Squeaky Struts

[RedWolf4000]

Hey everyone. I am having a small problem with my 03 cavalier. It seems that the front passenger side strut has become very noisy, even with the smallest imperfection on the roads, my strut makes huge creeking and squeaking noises. Upon parking the car and pushing down on each fender i get the same result. Could they just need to be greased? The car has 25k on it and has never been in the shop, i simply do my own oil changes, and the manual never mentions the struts needing to be greased of course.

How do I go about greasing these? Do you think its the bushings? Can I prevent taking the car in for a day at the dealership by doing a simply service to the struts? Thanks.

 

[jsharp]

I'm not saying it can't happen, but I've never heard a strut creak. Lots of ball joints and bushings but never a strut.

 

[Drew99GT]

quote:

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Originally posted by jsharp:
I'm not saying it can't happen, but I've never heard a strut creak. Lots of ball joints and bushings but never a strut.

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I agree. Gm uses the cheapest rubber suspension bushings I've ever seen. The ones on my 94 Corolla still are in decent shape. The ones on my Dad's 98 Blazer? They were shot 3 years ago

 

[RedWolf4000]

Bushings then? I know nothing about suspensions as you can clearly see now. Sounds like I know what to tell the guy at the dealership now. The car has 25k miles on it. Bushing can go that fast? Someone told me that the "Front sway bar bushings" have this problem very quickly on these cheap little cars, so it seems like he was close to accurate.

25k though? Does not that seem a bit odd?

I could put my money on this happening again at around 50-75k then.

When bushing are bad, and the car is left like that, can it do damage?

 

[Mike242GT]

Strongly suggest that you get the front of the car up on a pair of jack stands, put the key in the ingition to unlock the steering column, get down and grab the front tire (do this from both sides) and physically move the steering rack from lock to lock. Listen carefully to where any sounds are coming from and you may be able to isolate the problem. If you can't replicate the noise this way, drive the car up on a set of ramps and get underneath to listen (and feel)while a friend bounces the front end up and down.

The strut cartridges themselves are probably not the problem. Most likely ball joints, but maybe sway bar end link (these are little ball joints themselves on some cars). Most cars have an "upper strut mount" bearing on each side where the top of the strut assembly bolts to the shock tower. This is usually a circular ball bearing race that should be sealed to keep dirt and road salt out, but they can and do fail (although 25K miles seems awfully early; I got about 185K out of my last set).

 

[RedWolf4000]

The tower from under the hood is dry, rusty, and has no grease on it what-so-ever, they have no caps to seal the tops either. My car has been detailed once where an engine bay was was implemented, could this have dried the top end up and caused it to fail?

 

[RedWolf4000]

Im sorry, typo. I meant to say: My car had been detailed once where an engine bay WASH was used, that cleaned the entire area around the engine.

 

[Drew99GT]

I doubt the strut bearings are to blame; you'd be hearing the noise when you turn. I took my 99 Grand Am to the dealer about 10 times for the same noises you describe and they always said it's normal, but upon visual inspection of all the suspension bushings, they were all crakced and hardened.

 

[Quest]

25k though? Does not that seem a bit odd?

IMHO nope, this is not surprising consider how GM sourced their OEM parts supplier during their annual contract bidding.

Read the papers today that most domestic OE parts supplier simply refused to report their recent quarterly earnings in fear of the dismal GM stock performance and sales figure would have severely undermine their stock prediction and earnings (c/o: Vancouver Sun Financial section, May 31, 05)

Rubber bushings go bad? replace them!

 

[srivett]

I think you should consider getting the car undercoated if you are already seeing rust on the strut towers. When they fail you have to get them cut out and replaced with a pair from a wrecked car.

Cheers, Steve

 

[rpn453]

I had creaky struts on my '87 Grand Am when they were shot. They would bounce three times with a good push, but I didn't think struts could creak, so I figured it was the control arm or stabilizer bar bushings (the car had about 200,000 miles on it at the time). When I changed the struts, the creak went away. It could have been ball joints or tie-rod ends too since I did them at the same time.
Are the nuts holding the strut to the tower tight?

 

[robbobster]

Should still be under warranty, in which case I'd just have the dealer take care of it.

 

[RedWolf4000]

I got it taken care of, apparently there is a cup that holds the top of the spring at the top of the tower, this was known to squeak. They had a notice about this problem and actually had replacements on hand, they had me back on the road in 3 hours. Car sounds great now.

Every car has its problem I guess. The engine and transmission are current in this car, but everything else is past its prime. I can live with that for what I payed though. Thanks for the help.