As the title states. Where should I start in terms of doing maintenance and replacing parts? I’ve taken it to two mechanics over the last six months and both have said that they thought the suspension looked good, but this creaking is driving me nuts. It comes and goes, it doesn’t really creak in the first few minutes of driving, but after a mile or so, especially after going over a bumpy road, it’s loud enough.
Also, is there a specific order you’d recommend I go with in terms of changing suspend components?
After replacing all you did, I would just figure nothing is about to fail so turn up the radio and forget about it!
Get a sound finder like Scotty uses and hook it up to your suspension, somewhere. Put multiple of them on various areas of the chassis that won't damage the receivers, etc. Change channels and listen, or watch the visible dB meter while going over the terrain that causes the issue. You might want to have a 2nd person do the monitoring, or driving.
As @Jman2014 advised, AT-205 Re-Seal may help. Scotty has a video on YouTube entitled, “How to Fix Squeaky Noise In Your Car (Rubber Bushing Repair)” that you could check out.👍
Well there are so many rubber bushings that can creek and squeak. And of course there's no grease fittings like they were when I was a kid. What you can do is get a can of WD-40 and start spraying. I'm an end drive. When the noise goes away you'll know it's one that you sprayed that is doing the creeking. And of course, if you see any of them that are cracked you're going to have to replace them
If all your bushings seem in good shape I would spay some at205 on them. I had a similar problem and it went away with the at205
Car is a 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis GS with 101.9K miles. It used to creak when I pushed down on the front, so I took it in to the shop and had the sway bar links in the front changed. That went away, but it continued to creak when I drive over uneven terrain with small bumps.
So I proceeded to get the front struts, front upper control arms w/ball joints, rear shocks, and rear springs changed. I wanted to do the whole suspension done anyway because it was a little bouncy and the rear sagged, so I didn't do it with the sole intention of fixing the creak. Anyway, it rides 100% better, feels like new and sits at the proper height, but it still creaks a little when I go over said terrain.
So, what's left and what's most likely to cause this? Lower control arms? Tie rod ends? I asked the shop to give a quick look at all those when they were fixing it, and they said that aside from some surface rust being a Chicago car, they were in good working order. Should I just live with this or is there something that's most likely to cause this noise?
I'd spray WD-40 on different bushings one at a time near the general location of the sound, and when it stops, that's my bushing. Then I'd hit the problem area with a touch of silicon lubricant, which is much more of a permanent solution than WD-40.
You can use the audio system like Justin recommended, but I can't see buying a kit like that for a little suspension squeak. WD-40's a lot cheaper and easier.
