almostordinary

Hey gang,

My wife and I decided to head to Palm Springs for a month to escape LA at the beginning of COVID and have some stress free time before our latest projects hit.

I have a week before I am going to be heads down and finally want to tackle some suspension issues.

My front driver's side has been driving me insane w noises since purchasing the car about 7 months ago now.

I've replaced the :
Sway Bar Links
Ball Joints Control Arms

I've purchased a sway bar, but I will need a shop to do the work since it involves lowering the subframe, but I've checked and lubricated all of the bushings and they look perfect.

One thing that I have noticed, when the car sits over night the driver's side suspension is slammed.

I'm thinking my culprit for one but hopefully both of these sounds is the struts, which I am looking to replace with Bilsteins. Is there anything else needed when replacing the front suspension in these cars?

Maybe the below videos will help, if anyone else has these sounds..... Also I wish I got on the throttle at the end these empty roads out here in Palm Springs have a nice echo.

SQUEAKS:

RATTLES:

Thanks
Ian

jpman

Your first video sounds like your blower motor. Have you turned off the ac to see if it goes away? Or change the blower speed?

almostordinary

JPman, One of the first "mods" I did when I got the car was replace the blower motor, you're actually right it's similar, but the blower motor sound was solely in the passenger footwell.

I'm planning on getting under the car Friday morning and will hopefully find a culprit for one if not both sounds and report back

almostordinary

Just hopped under the car and inspected everything, and looks like the lower control arm I replaced with the other components was a dud.

You can see from the video that the rubber bushing has separated.


I have a replacement that I am planning on popping in today or tomorrow, but I got code P2540 after a bunch of highway pulls so kinda hesitant to drive the car until I likely replace the fuel system... guess I have some projects upcoming.

almostordinary

And fixed. The lower control arm, which was approx 1000 miles old had worn bushings. I came to find out that the sway bar link broke loose on the hex connector that seats it to the control arm. I think this tweaked the control arm to fail prematurely.

New Sway Bar link and new lower control arm on, a quick test drive on ****ty LA streets and problem solved. No more squeaks or rattles. (didn't get a shot of the sway bar link, may go out to the garage later for a quick shot)

Rovel

Glad you sorted it out. I have unrelated question: how do you make the title of your posting appear in bold?

jpman

damn that was quick! Good work!

almostordinary

Ha, yea I bought the parts as backups since I thought something wasn't spot on with the original install since the hex connector was questionable.

Also wishing I didn't knock it out so fast, now I have nothing else to do. lol

almostordinary

For anyone trying to take this on just wanted to list the tools you'll need, since you may not have everything on hand.

First, you'll need to remove the rear underbody cover to access the lower control bar rear facing torx bolt.

Tool list:

you will need to remove the speed sensor to allow the rotor assembly to move down and out of the way.

Mine took a 24mm socket to tighten, so make sure you have some additional sockets, most of these are SAE and not Metric

You'll need this to break the bolts free and for re-torquing

to remove the Sway Bar Link you will need to remove the strut mount and the ball joint to squeeze in here.
I suggest a short extension for your wrench to clear the shock tower which will need to be pushed to the side.
21mm socket & 3/4 ratchet wrench ... note that if you're using the new screws provided with most lower control arms, the new screws are 22mm.

When reassembling use lock tite blue (Medium).





ou

hachiroku

hey, thanks a lot for posting this. i have the same exact squeak and recently its gotten SUPER loud like yours. i sent an email to FCP Euro to put together a full bushing and ball joint list for me. hopefully it doesn't break the bank. I'd love to have a whisper quiet car if possible.

almostordinary

Definitely! FCP can't be beat for these cars... My next noise reduction is the rear deck squeaks like a pair of mating parrots... Hoping to go give that a look this weekend.

08E63AMGboy

Ever find out what caused the code

hachiroku

also an update from my end...i changed everything and still have the squeak...so all that is left are the sway bar bushings inner bushings.