs of torque for that bolt/nut, so there wasn't any moisture that leaked in at all. I greased that back up and put it on. I also shot up the bushings with plenty of silicone. Then I moved to the inside. It turns out that Toyota ran the carrier bolt from the fuel tank side, so when I got the nut off of one end, and started to push the bolt out the other side, it stopped after a couple inches because the tank is in the way. The only option now was to remove the tank (no thanks) or unbolt the frame that it's attached to and lower it so that I can pull the bolt out. It only had six bolts or so attaching it to the bottom of the trunk, but it looked like it would be hell to put back up there by myself. Since I could move the bolt a couple inches I could see that the part that mates up inside the bushing was still in good shape, so I shot it up with lube, along with the bushings and I slid it back in there and bolted them back up. I only did this to the left side of the vehicle, so I could hear if there was a noticeable difference between the two sides.

Now for the test drive: The chipmunk squeaks are totally gone and the creaking from speed bumps/driveways is gone from the left side (the side I took apart) and is still there on the right side, so I'll be taking that side apart next week and giving it the same treatment. Unfortunately I'm in Oklahoma right now and my camera is back in Cali, so I couldn't take pictures, but if you look at the picture below you'll be able to see most of what I did to get my suspension quiet and smooth like a new car. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to do the same for the front suspension, even though it's pretty quiet as it is right now. Hope this writeup helps!



Oh yeah, technically those bushings at the ends of each of the suspension arms aren't really bushings, they're spherical bearings...

[jcbass7]

AWESOME right up, i need to do this as well as the sway bar bushings.

[soven]

Thanks for the writeup

[Rayme]

Really good!

I'm glad someone else than me said that the arms dont uses bushings, its spherical bearings, and if those are loose and makes clunking noise, the standard procedure it to REPLACE the defective arm(sadly all four usually).

*thumbs up

[94celigts]

Keep in mind also KYB GR2's are filled with gas, On a cold day you will get creaks untill the gas inside the shock is warmed up to a comfortable temperature. Very good writeup though, i will use for sure!

[xs94st]

nice man! if i hear those damn chipmunks i'll know what to do!

[NickJames]

Do you think that that could be the issue up front also...I seem to have fairly bad squeeking...similar to the chipmunks, but it almost seems like its comin from my dash!?!????? I dunno, it really does not sound like the front shocks, what do you think??

[GriffGirl]

The chipmunks are actually what powers the motor on an ST, ya know...

[94GT]

It's probably your dash, as I've never heard it coming from the front in my car. Being on the other side of the firewall, I've never picked up the noise from there, just from the rear.

[94GT]

Bumped for update:
One year later, and everything's still working out nicely. I spray the mounts with the silicon spray every 4 months or so, and the rear is still quiet. The front makes the squishing noise still sometimes when it's cold, so I need to get around to giving the front end the same treatment as the rear end (i.e. dismantling and lubing the arms and strut rods). It's been rainy and cold lately, so I figure a lot of you might be able to use this thread again. Hope it helps!

-Mike