'95 Corolla makes some rubber-squeak noise when going over speed bumps and road irregularities. This is more pronounced when cold. After car has been driven for some time, there's almost no noise. I lubricated the sway bar bushings, then changed them to new OEM ones, and got the same noise. Any ideas what else can cause this?
I'm assuming that this car has struts...
First of all, rubber bushings should not be lubricated, only polyurethane or other aftermarket, hard "performance" bushings should be. Rubber bushings work by twisting, there should be no movement between any metal part and the surface of the rubber. So if lubricating a bushing makes the noise go away that bushing should be replaced. (not sure if you understood this from your post - it seems you may have.)
Do you detect any movement around the sway bar bushings when a helper bounces the car? the sway bar may actually be worn undersize if it was driven with bad bushings for too long. (seen it happen!)
if those check out OK, your next items to check would be the control arm bushings and the strut bearing mounts - those are really the only items in the suspension that could cause this noise
also check all your engine and transmission mounts - if any of them are oily the engine oil rapidly degrades rubber
if you think you have found your squeak spray some lube like spray silicone on it - if it then goes away replace that part
good luck
nate
Dan wrote in news:f76e7fb4-f30a-4497-80c7- snipped-for-privacy@g26g2000yqe.googlegroups.com:
A seizing lower balljoint can cause this as well.
Should be trivially easy to check this on your Corolla. As I recall, you undo three regular bolts, lever the lower control arm out of the way, then swivel the joint by hand. If it's seizing, you'll know right away.
If I were you, I'd check for that ASAP. Having a lower balljoint break is a shocking event, to say the least!
I had a lot of squeaks on my explorer and tried the silicone spray. It make things worse!!! What got rid of the squeaks was to spray it all with engine degreaser and then hose it all off. That got rid of ALL the squeaks and it's been two years and they have not come back.
Sounds like your upper strut mounts are squeaky. Press down on the hood to make your front end bounce. Does it squeak then?
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