Hoping some one can shed some light on a little issue I've been having. Replaced suspension about this time last year, springs/shocks, and ever since (noticed on the day I picked it up, was fine before) there's been a creaking/squeaking kind of noise coming from the rear left, most noticeable over bumpy & uneven surfaces. This has now reached the point where I'm no longer willing to put up with it - gradually driving me insane.

Does anyone have any clues as to what this might be? I took it to Pedders recently (very warily, I might add) to have the whole lot checked out, but they couldn't identify anything specifically wrong with it. I'm thinking the whole strut needs be removed & inspected - and my very uneducated thinking is that it could be one of the bits that sits above the strut itself.

Thanks in advance.

It's most likely a bush of some sort.

A noise like this can be a bugger to locate. The sound from a moving component can travel a long way through the solid suspension components and its impossible to locate by ear. Could be anything from a dry ball joint to a nut or bolt that hasn't been torqued correctly, like a bolt through a steel centred rubber bush where the bolt turns in its mount instead of the rubber twisting when you hit a bump. If you are up to it, check every bolt for tightness. Spraying WD40 in one spot and then driving the car will help - if the noise goes away after spraying one particular bit, you know the problem is in that area. If not, spray elsewhere. Only a temp fix though, but it may help you locate the problem area.

Mine does this too. The problem for me, at least, is that the spring insulator at the top of the strut has popped out of the spring - it's sitting on top, just squashed against the topmost coil. Unfortunately, the only way to fix it is to remove the strut and rebuild it.

Try the WD 40 as per Madmax's post or try a few spots of pressure pack grease on the lower spring seat to see if the noise goes away.

Cheers

They should have reset bushes in the car when it was lowered, if not done the most likely cause is that a bush is under pressure and may have started to move on the steel sleve

Best sign of this is looking around the bushings and see if any of them have any rusty appearance

Thanks for the thoughts and tips, I'll probably get this checked out thoroughly next week. Hopefully I can get this sorted once and for all and be at peace with my car again, lol.

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