Only just started yesterday where I get a noise like a bird chirp, or when rubber drags on metal. Same pitch if i'm doing 8 or 80kph, happens when accelerating, braking or cornering as long as the road is even slightly bumps. So it seems to be caused by movement rather than an exact position or speed. Also just noticed I can hear it (quite loudly) if I stop the car and bounce the front right side
First time I noticed this was the day after I took it on a bumpy dirt road that shook the car around a lot, even going as slow as I could

I'm thinking bushings?

A loose power steering or A/C belt can make that noise... and they are on the right side. Simply fixes are always the best.

Should reiterate

I can get it to squeek when the engine is completely off and I push down on the front right side

Dry ball joint? Check if the boots are still ok.

Checked all boots, no splits in anything
Checked the tie rod its fine, nice movement no notches or slop. Checked the..... that little arm thing with 2 ball joints on it? control rod? anyway thats also fine, nice movement can hear there's lots of grease still in it

Didn't remove the lower control arm but I think i'm going to have to because getting to the sway bar bushing is impossible with my impact wrench. Tried a spanner but it started to strip the nut
I havn't done much on cars but plenty of work on bikes. Am I to understand there's not much preload on things when the car is jacked up? Is it easy enough to remove the lower control arm (so I can also check the lower ball joint) and then the sway bar and grease up all the bushings. And then be able to reassemble by hand?

I'd say thats where the problem lies, it sounds exactly like rubber on metal when it squeaks
Or if I bought an aerosol can of white lithium grease should it penetrate enough that I can just spray it from the outside?

Damnit, its been there for a while. So took it to a friends place to try and isolate the noise while he bounced it and I listened, its really hard to track down. It sounds like its coming from different places depending on where you listen from

He thought it might be the strut so we pulled that out. 3 things we noticed, the first being a flat rubber ring about the diameter of a soft drink can was slightly protruding below the bump stop. I should have taken a pic because I can't find this rubber ring in the parts fiche. But that may be because...
The second thing was the top of the boot which goes over the shock looks pretty ragged at the top. It's in one piece with no rips but it looked like maybe this rubber sit sat inside of it and expanded it outwards? or maybe (I should have mentioned this rubber ring was more like a piston ring or a circlip i.e. it had a cut in the middle of it, not a continuous joined ring) it was supposed to be a solid circular ring and compress the boot onto the bump stop? I'm not sure, anyway we zip tied the boot to the bump stop and trimmed the excess top of it so get it back together.
And lastly, the rubber ring that sits underneath the spring was in really bad shape. And it looked like the spring might have been rubbing on the strut assembly where it sits. This was split in half, we tried to piece it back together. When I drove home it was fine at first but then the noise returned though in a slightly different way. Same noise but it didn't happen on compression as much as on rebound. I'd say its possibly that bottom rubber piece? If so, does anyone have a link to a replacement?

Also the top rubber piece. its not the larger one which sits between the spring and the spring seat, but rather near the bump stop (presumably above it). What is it? where is it supposed to go? and is it necessary? At the moment we completely removed it as it doesn't seem useful in any way

Edit: Video *WARNING* Extremely annoying! even worse when you have to drive it, its just degrading

http://tinypic.com/r/2rypsat/8

I've heard binding sway bushes before and usually not that high a pitch. that was painful to listen too. if you suspect those, why not grab the hose and spray water on the bush as you do that again and see if it stops or changes in pitch.

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=48149
INSULATOR,FR SUSP STRUT
SEAT,FR SUSP SPRING,UPR
PAD,FR SUSP SPRING,UPR
DAMPER,FR SUSP STRUT
COVER,FR SUSP STRUT
SPRING,FR SUSP COIL
PAD,FR SUSP SPRING,LWR

It's likely coming from the strut, specifically 40145 which is in really bad shape so I suspect the spring to be contacting metal.
Anyone have a link to that item? can't seem to find anything on ebay

I'd be tempted to scour the wreckers for some struts that look like they were reworked at some stage, look for newish rubber components or ones in good condition. You may strike it lucky.

If the car is back in one piece, try squirting some silicone lube in the spot where you think the noise is coming from. Then do the bounce test. Squirt one spot at a time, then bounce. That way you can be certain where the noise is coming from.

It's likely coming from the strut, specifically 40145 which is in really bad shape so I suspect the spring to be contacting metal.
Anyone have a link to that item? can't seem to find anything on ebay

You'd have to check to be sure this number is correct AW338891 but it's probably OEM only. I'm not convinced that would cause a squeak like that. In the US they're $8, Japan $6 so locally they're probably not too expensive either. the number in the diagram is the PART NAME CODE so has no useful meaning if googling for it.

I only put that up to help clarify exactly what parts you are referring to.

I wouldn't think it would make noise either, since I can't imagine the spring moving by a simple bounce test, given that its already under at least AN HOURS WORTH OF BUGGERING ABOUT WITH SPRING COMPRESSORS of tension.

I'm not 100% sure but I believe the struts were replaced not so long ago by the previous owner. Not what sure exactly though, it could be they reused all the rubber bits and spring. Seems doubtful but who knows
I'll have a look some time and see what brand they are

AW338891. In the US they're $8, Japan $6 so locally they're probably not too expensive either.

$5.10 here from a mitsubishi dealer :O what the hell, has the world tipped upside down?

I ordered 2 since they fit both sides. Will wait till they arrive, swap it over. If it still squeaks then i'll look further, but since we moved the lower control arm up and down without the strut in it it made no noise, and compressing the strut without a spring also makes no noise, leading me to highly suspect its that piece

I also had a look at the additional ring I was talking about earlier, it fits inside the top of the dust boot. Doesn't show on any parts diagram though, doesn't matter, zip tie does the job

Well I finally fixed the damn thing, can't say exactly what it was though I believe it to be one of the bushings, likely the lower control arm bushing
It was still there after putting a new rubber base ring in the strut - albeit quieter. I decided to bounce the left side of the vehicle whilst the right side was jacked up, even with the strut not yet connected it was still squeaking! so likely one of the bushings.
I thought to myself stuff it i'm just gonna pull everything apart and check it all. After failing to remove the lower control arm bolts I scrapped that section and just did the top part of both, good thing I checked the left strut as the boot on that one had also fallen down, the top bearing was very rough and there was actually no rubber ring at the base of the spring at all. So I ziptied the boot, cleaned and greased the top bearing the best I could and fit the spare rubber ring to the base of the strut
Also sprayed silicone on every other suspension component that moves. And removing and spraying the sway bar bushings. End result is it doesn't squeak anymore

One question I have though
The struts are Monroe GT, I noticed with the spring removed that if I compress the dampening rod it doesn't return to top, I have to pull it back up with quite a bit of force. Is this normal?

Doesn't that usually mean the gas is gone?