Hey all,

I've been driving my '91 Z28 for a good bit of the summer and I've started to notice that after I've been in the car for a while (15-20 mins), the front right starts to creak pretty good when going over bumps, or any time the front end has to bob up and down a bit. It is pretty noisy, to the point where I'm embarrassed going over the speedbumps at work!

I've pulled the wheel and given everything a good tug and nothing seems loose, everything is solid under there. I'm going to give everything a good shot with the grease gun, but I was also wondering if it could be the struts (the other major up and down part under there).

I was taking a look at replacing them and it seems fairly straight forward except for one thing, getting access to the lower strut bolt/nut. Is the only way at it by taking the hub assembly off the spindle? The only other way I could see getting at it would be using a wrench, but even then there's not a lot of room. Not to mention I'd have to buy a new wrench as the bolt is pretty big (looks like 24mm, anyone confirm?)

So...

1. Any other ideas on what's making creaking noise with up and down motion of the car only when the car has been warmed up/driven for a while

2. How do you get access to the lower strut bolt? Wrench, remove hub assembly from spindle, etc.?

3. Whats the nut size of the strut bolts in case I have to buy more tools?


Thanks!

 

I bet the creaking noise is your spring, I bet the rubber insolvable is Gone and making the creaking noise, and you don't have to remove the hub to remove the struts, just then the wheels to where you can access them

 

While I can't see the entire circumference at the top of the spring, it looks like the rubber isolator is still there.

Turning the wheel will place the bolts front and center for access, however, the lower bolt is still obstructed by the dust shield behind the rotor as that whole assembly... including the base of the strut, rotor, and spindle all turns as one unit. So, still can't get the tools in there.

That said... I may end up having to take it somewhere anyway. The top bolt isn't moving for me and I do not have air tools. A cheater bar might work... but its a little tight in there to get much extra leverage from it.

 

The torque on those bolts is almost 200 ft/lbs, so life will suck without air tools. You will need a big breaker bar and possibly some pipe as well.

 

You might want to check your struts and also lube up your front end. How are your ball joints.

 

1) Creaking noise in decending order of possibility:
a) control arm bushing
b) ball joint
c) spring
d) strut

2) The 2 lower strut bolts can be removed without removing anything else. Use a wrench to hold the nut on the inside, and then you can use a socket and breaker bar on the bolt on the outside (if the bolt is rusted to the spindle, it's gonna be tight). Lucky for you it's on the passenger side so it can be loosened by standing on the bar (with a pipe on it).

3) Bolt & nut sizes are 15/16", or 24mm. Either will work.

 

The ball joints seem good, there's no play from the wheel when pulling on it up on the jack stands. I am worried about the struts (hence my comments regarding getting them off). The front seems a little too bouncy, but not overly so. Its not my daily driver... so its not like I can compare it to any previous experience I've had with it.

Without replacing these... what can I use to try and lube these up to isolate the issue once I've given the ball joints a shot or two of grease?
Yup... adding grease to this guy tonight to see if it quiets down. If it does, I guess it'll be going in for new ones.
Another poster mentioned this, but as far as I can tell the rubber isolator is still there. Unless its partially fallen apart and worked itself out of there.
I've been wanting to try and get in there with a hose or something to my ear and see if I could localize the noise. Its a little hard though with so little ground clearance. I guess if I turn the wheel out and then bounce it I might be able to move the end of the house around and have enough room to find which part is making the creak.

Just to keep it clear for myself and anyone else that might happen upon this post, I believe the nuts are pointing toward the outside (the rotor side) or the assembly. Hmm... maybe that's the issue? Are the nuts supposed to be toward the inside of the wheel well?

Thanks for confirming the size... thought so, but didn't want to buy extra tools if I didn't have to.

 

Well... I believe I've isolated it to the sway bar bushings. I lubed up the ball joints, no change. So I started bouncing the front end again and realized the noise was more forward from the wheels. They're original to the car, so I'm sure the rubber is shot. I guess I'll figure out what to buy and how to put them in and see what happens!