suspension noise

[nick-f1]

Lad who works for me bought a '99 galant glsi privately about a month ago, it has since developed a squeak on the nearside front suspension. Turn the steering either way or bounce the suspension it squeaks. It appears there are 5 bushes and it could be any one of these, to save us abit of time removing each- one by one to find the culprit, has anyone else had this problem or any ideas?

cheers
Nick :undecided

[Nick Mann]

I did have on my V6. No longer have the car, so no longer have the details, but think it was fixed by replacing a suspension arm. (Bushings were not available seperately.) I do remember that the steering was much tighter afterwards.

Sorry this is a bit vague.

[wirdy]

There was a recall for premature lower ball joint wear - if it applies to your chap then maybe he could take it along for an inspection , could be the problem, if not, no harm done- they might even spot the real problem. you then have the choice to rectify yourself or let them have a go. ;)

The original thread is here (http://www.clubvr4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2511&highlight=recall)

[nick-f1]

Thanks for your help guys and the recall thread, he has booked it into our local garage for wednesday and we thought we might save some time if it could be narrowed down to the exact joint/bush. Think it may be worth a call to our mitsi dealer to check this out, only snag is the car has about 80k on it so is probably fair wear and tear to a dealer don,t you think? Will keep you posted

Cheers
Nick. :rolleyes5

[Nick Mann]

AFAIK the warranty doesn't cover wear and tear on rubber items. Unlikely to get them to pay for a replacement bush at that mileage!

Hope all goes well.

[nick-f1]

Thats what I thought Nick but you never know. Other than this problem its a really nice car without a mark on it, the previous owner had been pounding the motorways I think for it to be this clean. And its fsh with a stamped book but no service receipts unfortunately, so we cant be completely sure. Thanks for your help

Nick

[wirdy]

.... only snag is the car has about 80k on it so is probably fair wear and tear to a dealer don,t you think?

Depends whether the lower ball joint rubber boot is split, on inspection. The recall was to inspect the ball joint for ingress of dirt / water. The recall is obviously to prevent a complete failure of the joint and the inherent safety concerns. Even if the joint is fully open to the elements, it won't fail overnight, this is a very long process of grinding away before the retaining cup lets the ball out of its socket.
(I had a ball joint fail like this on my Volvo on the A1 - not a pleasurable experience as your front wheel nearly folds itself under the car!! - thankfully I was slowing down to get fuel & coasted (kangaroo'd) to a halt. Left a big hole in the wheel arch though, due to tyre friction :(

[nick-f1]

Its back- the squeak that is. Local garage had it in and greased/ lubed bushes and commented that they thought it likely been thru water and bushes in lower suspension arm were suspect, anyway it seemed to be cured. Lasted about 5 days and returned with a vengeance! Looks like he's gonna have to dig deep now to fix it. :sad3:

Nick

[Kieran]

Bugger! :sad3:

Does anyone know of any company that makes poly bushes for our cars? I'm sure my geometry would benefit from fresh ones, and seeing as the lower arms/bushes on the 8G seem to take a lot of stick, some reinforced ones would be good.

They'd also help prevent the situation Nick's described above.

[I-S]

I thought I'd reply, as I had my 98 GLS estate in on tuesday for suspension work.

In the past, the front offside lower ball joint has been replaced (by first owner at about 60k), but there was a rumbling/knocking from the front offside going up the drive (which is quite bumpy). The rear suspension also started creaking a bit about 12000 miles ago, and was starting to creak constantly.

So, I took it in, and had service done as well. They replaced the offside front trailing arm (it had some play at the connection to the steering rack), and they took apart the rear suspension and lubricated the bushings.

The rear creaking has disappeared. The front rumble is still there, but the steering is much better now, and the car is both riding and handling better than before.

Best of all, I'd switched dealers after I suspected I was being ripped off by one (when they quoted £132 + VAT labour for changing the front discs), and all of this work came to only £297 inc VAT, with synthetic oil in the engine.