annoying squeaks

KBBoss302

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Hey guys - I've been trying to track down some squeaking from my rear suspension and am having no luck.

2013 Boss 302 with only 10k miles, Steeda non-adjustable UCA and bracket, Steeda billet LCAs with the heim joint, KW V3 coilovers, Fays2 alloy Watts link.

There are no squeaks until I have driven the car for at least 15 minutes and then it will squeak going over road imperfections, especially sharper edged ones. You can hear it outside of the car and inside. I have been underneath the car a number of times, replaced the rubber spring isolators top and bottom (that eliminated some occasional clunking I was getting), lubed the swaybar endlinks, checked tightness of all bolts, etc. Nothing is loose and when I grab/yank/pull/push on any part of the suspension or axle, there is no play or noise. The noise was there before I installed the Watts link, BTW.

Is it possible that the control arms are making this noise? I lubed them when I installed them several years ago and the car doesn't see a whole lot of use.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

John
 

Mojo88

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Any poly joints? Those would be my initial suspicion. Dis-assemble, clean and re-grease (with the appropriate lube) might help. Swapping out the lowers might be worth it to see if those are the cause.

I remember working on Fords back in the 70's when I owned two service stations, and I can say they were the 'squeakiest' cars I ever saw, even back then. We used to be able to fix some by cutting access holes through inner fenders and installing zerk fittings into upper a-arm bushings.

My 2010 Roush has fair number of chassis squeaks. Very annoying. Never had these types of noises on any of the numerous GM muscle cars I've owned.

Good luck. Hope you can quiet her down!
 

KBBoss302

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Steeda calls the bushing "urethane", but it is not the super hard type of polyurethane that I have seen on other brands. It is almost a hard rubber feeling with a little bit of squish if that makes any sense.

UCA:
Steeda Mustang Upper Control Arm - Lowered (2011-2014), 555 4098

LCAs:
Steeda Mustang Billet Rear Lower Control Arms - Spherical/Poly Ends (05-14), 555 4406

I am thinking you guys might be right about needing to re-lube. I will say that the squeaks have gone on for several thousand miles now so maybe lubing them is something I need to do periodically (the UCA is NOT EASY to do, if you ask me!). I might just go ahead and swap them out for some that require no lube (RTR and Whiteline come to mind).
 

Mojo88

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There are a few DIY modifications that can be made to polyurethane bushings that can quiet them down or even silence them completely....

I think I've seen where some folks drill through the poly bushing, and then line up that hole with another hole in the bracket, which is drilled and tapped for a zerk fitting; which is installed for greasing? Is that one of the DIY's you're referencing?

Please post a link if you have one. I'd love to read about it more. Thanks!
 

Norm Peterson

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I think I've seen where some folks drill through the poly bushing, and then line up that hole with another hole in the bracket, which is drilled and tapped for a zerk fitting; which is installed for greasing? Is that one of the DIY's you're referencing?

Please post a link if you have one. I'd love to read about it more. Thanks!
That's one, but it might not even be the most effective one.

Squeaks can and do occur between the flat faces of the poly and the chassis-side bracket. Worse when the poly bushing parts are longer than the inner sleeve that runs through them, because now the poly has to rotate inside the bracket under fairly heavy pressure. Shaving the poly to be a tiny bit shorter is one possible mod.

A slightly more effective tweak to that is this ↓↓↓
Poly Bushing Mod.jpg


The above sketch is slightly exaggerated - the cone shape can actually be "flatter" - the idea is that in addition to eliminating bushing to bracket friction, you give the polyurethane somewhere to "squish into" when the joint is twisted about an axis other than about the centerline of the inner sleeve and the bolt. This happens when the car rolls in a turn.

Long-term durability may or may not take a hit with the above mod, which is mainly intended for cornering/autocross/road course use rather than drag racing and similar driving. But poly bushings should be considered "consumable parts" anyway.


Norm
 

KBBoss302

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I went ahead and ordered some Whiteline adjustable LCAs and an RTR UCA. Got the LCAs installed with some struggle. Whiteline lists the wrong size wrench needed - instructions say 1 1/8" but it's actually a 38mm/1.5" which is not a size found at my local Lowes, Harbor Freight, or Northern Tool. Used some big crescent wrenches to tighten the adjusters and that revealed something else - the lock washers included are too large and slip outside the center shaft when you tighten them down so I went ahead and left them off and blue Loctited them. Not impressed. Why the heck did I buy Whiteline after the cracking UCA debacle from years ago that I was part of? Call me stupid.

Anyway, to continue the frustrating day, the RTR UCA has a much larger hole on the chassis side than the Steeda UCA bracket bolt and a larger bolt wont fit through the Steeda piece. Ugh. I have the factory UCA that I pulled off with probably 1000 miles 6 years ago so I am going to install that for now and figure out the next step if I don't like the factory UCA.

Is there a trick to pulling the factory UCA down to the differential to insert that bolt? I got tired and stopped working on it but will resume tomorrow hopefully. Sorry to be so grouchy but this was not a fun day!
 

KBBoss302

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Got the stock UCA re-installed this morning. Torqued down everything, found a bolt on my Watts link slightly loose, and checked my pinion angle. -2.5 degrees so for now I will leave it that way. Took it for a 1.5hr drive tonight and there is definitely some new 'feedback' coming through the rear end at certain revs/speeds that wasn't there before and the squeaking was almost entirely gone but it still came back very slightly after almost as hour. It is only a fraction as bad as it was and the squeaking actually seems to have a lower volume than before so I am again scratching my head wondering what it is. My Dynotech driveshaft exhibited no vibrations even at a pretty big speed so that is good.

I have also been noticing a click sound from the rear when I make a fast transition - like when slaloming or pitching the car into a corner with a very fast steering wheel movement. It will make the noise from the outside rear corner. I am guessing it is the rear swaybar so will check it over again.

If I didn't love this car, I would be really annoyed with all of the noises!
 

KBBoss302

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In an effort to remove another variable, I installed some SR shocks from American Muscle and adjusted my pinion to about 2 degrees. The SRs feel surprisingly good for an inexpensive shock - plenty of rebound damping and no harshness over bumps. The squeaking returned after about 45 minutes of driving, though. Again, it is not nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago before I started to swapping out parts and with the new shocks, the noise seems to occur less frequently but it is definitely still there so I am just out of ideas. All of the rubber bushings on the KWs look fine with no appreciable deterioration. On the plus side, the vibration/feedback I was getting at certain rpm is gone.

Is it just normal to get squeaks out of the back of these cars? I have done suspension work on a number of cars and have never had this issue before.
 

Reaper14

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This happened to me as well. I went through removing part after part from BMR back to stock. Swapped UCA, PHB, relo brakets, ended up raising & lowering my car over 10 times in about 2 weeks. It was driving me nuts. It was like a squeak from the rear. It would only occur after about :30 to :45 minutes every time.

Vic
 

Reaper14

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My bad, ran out of lunch time. Believe it or not, it ended up being the exhaust pipe right before the mufflers. It was tight when cold, but once the car warmed up after some time, it expanded enough to barely squeak in & out over bumps. It had crossed my mind that it could be that while troubleshooting, but I didnt catch it until I lifted the car one of the times soon after a cruise & I heard it. Also a few weeks after rear Vikings were installed months later, I got another squeak start up. Found that fast with a little lithyum grease spray on the shafts by the strut seals. Good luck!

Vic
 

KBBoss302

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Wow that is very interesting! I have been thinking that the noise is caused by something heating up and even replaced the passenger side muffler bracket because it seemed to make a squeak when I jiggled it but that didn't fix the problem. I will double check all of my exhaust system (it's a Boss 302 so has the sidepipes, too).

Thank you for that information!
 

KBBoss302

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So I discovered that the passenger side fuel tank plastic shield makes a very similar squeaking noise to what I have been hearing when I touch it. Since the mid pipes and side pipes run on either side of it, maybe when it gets hot under there it starts making the noise more apparent? It really doesn't take much pressure to make it go SQUEAK so I could see where bumps could shake it enough to do that, too. I double checked the tightness of the gas tank strap bolt also and it was fine.

Per a Ford parts fiche, there is a gas tank "heat shield insulator" kit that appears to be double sided heat resistant tape so I went ahead and ordered all of those pieces. The quest for no squeaking continues!
 

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