Hello
I noticed recently over the last few weeks that when I do a right turn occasionally, I hear squeaking from the suspension. So the first thing I did was verify that the tires were all at equal pressure and after doing that, the suspension squeak has reduced. However, I still hear it on sharper right turns.

I looked and took a photograph of the car's shocks on the passenger side and would like to understand what I need to change. I have never done suspension work before and would like to do this work myself, so any tips and advice and links that can be helpful will be very much appreciated.

My car is a 2005 G35 Coupe 6MT with stock 19" wheels. Happy to share more photos.Please advise.

I am unsure what is squeaking, how do I figure that out ?


G35 Coupe Suspension on passenger side

 

Best way is to systematically spray down 1 moving part at a time with some silicone lubricant spray (stay away from the brakes/rotors) until you figure out which part causes the squeaking to go away.

You can also check wheel bearings while the front suspension is off the ground but that's not usually a squeak while cornering.

 

cleric670, if you look at the picture I posted above do you think the rubber boot that looks worn out is the culprit or does it not matter at all ? I will try to buy some silicone lubricant spray. Which brand is the right one to try out ?

 

That dust boot just protects the piston of the strut. If the noise was only when the suspension traveled up/down then it's usually from a torn boot or just worn strut. But you said the noise is when you turn left/right.

The top of the strut rotates on a bearing. You should also shoot some silicone spray up at it as part of your troubleshooting.

I suspect you're going to find it's something like a compression rod bushing, those are notorious for failure and you can usually just SEE how badly degraded they are with a visual inspection.

 

cleric760, I think you may be right. The sounds appear to come from when I steer towards the right, the struts and springs are good, and so I thought maybe the power steering fluid was low but it is not. So it could be just the compression rod bushings as also mentioned in other posts on this forum. Do you know an approximate cost to change these ? Can this be done at home or does it need professional presses and other tools that are cost prohibitive to own for a one-time job ?

Thank you for the advice.

 

You can buy compression rods (lower control arms) from Autozone for less than $100 each. I changed mine and it made a huge difference in steering.
Its a fairly easy job just be careful with the underside bolt that's attached to the body of the car. If that thing breaks or bends, the car is totaled from what I have been told. I read its safer to use an impact wrench to loosen it. Also, set the car all the way down before tightening it all the way.

 

When I bought my sons car last summer, we had similar issues. All sorts of knocks and squeaks from the front end. Last month, I ordered compression rods, lower control arm bushings, control arms, tire rods ball joints from RockAuto and all-in, it was extremely affordable. The car rides like a dream now. Well worth the money and peace of mind.

 

Nice photos Mr 6MTVQ

 

Yeah it's a pretty straightforward repair but it's a multi-link front so there's quite a few parts to take off. Firstly I would start by just inspecting it, the rear bushing is usually the one that goes and you can usually visually verify it's toast because the rubber part will be all cracked or even missing some pieces.

That big nut on the inboard side is the only difficult part, strongly recommend you REALLY spray penetrating oil on it since it's a bolt/stud goes way up inside the unibody into a captured slot that is 100% inaccessible.

It is possible to fix that if you do break the bolt off but it involves cutting out some of the unibody from above and using metric grade 8.8 allthread fillet welded to the existing section. It's EXTREMELY uncommon for this to happen btw, I'm only aware of two people that broke it and one was from overtorqueing that nut with an air wrench on reassembly. Make sure the threads are CLEAN AND DRY, use brake cleaner to remove the penetrating oil and torque it to the factory 114 ft lbs, if you do use anti seize or leave the penetrating oil you need to deduct torque for a lubricated fastener, usually 15%-25%.

 

Good point on cleaning the threads. I used a bunch grinder with a wire wheel and cleaned every nut and bolt prior to reinstalling. I wasn't aware that the torque specs needed to be adjusted for lubricated fasteners. Definitely good to know for the next job.

 

Yeah some fasteners like ARP head studs they specifically have you lubricate the threads then torque to their spec. Most bolts it's not a huge deal but things like spark plugs it definitely can be since you almost always want to be using an aluminum anti-seize on them. I usually take the factory 19 ft/lbs and drop it down to 15 ft/lbs for spark plugs and such.