1996 SL2 front wheel squeak

front struts or motor mounts.

Thanks for the suggestion -- but I doubt very much that either the front struts or the motor mounts would produce a squeak that varies directly with the vehicle speed. That doesn't make sense.

Based on your description and if the disc brake pads are in good shape, then I'd suspect this was caused by a bad wheel bearing. At 190K miles, both fronts will likely need doing. Good luck.

Bob

Wow, that's one I wouldn't have guessed. In my experience, failing front wheel bearings don't squeak, they whine, then clunk, then bang Bang BANG BANG.

OTOH, this SL2 is the first FWD car I've ever owned. Aside from one 4WD truck, everything else I had before was RWD, and the structure of the front hub and bearing assembly is just a little bit different. :-)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll pull the brake and inspect, then have a look at the bearings -- and I'll follow up with my findings.

Not sure if your 96 SL2 is the same, or not - my 02 SL1 had a squeaky RF axel "hanger bearing" for lack of a better term. The dealer originally said it was a $ 700 fix replacing axel / CV / etc Then after "double checking" a $ 60. rebuild kit and 1.5 hours labour did the trick. jt

I had both bearings go at 330k miles on my 92 Saturn. They produced this very low frequency whining noise that resembled a fully loaded

it's the front stuts, probably the strut nounts. You should be able to duplicate the squeak by pushing down quite vgorously on the front of the car. If the mounts get debree in them such as sand or mud they will fail quite quickly. Becaus you need to romve the strut to remove the mount I would just replace struts and mounts. Total is about $116 if you do the work

Actually, it was the bearings. Replaced both and now the car rides as good as new. However, I will take a look at the struts too as they are still original parts,

Perhaps you should consider reading a bit more carefully before posting...

If you were responding to the post quoted above, you clearly missed the part where he said that he'd already found the problem to be bearings -- not to mention which there is *no way* that a strut problem could produce the noise he described. And if you were responding to *my* original post in this thread, well, bad struts *can* produce a squeak, but you evidently missed the part where I said the squeak varies with the vehicle speed, which means it's clearly coming from some rotating part.

excuse me!! just relating to a squeak problem my son acquired after he drove over a sandy road ( with brand new mounts ) sand go into them and they would squeak with any slight movement (up and down) of the vehicle. Replaced them and all has been fine, thank God they were warranty items from Advance Auto Parts.

That's what mine turned out to be. Alas, no rebuild kit for the 96. :-(