Outasight25

Hi everyone. New here but I've had my 02 for a year and done tons of work on it.

Recent maintenance includes:

New springs and isolators all around
New shocks and Struts all around
New ball joints
Poly steering rack bushings
New pads/rotors all around with rebuilt calipers
New front hubs

My current issue is a squeaking noise that I hear when hitting bumps or imperfections in the road while turning left. The noise does not happen when turning right. This noise existed before the above maintenance was performed.

The noise sounds to me like it is coming from the rear however it is hard to tell. More noticeable with the passenger window down. It is a metallic high pitched squeak/screech sound that seems to follow the movement of the suspension.

The car has 72K miles on it with the original front and rear control arms and bushings.

I inspected the bushings on the rear control arms and they are definitely dried out with visible cracks in the rubber, but I cannot recreate the noise with the car stationary which makes it difficult to track it down. I've tried spraying silicone on all the bushings but it is never conclusive.

Any ideas?

Camster

Welcome.I'm searching my brain, but can't come up with much. Parking brake cable rubbing?
In any case,that's a lot of parts to be replacing. My 04 has 82k,and aside from brakes/rotors, I have no reason to think that it needs any of the other items that you replaced.

Outasight25

Thanks for the response.

The reason I replaced the shocks and Struts was I bought the car with eibach suspension and chose to return to stock.
Ball joints were done because the rubber boots were shot.
Steering rack bushings were just a nice upgrade over the squishy stock ones.
My left hub started making a lot of noise so I just replaced both.

I have already wrapped the parking brake cable with vinyl tubing and greased where it goes through the metal loops on the chassis, so I don't think it's that.

Z28KLR

Well if it is suspension noise generating from the rear of the car, that pretty much narrows it down to a bushing somewhere. Being old and dried out as you mentioned could definitely be the problem.

For the lowers, view it as a chance to upgrade the entire arm. Even if your car is a dd that you never race or push hard, you'll still thank me after its done. I like just about anything with a poly bushing on the chassis side and spherical on the axle side. Spherical on both is better, but... Look through "The Official Suspension Guide" thread in the Suspension subforum here for further explanation.

For the upper arms, IMO not worth the trouble of removing and replacing just the bushings. The axle ones are a bitch to deal with usually anyway. I would just replace the entire arm with a stock replacement (keep the soft rubber bushings here).

Willing to bet $1 that doing the above work will get rid of the squeak. And if for some reason it doesn't, you will end up with a much more well sorted rearend to take your mind off the squeak.

dawson1112

Im going to guess wheel bearing is starting to go bad. Very similar to noise in my old 95 when I would turn a certain direction. I searched for a month to find the noise, even though the rear wheels were solid with no play on the axle, the bearings were just old and needed replaced, after that the sqeak went away.

A good way to find out if its a wheel bearing is to apply light brakes while cornering or going over bumps, if the noise stops with light brake pressure then it is most likely the wheel bearing at the beginning of failure.

Outasight25

Z28KLR, thanks for the info. I was considering doing the LCAs at some point, if anything just to get rid of the annoying surging feeling when hitting bumps under hard acceleration with the soft stockers. I checked out the suspension guide thread and it looks like the UPRs would be a good choice, what do you think?

For the UCAs, are you suggesting leaving the stock bushings on the differential end and only replacing the control arm/upper bushing? What if the squeak is coming from the differential end bushings? And also, where can I find a new stock UCA?? Can't seem to find them anywhere.

Dawson1112, interesting... although with the amount of lubrication in those rear bearings, I find it difficult to imagine this noise could come from them. There is also no howling or grinding coming from the rear end whatsoever. What was causing the squeak on your bearings? Was the axle moving in and out while hitting bumps?

dawson1112

With mine it was because the right rear axle seal was bad and it allowed crud to build up inside the bearing. But they would just squeak, there was no howling or grinding either. On turning left the bearing would just squeak like a chirp chirp chirp , but If I touched the brakes it would quit. After I changed the rear bearings and replaced the seals it stopped doing it.

tasch72

Unsure if this has been resolved, but this sounds like tie rods going out.

To quick check, put the car on stands, then jack the left front control arm up to the standard ride height position and jiggle the wheel side to side and look for excess play. Should be pretty solid

mustangman02232

Shoot a little fluid film or silicone on the sway bar bushings, it's easier if you jack the car up and let the suspension hang free, while it is up, check for play In the wheel berings by trying to move the tire up and down and left to right.

jhobbs1970

Hello everyone. This is my first time here, anyway I have a 2014 Mustang 5.0 GT it squeaks whenever I go over any bump in the road or if the road is even a little rough. I have replaced the rear axle and the bearing as well as the seal. I have also replaced both shocks and it still squeaks any ideas on as to what it could be?