pointman

I am getting a strange scraping noise from the front end over SOME bumps in the road. Can't really predict which bumps will cause it... but it happens even at moderate speeds. Sounds exactly like the wheel scraping on the fender on a lowered car without rolled fenders. I am completely stock suspension and wheels. I can't figure it out. No visible signs of scraping. Any tips or ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks.

TruTaing

check your sway bar end links and sway bar bushings

pointman

Total noob when it comes to DIY... is this something I can check by climbing under the car myself? Thanks.

TemjinX2

yeah its pretty straight forward...there pics in the c-class diy section.

pointman

Thanks. Just found the thread. I am curious what you think... is this noise just that (if in fact it is the sway)? Or will this be something that could potentially cause a serious failure?

TemjinX2

well you won't know until you get under there...might be as simple as just regreasing your bushings. Sometimes when the brushings aren't greased they'll make noise when you go over the bumps. Doesn't really damage the brushings but just becomes annoying.

pointman

Got it. Thanks. Hopefully I don't end making an epic fail of this whole thing.

pointman

I am too much of an uninformed idiot to crawl underneath the thing. Just wanted to throw it out there... I recently had these areas serviced, and I feel like the noise came after this.

-thrust arm bushings... which they had to remove the front struts and sway. <---thats the culprit isn't it?

pointman

Sounds like you hit it right on the head. Does the lack of lube lead to premature failure?

What should I grease them with?

TruTaing

You can use a silicone lubricant spray as a short term fix.

If it is the sway bar bushings, use a silicone based grease. Itll last longer, but would require you to remove the sway bar brackets and bushings to get the grease in there good .

TemjinX2

well the extreme frozen temps of new jersey during winter will probably cause it to fail before the lack of grease, but considering automotive grease is like $3 at autozone and it'll only take a few min to grease. I would just do it to get rid of the noise.

if the dealer recently serviced, you can probably just have them do it if they removed the sway bar.

Its just like trutraing said, you just take off the brushing bracket and put the grease inside the brushing and then put the bracket back on. You don't even need to take off the sway bar.

if you look at the sway diy, it should give you an idea of where it is.

TemjinX2

here's the swap bar diy

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...sway-bars.html


You want to grease the brushings in this pic.



While your down there too...you might want to just check out all the other brushing and rubber pieces under the car. If you live in a area that tends to experience extreme changes in winter such frozen temps in winter or boil temps in summer it tends to make the brushing crack and wear out faster.

pic of the brushing with the bracket

pointman

AWESOME!!! Thanks so much. That info is perfect. Exactly what I needed. I really appreciate it.


The noise doesn't happen all the time, and I am having trouble replicating it at the dealer so they can't fix what they don't hear.