Creaky front-end! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

dcbc991 · 07-17-2008, 09:29 AM

Hi friends. The car in question is a '98 Camry. About a month ago, I put on new Monroe Quick Struts on all 4 corners. The springs were shot and it needed new struts anyway. The stance and handling of the car returned to normal and I was quite pleased as a DIY'er that I saved myself some money. But when you steer, the front end creaks / squeeks like an old ship. There is no binding that I'm aware of and everything appears normal...except for that.

Any idea what that could be? The only thing I can think of is the struts again!

ghettosled · 07-17-2008, 09:55 AM

did you also replace the top strut mount? there is a bearing up there that goes bad in time. also check your steering end links, but i dont think those are serviceable parts on the camry.

renmike · 07-17-2008, 10:01 AM

The Monroe Quick Struts come with the top mounts, it's a pre-compressed assembly. It almost sounds like the upper mount bearing wasn't greased prior to assembly or they used sub-par grease.

dcbc991 · 07-17-2008, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renmike

The Monroe Quick Struts come with the top mounts, it's a pre-compressed assembly. It almost sounds like the upper mount bearing wasn't greased prior to assembly or they used sub-par grease.

Ahhh...this is could be it! I bet you're right!! Before I swapped out the struts for new, it had a little bit of a creak, but only because I loused up getting the insulator (that separates the coil spring from the strut assy) on correctly (from my last attempt at doing struts). The spring was actually touching the metal to metal so I'm fairly confident that was the problem then.

But going with a brand-spankin' new self-contained assy like the Quick-Strut, one would assume that it would be greased up properly from the factory....but I guess you can't assume that. Especially since I paid over $800 online for these. I didn't bother to see where these were assembled, could be China or Mexico.

Well, Looks like I'm taking the front struts out and disassembling them to grease the top.

One last question...

Where exactly would you lube them?

Thanks for the help! This place is awesome.

renmike · 07-17-2008, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcbc991

Ahhh...this is could be it! I bet you're right!! Before I swapped out the struts for new, it had a little bit of a creak, but only because I loused up getting the insulator (that separates the coil spring from the strut assy) on correctly (from my last attempt at doing struts). The spring was actually touching the metal to metal so I'm fairly confident that was the problem then.

But going with a brand-spankin' new self-contained assy like the Quick-Strut, one would assume that it would be greased up properly from the factory....but I guess you can't assume that. Especially since I paid over $800 online for these. I didn't bother to see where these were assembled, could be China or Mexico.

Well, Looks like I'm taking the front struts out and disassembling them to grease the top.

One last question...

Where exactly would you lube them?

Thanks for the help! This place is awesome.

When I redid mine, I just packed some grease in the area where the bearing is around, I don't know if that's the right way, though. It helped what little squeaking I had, though.

dcbc991 · 07-17-2008, 01:58 PM

Good enough then. That'll be this weekends project. I'll report back here if it made any difference. Thanks!

dcbc991 · 07-18-2008, 11:09 PM

Hi all. As promised, reporting back for the benefit of the brotherhood (and sisters too..).

I rented a spring compressor thinking I needed to disassemble the strut to apply grease beneath the strut bearing mount and bearing. Once I removed one strut (the passenger front), it was very obvious that Monroe greased it up nicely in this area. Arrgh!

So then I turned my attention to the driver's side and behold! The creaking was coming from the stabilizer bar link. This part is about 10 inches long with a ball joint on each end. One end connects the strut, the other end to the front stabilizer bar. The end that connected to the strut had a perforated seal which allowed the dirt, grime, and rust to sieze up the ball joint. So when we drive and turn the wheel, the ball joint was popping and resonating the creaking sound through the strut.

2 new links, and I'm back in business!

Thanks to those that took the time to offer some advice.

peshwa · 12-07-2009, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcbc991

Hi all. As promised, reporting back for the benefit of the brotherhood (and sisters too..).

I rented a spring compressor thinking I needed to disassemble the strut to apply grease beneath the strut bearing mount and bearing. Once I removed one strut (the passenger front), it was very obvious that Monroe greased it up nicely in this area. Arrgh!

So then I turned my attention to the driver's side and behold! The creaking was coming from the stabilizer bar link. This part is about 10 inches long with a ball joint on each end. One end connects the strut, the other end to the front stabilizer bar. The end that connected to the strut had a perforated seal which allowed the dirt, grime, and rust to sieze up the ball joint. So when we drive and turn the wheel, the ball joint was popping and resonating the creaking sound through the strut.

2 new links, and I'm back in business!

Thanks to those that took the time to offer some advice.

Thanks a ton dcbc991 for getting back to the forum. Can u please take a look at this post in the forum. My camry has a creak coming from the front passenger side. My mechanic diagnosed this as a bad struts issue with which I strongly disagree.
I have posted my investigations here Help! Creaking Front passenger side,bad tie rod/ball join?

Can u please take a look at my investigation and let me know?