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View Full Version : New noise - got a diagnosis?



Heraclid
12/09/2005, 06:42 PM
My steering seems overly loose in the sense that I have to turn the wheel a bit more to start going that way. But also, the "road feel" is diminished. When turning tight (basically when turned about as far as it goes) the front end squeaks, but it's not real loud. Also get it sometimes when braking but the brakes are fine. I think it is suspension related and may have to do with the weight shift forward under braking. This is not the famous hood squeak. When changing shocks a while back I let the front right wheel drop too far while the VX was lifted. There is a part in front of the shock body that my VX maintenance CD calls a "stabilizer bar", which is a kinda small vertically situated rod with bolts/nuts at top and bottom. The top of it is attached to the torsion bar. At the bottom there is a rubber piece that some grease oozed out of when the wheel dropped too much and pulled on it. Later noticed the stabilizer bar is also slightly bent (not sure how it happened), which seems to be hampering me from tightening or loosening the nut to try a repair. I do not think (may be wrong) that the bend is enough to be an issue, but maybe the grease thing is, but that was a long time ago and the squeak is a recent development. Don't see how this would be affecting the steering symptoms I have, though. Shocks appear to be fine. Any ideas folks?

Joe_Black
12/09/2005, 06:55 PM
That "stabilizer bar" is basically the sway-bar end link and will need to be replaced. The bearings are sealed, so if they oozed a bit the seal is broken. More importantly is the fact it's bent, which changes your suspension geometry just enough for you to feel the difference and put additional stress on the sway-bar bushing, causing a little extra squeeking.

Did you ever get the poly sway-bar bushings?