Clemson Sports Car Club

Alright. Ive been working on fixing this problem for the last month and have had ZERO luck.

Heres the problem:

Car makes a squeaking like noise when accelerating and braking around complete stop and over uneven pavement. It is also audible by bouncing the back end.

Heres what I have concluded:

Not the end links. Previously thought i was so i replaced the end links and bushings on the sways. Took an end link off one side today (nice gash in hand now ) and bounced that side and still making the noise so its not sway bar related.

Only other idea i have is the shocks are worn out. My car is lowered way down so this promotes shock wear and the car is 5 years old.

Got pissed at it and took a can of spray white lithium grease to the shock mounts and into the body as best i could and squeaking stopped while bouncing the back end.

Problem returned as it always does from aggressive driving i.e. lots hard turns.


Anyone have any ideas? This is getting old.

Chase...
one thing to check. If you stand beside the car and bounce on the fender to see shock move or shake, you won;t see it. Shock just goes up and down a1/2 inch. Get where you can see the top of the shock tower and let someone HEAVY bounce on it. I'm betting your shocks are worn but mounting at top has either loosened or stretched.
Short term solution - IF you see some flex at top of bolt of shock, get some one heavy to push down and run 4 or 5 rings of electrical tape into the space between nut and tower mounting... as tight as you can. That will quiet down until you can get shocks swapped out. Sounds crazy? Yup... but it works.

Only other thing I can think of is checking exhaust mounts... a lot of times them only bump or rattle when under unusual g loads. HEat shield on the exhaust is other guess.
Hope it works.
Ted
P.S. Ever since TJ saw the new Zs , he losing interest in his street miata. Wow...what a sweet car.

This is all very generic, don't know if it will help:

What sort of bushings are at the connections between the suspension links and the body? If they're bonded rubber, maybe the fact that the car is lowered and the bushings are already stressed a little just sitting at rest - or just their age - has caused them to tear.

If they are urethane and there's anything that moves relative to the urethane by design, they're probably going to make noise. Adding some of the grease that comes with urethane bushing kits may help for the short term. If the bushings are metal there might be a grease point where you can add some grease.

If it is shock-related, maybe the shock bushings are beat up and a new set would get them back to fitting like they should.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. C6 Z06 shocks run pretty cheap used (some guys are giving them away) so im gonna try to get my hands on a set in the next week or so. Till then ill try what you said Ted and see if thats the issue.

Ill look into the bushing design tonight when i get some time.


And the 370z... yeah. Nissan did a good job on this one ha. And it actually responds to mods.

I was going to say my usual answer and say go under it and have someone bounce the car, but I don't think that will work with yours, lol.

zps2004 Wrote:I was going to say my usual answer and say go under it and have someone bounce the car, but I don't think that will work with yours, lol.

haha I did and pretty much got my face hit by the plastic every time. Thing is I really couldn't tell where the sound was com ming from. I got to figure something out but as of now im just going to grease the hell out of the shocks and hope that quiets it down a bit.

Another possibility would be sway bar bushings might be dry or damaged.

zps2004 Wrote:Another possibility would be sway bar bushings might be dry or damaged.

Yeah. Looked into that and replaced them and greased them WELL.

The sway was disconnected and im still getting noise so I have ruled out any component of sways.

Only possible reasons it could be squeaking now are shocks or one of joints off of something up under there.

Any tie rod ends in the rear suspension?

My car makes little clicking sounds sometimes, and its because the axels need to be regreased I think. Maybe look into that?

F1james Wrote:My car makes little clicking sounds sometimes, and its because the axels need to be regreased I think. Maybe look into that?

There is a TSB for a loose axel something (got to look into it). I have to go to the dealership soon to get a key fob programed so ill look into that.

And as far as tie rods...??? ha Ill check.

Thanks for the suggestions.

F1james Wrote:My car makes little clicking sounds sometimes, and its because the axels need to be regreased I think. Maybe look into that?

Guy with the same problem as me found his axle nuts were loose and problem was solved.

Will be torquing tomorrow.

Anyone have a 33mm socket?

Chaser350Z Wrote:Anyone have a 33mm socket?

sure don't check advance or ace. ace might.

93redfox Wrote:

Chaser350Z Wrote:Anyone have a 33mm socket?

sure don't check advance or ace. ace might.

Yeah. I might as well buy one. Apparently these things come loose all the time with spirited driving.

My car has the same type of TSB out for it. The axle nuts get loose and need to be regreased and torqued to 220 ft/lbs. I just need to find a 36mm socket and an impact gun now cause mine have started clicking again recently. The first time it did it, the retorqueing fixed the issue. I also need to swap my CVD buckets cause they tend to get worn out and form notches.