Civic squeaky suspension

[rationull]

Actually I've got two more questions about this:

1) I assume an alignment is pretty much required after a strut replacement? The service writer mentioned he was going to ask the tech if it was required. Under what conditions would be it OK to not do an alignment after replacing a strut?

2) Just to satisfy my own curiosity: The service writer said the strut wasn't leaking, just making noise (I assume he was correct but I guess he could've been wrong). Is this even indicative of any actual problem or early failure potential or is it just an annoying sound? Does the squeak indicate seal problems that will eventually turn into a leak?

 

[Quest]

yes, alignment is strongly recommended after the strut has been replaced, otherwise, your tires may experienced uneven or even premature wear pattern (mostly due to improper toe, but sometimes can also be caused by improper camber). This is standard practice BTW.

Badly manufactured struts can squeak. This has happened to my dad's 7th gen civic (those "so-called" OE'ed KYB USA made rear ones) and 1 was replaced under warranty. By the time the 2nd one went @67000kms, the bumper-to-bumper warranty was out and I replaced both rears with genuine Japanese made Tokico blues...no problems ever since.

I'm kinda waiting for the fronts to fail so that I can replace them with Tokicos as well. I have had enough bad luck and experiences with crrrrapppy KYBs (chinese/USA made) ones that I'v decided that never again in my life will I waste any of my precious times on shocks from these country of origin. I don't mind paying extra dollups to acquire Tein, Bridgestone (Japan)or Showa shocks/struts, or even genuine Japanese made Tokicos.

also: squeak w/o leak is usually an indication of improper assembly or component material/assembly errors, and given the rather extensive experience of most Japanese OE shocks/struts manufacturers that supply the OEM components, there shall never be any reason why it would squeak or have seal leaks (that's a strict component quality and assembly control problems). Funny that I've seen quite a few of these problems happened to the domestically assembled import cars for the past 12 +yrs...

Makes one wonder how good they are if you are to compare with the true Japanese made ones?

BTW: my relatives's 99 corolla LE (assembled in California)'s pwr steering pump whines like crazy when cold, whereas my friend's corolla of the same era bought and operated in Asian countries suffered from none of the said problems. One must wonder how realiable/good the domestically-sourced PWD steering pumps and rack-n-pinion steering racks are?!?

Q.

 

[AcuraTech]

Honda ball joints can and do squeak. Fairly common, most techs can figure this one out right away. More of a problem in cold weather.

When Honda struts fail, it usually manifests itself as a clunk noise over bumps. Squeak noises happen on occasion though.

 

[rationull]

The strut hasn't actually failed in this case, the noise was the only problem. That's why I'm wondering whether (bad manufacturing QC aside) a squeak is actually a mechanical problem or just an annoying noise. In this case I wasn't going to question the dealer when they wanted to replace the strut but honestly if it was just the noise it wouldn't have bothered me too much.

Interesting about your dad's 7th gen civic, Quest. I've read about common squeaking from the rear suspension on civics but not the front.

AcuraTech: Good to know about the ball joints. When I asked, the service writer indicated that they'd been over everything down there, lubed stuff up, and traced the noise to the strut and not the ball joint. Hopefully they're correct (I can only assume they are pretty sure since they wouldn't want to shotgun the problem under warranty).

 

[rationull]

Just to close this out, the dealer replaced the strut and got the alignment done and no more squeaks. Thanks for the help.

 

[Quest]

Right-on rationull! Good luck to you!

Q.

 

[rationull]

Bringing this thread back from the dead. The other side of the front suspension is now squeaking loud enough to hear from inside the car with the radio off. I can hear it loud and clear when pushing that side of the car down. I assume it's the strut on that side too but I guess it could be the ball joint.

I'm annoyed, and trying to figure out if I'm annoyed enough to take it in for this (still under warranty). I guess a free alignment couldn't hurt since I'm due for new tires soon anyway.


EDIT: Is there any way I can quickly diagnose myself whether the squeak is from the ball join or the strut?

 

[harry j]

I had the same thing happen on my Civic, it was the strut.

 

[rationull]

Oh, I'm pretty sure it's the strut considering it's the same sound as I had last time, and I can hear it in the car (strut tower is practically in the cab, I guess that's why the noise carries so well). Just trying to cover my bases.

I'm still not sure if this is merely annoying or would lead to early strut failure down the line, and was debating whether or not it was worth it to me to take it in (since like many BITOGers I don't really like having other people work on my car).

Decided it was worth it since the car's still under warranty (only 6000 miles to go on bumper-to-bumper, glad it started doing this soon enough) and it's been annoying me pretty bad lately. They don't do loaners and have to diagnose the problem before ordering the parts so it's a multi-day affair. Don't want to bother with two trips to the dealer so I made an appointment for Monday when I can leave it there and get home from work via other means if I don't feel like picking it up at the end of the day.

 

[AcuraTech]

I'm glad that a lot of the Japanese cars are being made domestically, because that means more jobs for Americans. But when cars and parts are made in America, quality seems to decline, compared to Japan assembled vehicles.

Things like struts were never a problem with Hondas until they started manufacturing them in the US with North American sourced parts. My 92 Legend (Made in Japan) still has the OEM struts, 125K, no problems. I've seen Legends with 300K and OEM struts, no problems. Springs occasionally rust and break, no big thing. Coil is so tightly wound you barely notice. The left front spring broke on my car, only way I noticed was that from a distance it seemed the car was sitting a bit lopsided. Strut itself has an extra "ear" so that even a broken spring is still contained, just lowers that corner down about an inch.

ANYWAY, newer Honda/Acura struts don't seem to hold up as well as the older ones. Take advantage of the warranty, a new strut is a new strut. If it fails outside of warranty, consider an aftermarket replacement.

 

[rationull]

Poking around this morning I noticed that if I push on the front passenger quarter panel I can hear a suspiciously similar squeak to what I hear when compressing the strut by pushing down on the front of the car. It's possible that what I think is coming from the strut is actually coming from the fender rubbing against the wheel well liner or similar.

I also wonder about this because of when I hear the squeak. It's not a long, drawn out squeak that only occurs while the car is bouncing, I can also hear noise while driving on dirt that sounds like a series of very quiet small "pops" for lack of a better term.

I'm thinking I'll lift the car this weekend and try to compress the strut without pressing directly on the body to see if I can still hear the sound. Although I should probably just bring it in anyway, just in case..