Diagnosing Front End Squeak - Help

97ponygt

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Need some preliminary help diagnosing a front end squeak before I get her up on jacks. I hear the noise whenever the wheel moves up or down i.e. a bump a crack in the road. However, the noise cannot be reproduced when I try rock the car up and down when parked. So it has to be something to do with the steering knuckle moving up and down. I thought maybe the LCA bushings. I recently put new urethane bushings on pretty much everything and hit everything pretty good with bushing grease. Except for the LCA bushings. To add to the oddity it doesn't make the noise when it's colder than 40F out.
 
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97ponygt

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tony is the ball joint expert.

Don't doubt that he's an expert but the ball joints and lower a arms are brand new. Literally everything is brand new on the front end.
 

evilcw311

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Poly is notorious for squeaking. Do a little research and you will find tons of people complaining about it. It’s the one downfall to poly.


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ttocs

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did you grease the lowers when you installed them or tried a grease gun since? How about the sway bar mounts how old are they?
 
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97ponygt

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did you grease the lowers when you installed them or tried a grease gun since? How about the sway bar mounts how old are they?

I did not. Was hoping to get some input so I have a plan of attack when I get the car up on jacks. But those were definitely on my list to hit. And the sway bar mounts are as old as the car... Roughly 22 years old.
 

ttocs

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I am willing to bet that its one of those two then. Give a few squirts with the gun and see if it helps.
 

DKblue98GT

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Poly control arm bushings definitely need to be greased. That would be my guess for the squeak.
 

01yellercobra

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Many moons ago I had a 70 Mustang and I put poly bushings up front as it was the big ticket at the time. Driving normal was fine. But when I'd go over a speed bump or something similar it would squeak. I pulled the bushings and regreased them and it got better. But eventually came back. As I was 16 or 17 I just lived with it. But anymore I make sure if I'm going to run poly or similar I make sure there's a zerk fitting somewhere.

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97ponygt

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Was well aware of the squeaking poly bushings cause so I shelled out for the specific grease... like $50 a tube or something ridiculous. But am kicking myself for not thinking to lube the lca bushings. Next time I get her up on jacks I’ll hit those and see what happens. The worst is I live off of a road that’s paved with bricks and it’s the most annoying thing in the world.
 

DKblue98GT

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I put poly bushings in my control arms about a year and a half ago and no noise. I have them in my 88 Toyota 4WD pickup and they squeak on speed bumps. in both cases I used a lot of poly grease.

It's important to wipe off the excess grease because it's a dirt magnet.
 

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