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Noisy suspension when cold

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Old Jan 31, 2008 | 10:14 AM
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Default Noisy suspension when cold

My suspension is extremely noisy when cold, its mainly with "up/down" motions of the car. It sounds sorta like creeking. The springs were replaced about a year ago with fairly new z06 springs.

Even hittin the gas and letting off when in a lower gear. If its 35 degrees or below its pretty noisy. What is the cause of this? I wonder if my shocks are on their way out. They're bilstein sports with about 70K miles on them. Anybody know for sure?
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Old Jan 31, 2008 | 10:48 AM
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This is a real common problem.. The creaking/squeaking is coming from your front swaybar bushings or rear swaybar bushings (maybe both). The fix is simple.. There are 2 bushings on the front sway bar. Take out the 4 bolts and move the bushing to the side... Lube up the inside of the bushing with silicone grease, as well as the part of the swaybar that the bushings clamp to... Slide bushings back in place and tighten bolts ( can't remember the exact torque specs).. Same exact procedure for the rear swaybar bushings... No more creaking... My local repair shop did both my front and rear bushings in about 20 minutes.. Charged me $40.00
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Old Jan 31, 2008 | 11:38 AM
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My suspension was also creaking. The culprit was the swaybar bushings, which were lubed per David's post.
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Old Jan 31, 2008 | 11:46 AM
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Good idea! Pretty easy to do too. I have the Hotchkis bars and I don't think they've ever been lubed up.
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Old Feb 1, 2008 | 07:44 AM
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i have poly all around and it creaks like your walking in an old house...solution TURN THE RADIO UP
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Old Feb 1, 2008 | 08:03 AM
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Lube them with dielectric grease (silicone). I lubed all surfaces, not just the surface that contacts the swaybar.

Front torques are 43 ft-lbs.

Rear torque is 70 ft-lbs for lower nuts and 49 ft-lbs for upper bolts. DO NOT cross thread these or you will be in a world of hurt.

This can be done on the ground, on ramps, or jacked up - it does not matter. Shop manual shows it jacked up. You will need to raise front end somehow to get access.
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Old Feb 1, 2008 | 09:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Oldvetter
DO NOT cross thread these or you will be in a world of hurt.

Yeah that's for sure! I changed my clutch once and had a friend help me out. Bastage crossthreaded the F outta one of the bolts. I was not happy. But using a tap I was able to fix it.

Good tips, I'll do this lubing either today or tomoro.
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Old Feb 1, 2008 | 01:41 PM
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One other thing that could be causing it is your endlinks on attaching the swaybar to the car.

Mine were just a bit loose which led to noise in the front. I went back and torqued them as much as I could and the problem went away.

I still need to do the backs but hoping to do that this weekend.
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Old Feb 1, 2008 | 01:49 PM
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Originally Posted by FASST LN
One other thing that could be causing it is your endlinks on attaching the swaybar to the car.

Mine were just a bit loose which led to noise in the front. I went back and torqued them as much as I could and the problem went away.

I still need to do the backs but hoping to do that this weekend.
Funny you mention that too. I had a clunking problem earlier in the year. Turns out the damn rubber boots on the hotchkis links busted and eventually the joints got really noisy. I had to cut the links off cause then the hex socket stripped when trying to get them off. I replaced the links with non-adjustable z06 links and no more noise.

The endlink noise I'm familiar with its more like a rattle. I dont think that's my problem this time but while I'm down there I'll check it out.
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Old Jun 19, 2008 | 12:36 PM
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Originally Posted by 9secondflat
i have poly all around and it creaks like your walking in an old house...solution TURN THE RADIO UP
My solution was to install SLP headers and Loudmouth exhaust. Creaking problem solved.

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