Austarion

Hey Guys,

Well I seems to have developed a squeak in the front passenger suspension. It happens all the time while driving, but when stopped and the bonnet up I can push down on the part circled in the picture as i can see it when looking down through the engine bay. This seems to be the cause of the squeaking or somthing directly under it etc. (maybe somthing linked to the strut bar) What i have also noticed is that over the past few weeks i have been getting a vibration at 70km/h and also at 130km/h there dosen't seem to be a problem after that speed.
I am also getting a...... i spose 'swishing', from the passenger side wheel which does stop when i apply the brakes.

Anyways i included a pic below to give you guys a bit more of a visual representation.



Cheers and Thanks in Advance
Ben Camilleri

With respect to the vibration, I have the same at 60 km/h and 100 km/h - exactly the wrong damn speeds!

I suspect it could be the tailshaft out of balance - I had the uni joints replaced on it some months ago; if I put my (crappy) spare tailshaft on I get vibes at 80-ish km/h only. I will be taking my (real) tailshaft off in the next few days and having the balance checked.

When was the last time you replaced your front shocks? I know from experience that when all the gas/oil leaked out of my front shocks, I experienced vibration between 70-90km/h. I'm getting the same thing again so will be doing a full suspension replacement fairly soon.

Cheers
Brendan

I know its an obvious question, but what's the bush like at the front of the 'strut bar'? Is it urethane? This bush is under load when braking, so was wondering if this bush was damaged. Any fore/aft movement there? My need a pry bar to compare left/right as all those parts will be quite stiff. Any cracks or loose bolts?

I looked at the bush at the front of the strut bar and it is cracked and old, looks like a really old rubber one, I am thinking maybe i need to replace them all with the urethane bushes, but is it hard to do on those front strut bars?

Not hard at all. Undo the 22mm nut on the front, as well as the two bolts at the back near the ball joint and it comes straight out. Put the new bushes on and put it back in again. The longest part is taking the wheel off to give yourself a bit of room to work.

Yes, you can replace the radius rod bushes with nolathane or similar ones.
A quick tip, measure the distance from the end of the rod that has the nut on it back to the mount. Do it on both sides. That way when you put the new bushes in, which will be thicker, your front end alignment won't be too far up the sh!t. I did mine and had it checked the next day, 0.3mm out :D Dumb luck, I don't think so!!