Carrera 3.2 rear end squeak, what to check?

[stewartjp]

G'day All,

I have a squeak in the rear suspension of my Careera 3.2 and was hoping for some tips om where to look when I have the car on a lift next weekend.

The squeak happens when you go over a bump with the rear end. For example a speed hump.

It can also sometimes be hear when you push the back of the car up and down in the shed.

It is sometimes worse in the rain.

Tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Stewart

[david.avrahami@]

Get new sway bars...

[Driven97]

There's not a lot that moves back there:

- Two large bushings on the spring plates, if you have the OE bonded on rubber they deflect / twist rather than slide so I'd put those low on the suspect list.

- Two inner trailing arm bushings on the front end of the banana arms. I haven't heard of one of these squeaking, I'd only suspect these if you have something aftermarket.

- Two sway bar bushings. Again, oem style rubber ones shouldn't squeak unless they're really worn. These do wear though, so worth a look.

- Swaybar endlinks - these can squeak. Check for tightness or obvious wear issues.

- Shock mounts. Both upper and lower. If either are worn I'd expect a clunk along with the squeak though.

- Finally, a shock itself could be making noise.

I guess it's plausible if your spring plate bushings are super worn that a torsion bar could be making contact with the tube, but that's more common in the front.

[lpsalsaman]

What Driven97 said! +1.

[KTL]

Also check your parking brake cables and if the actual drum shoes are well adjusted.

[Smoove1010]

Does it sound like the same noise I'm hearing in my 3.2? Here's my post on the topic from a while back. I thought I had it solved but now I'm not sure.
Suspension Noise Help Needed

[Smoove1010]

Originally Posted by KTL

Also check your parking brake cables and if the actual drum shoes are well adjusted.

Do you think that a too-tight setting might cause such sounds as if the PB is momentarily engaging?

[KTL]

I think if the parking brake was momentarily engaging, you'd feel a slight "tug" on the brakes and slow down a bit almost like you lightly tapped the brakes?

I think the noise could be a parking brake that is too loose. If you don't take up the slack in the cables, the cables can move around where they enter the trailing arm and make some squeaking or rattling noises.

[sugarwood]

I get a sound when it's cold out.
Like flip flops rubbing on a wet shower floor.

Never followed up, but pretty sure it's not the tire.
Can bad rear shocks cause rear tire to rub ?

[aoncurly]

If you have the original rubber suspension bushings, it is probably the control arm bushings or the trailing arm bushings.

[Reuben911]

Finally found the culprit that was causing the squeaks in the interior. I thought it was coming from my dash and after numerous attempts of checking and lubricating just about anything, it turned out that rubber washers on the folding rear seats needed some lube. Quite as a mouse now

[KOH]

Check your sway bar mounts, too. I had a squeak in the back - same conditions as you mentioned - and it ended up being a broken sway bar mount. This was a problem years ago; the factory redesigned them to fix the problem. The ones I'm talking about are welded on.

[sugarwood]

Thanks for the update.
I will lube all my seat hinges today.

[Reuben911]

I found another squeak coming from the drivers side, sounded like it coming from under the dash. Removed the carpet and tightened the floorboard pedal cluster and sprayed some white lithium grease over the bolts.

Sorted

[jlex]

Putting the car up on a lift and looking probably isn't as good as leaving it on the floor & looking under it while someone moves it up and down. Probably need a load on it to make it squeak. If you can make it squeak, you should be able to track it down.