Pestilence

I just recently did stock rear shocks and rear springs, noticed a squeaking when I push down on the rear end, poked around a bit and noticed my lower control arm bushings were shot, and I could slide them side to side at both mounting points, and that had the same audible squeak.

Instead of dealing with bushings I just ordered bmr replacements arms with polyurethane bushings.

Finished install today, went great. I still have that infernal squeak.

I even get a less audible version when driving.

unless I totally missed something with the spring/shock install, what else could be the culprit? It's harder to isolate with the car in the air and wheel off.

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

Squeaks are a vibration. With car on ground,have someone push up & down and reach in to feel the vibrating culprit(s). For example,sway bar axle bushings which I suspect are your problems,putting a finger on the sway bar and feeling vibrations,bushings need lube. Those bushings tightly squeeze(too tight in my opinion) the sway bar and wear out the sway bars coating down to bare metal and then a rust surface will build. With the surface no longer smooth,the bushing grabs/releases at a high frequency rate. When I clean mine(the areas that contact the bushing) and apply fresh lube,the squeak goes away.

Pestilence

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you.

Any chance the upper rubber piece that the spring sits in could be the culprit? Maybe just enough wear to be uneven...

I crawled under the car after thinking it was panhard bar bushings and went to confirm and both sides sound like upper part of the spring on both sides. Both springs are new, I did not replace the that upper rubber seat. I felt no vibrations on other bushings.

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

Did the squeak exist before you did the rear shocks and rear springs ? Out of curiosity,why did you replace the rear springs ?
Yes,I guess the rear spring upper insulator could squeak. Any difference in the strength/loudness of the squeak with the hatch open/up ?
I once had a squeak that I isolated to the spare tire,clamp down fastener wasn't tight enough and the rubber of the spare was rubbing against something.

Pestilence

No it did not. I seated the springs into the insulators properly. Though if you turn the insulator against the spring in hand it's a similar sound but not the culprit.

I replaced the springs/shocks because I was getting terrible rear end float from blown out shocks. I did the springs since I was already there.

Pestilence

FirstYrLS1Z, thanks for your time. The squeak was entirely my fault.

I had tightened the nut at the top of the shock a smidge too much, which caused the bolt&bushing not to sit flush with the bracket on the bottom.

So when the body compressed the shock, it hit the bracket weird and squeaked. I loosened the nut up top a bit and all is well.

The plus side to all of this, my rear end got some much needed attention to bushings that were well worn.