The project from hell.


Started out as shot to hell original shots/struts/springs.

Ordered Eibach Pro-kit, KYB GR-2 Struts, KYB Gas-adjust shocks.

Installed rear shocks/struts in no time flat, everything in, all is well.

Moved to front.

**** likes to break. Replaced Struts,Springs,balljoints, bump stops, control arm bushings, swaybar end link and bushings.

Put it all together, car was nice. Not perfect smooth, since my tires are kinda hard as rocks, and old, need new ones. BUT a great improvement over what it was. Nice and firm now, it hits a bump, it bumps once and thats it. Before it would shake and dive and all that fun stuff and make it feel like the car was shaking apart.

Ok, take it in the next morning for an alignment. Get the bill for 176 the next day. Turns out i needed a new centerlink. Ok i thought, thats fine, one more new part under there, since i dont want to have to do this again. Get in the car, it SQUEEKS LIKE THERES NO TOMORROW. I ask mechanic, he goes, its those bushings you put in, did you grease them? He ment the control arm bushings. I said, no my friend said we only had to grease the balljoint and the other greaseable fittings..He says thats your problem. Me making the mistake and thinking that the mechanic knows what hes talking about, takes his advice and buys a can of white lithium grease and spays up the bushings. Ok, still does it.

My friend who helped me install the stuff heard about what the mechanic said and was like "Wtf are you talking about, its not the bushings, ill prove it!" So we turn the car on, and keep it parked, and turn the wheel, theres the squeek again! The control arms go up and down, and this was squeeking without the car moving. We even turned the wheel a tiny bit, just enough to hear this horrible screech, without the tires even moving. My friend put the blame on the center link. installed by them. So i go back and tell them, look its not the bushings. They say, what do you think it is? i go the centerlink. So they put the car on the lift, and have me in it turning the wheel to pinpoint the problem. They disconnect the centerlink and the noise is still there. Ok, its not the centerlink. So were looking around, and we notice the balljoint is in crooked. For any of you in northern NJ, i dont reccomend bringing your control arms to "Professionals" on route 46 in i beleive elmwood park. It was them that pressed that side in crooked. Theother arm i brought to P&A auto parts machine shop and that side was fine. Somehow i didnt notice it before i installed the control arm, so we figured the screeching was from that. By now i was fed up. The past week was filled with running around finding parts and all that. I just said look, can i pay you guys to fix the balljoint and screeching? They said sure. Ok, so i say when? They say tueday. I drive the car home and park it. Dont wanna drive it anymore then i have to, so i dont **** **** up. Dropped it off tueday. Called today at 3:30 EST and they said it was done. I went there and since i know the guy that runs the place, he let me take it and i can pay him later, since i am beyond broke after all this. Im going down the street heading to work, since i had little time, and i make the turn and there it is again, the screach.
Now im pissed, because hes charging me 112 for basicly nothing. Yeah he fixed the balljoint and and now the steering is plently smoother, but the screaching is still there. Now once again, i cant sleep in, andi have to call and get this settled tomorrow. Yeah i got raped on the 112 charge, but if it was all fixed and done, i wouldnt have cared. It would have been over with. But no, its not.

You guys know best.
you know what i replaced from above..
What do you think i could do to stop the screaching?
Again it only happens when i turn the wheel, and its comming from the passenger side. The drivers side stays nice and silent. Please help!

Thanks alot.

-Joe

 

Ok..got back from shop..they now tell me that its the spring isolator up top. I really dont have much money at all now..I spent it all, and the problem is still here..

Could it be that the spring isolator is so warped that its causing the horrible screaching/squeeking from when i turn? Thats what they say..They taped the stock one to the spring..and i didnt notice the noise when i drove off, but now its back again..could it be it slipped off and i really need a new isolator? The stock one was kind of messed up, and took the mold of the old spring..The tops of the stock springs are round, where as the eibachs are flat on the top..Even with the car not moving, turning the wheel makes it screech..thats why i dont understand how it could be the isolator..could anyone please help?

 

check your power steering belt/s. Does the screaching occur if you turn the wheel with the car shut off? Urethane bushings squeak unless they art greased or you buy graphite impregnated ones. It should only happen when the control arms are moving.

 

Its not even a squeek, that was a bad choice of words on my part..its mre of a screaching metal to metal type noise..kind of..

 

i don't see how that kind of noise could come from a front end unless something is binding and your overpressuring the power steering. Maybe you box is going bad. See if it happens with weight on the wheels and the engine off.