Hi, I don't know if anyone else has this but sometimes my car squeaks like mad when the road is bumpy etc. It doesn't happen all the time but is very loud and annoying when it does. Has anyone else experienced this or have a suggestion as to what it might be? When I drive it sounds like the back left (near) side of the car making it. My thought is the rear seat hinges may need lubricating or something?

You sure it's interior and not rear suspension bushes? The noise does carry through the shell rather.

Surchr said:

Hi, I don't know if anyone else has this but sometimes my car squeaks like mad when the road is bumpy etc. It doesn't happen all the time but is very loud and annoying when it does. Has anyone else experienced this or have a suggestion as to what it might be? When I drive it sounds like the back left (near) side of the car making it. My thought is the rear seat hinges may need lubricating or something?

Click to expand...

I have a similar issue.
I have three noises...

1, stepper motors in my dials on the instrument cluster make a strange noise (like a crackling noise, been covered on this forum before)

2, front seats squeak, especially over bumps, this is caused by some protective plastic casing that covers metal wires in the seats, they fall to bits and fall apart then leave the wires rubbing against the metal frame of the seat, easy fix and is well covered on this forum

3, finally, rear bushes (i think) i didnt have an advisory last MOT but think they are worn now, can hear a dull squeak when going over speed bumps and there on just about every road where i live... Hopefully its just an advisory this year as they are not actually knocking, just squaking from the rear.

Hope that helps.

It may be something to do with the suspension. Whenever I have someone/something in the back seats/boot (not people, obviously) it sounds like a grinding sound at very low speeds. It sounds like the wheel scraping on the wheel arch or something. That's probably it :/ Is this going to be an expensive fix or even a timely fix? I literally cannot afford to be without my car due to transport issues to work.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Maybe the rear suspension has had it? Check the springs for cracks / snaps and also check the shockers (see if they are reacting normally or very bouncey).

Finally, what wheels and tyres? Too big or too wide will have this effect too and make a rubbing noise.

I will have a look tomorrow when it's daylight, though I'm far from an expert so don't really know what I'm looking for.

As for the wheels I'm just using what came on the car. 17" 'Claw' alloys on tires marked "215/45.ZR17 91W" If that helps? I do however have a set of new alloys which are going to go on the car because these current ones are a bit buckled (that and I personally dislike black alloys and the claw design).

The car hasn't been slammed or anything, I am very much against that

Had the suspension and bushes checked today whilst having the break pads changed. No problems could be found and bushings are not worn. He tried lubricating them but the sound is still there :/ I still have no idea what it is.

I recently had three large passengers in the back and the car didn't make a sound yet when I took a single person in the back afterward the sound was there again (the grinding sound)

This is so confusing I'm going to try my new alloys but I have little hope that it will fix it, anyone have any suggestions?

I will offer another theory on this one after my experience at the weekend.


My wife's got got a brown out on the off-side rear light cluster causing blown bulb warnings and the awesome phantom glow you see in lights when you get an electrical fault. Had great fun fixing that one....


Anyway, I had to remove the parcel shelf to get myself in the boot to sit and sort the wiring and I noticed when I lifted it..... the thing squeaks like a church door down a megaphone. It's an incredible racket. I don't know if for some reason it's made worse on my wife's car because one of the parcel shelf brackets is missing off the car side or not.


Suffice to say we've removed it and are going to drive it around for a few days without the parcel shelf - we never have anything in the boot anyway - and see if this makes a difference to the squeak.

I've never had a parcel shelf in my car, it was missing when I bought the car so unfortunately that cannot be it :/ I'm extremely surprised that it wasn't the suspension. I removed the rear wheel arch cover and everything seems to be in good condition, further to what the garage said. All I can say is that it is the back left side and is extremely noticeable on bumpy surfaces.

Thanks for the suggestion though. I don't think that any of the other boot trims are going to be making the noise as I have removed them all before to upgrade the boot lighting and had to run wires under the trims. I will have a look though.

It could still be the bushes.


I've experienced that before too.


Upper suspension arms on the Alfa 147/156/GT are notorious for squeaking. I took mine to garage and asked them to replace the offending arms, went back to them they said they'd tested and couldn't find a problem and they didn't look worn so they didn't replace them. Sure enough they squeaked like hell all the way home so I ended up replacing them myself.


Even fitting brand new suspension arms if you left the bearings dry in them they'd still squeak like hell. Had to make sure they were greased to high heaven and you got a silent ride.


I did try putting WD40 on the boot door seal of the wife's Abarth too, just to see if it was that which was squeaking. I think I might try a light grease / Vaseline or something on it as it is a very dry seal, so might be that?


It does sound like you're reaching a point where it can only be suspension though.

Don't use Vaseline on rubber... it'll rot it.

Just wipe the door seals (both the rear passenger doors and the boot lid rubber seals) with tyre shine (the stuff in a trigger bottle is usually more oily than from aerosols).

If you have a parcel shelf, take it out.. If you have rear seats, lift them up.. just to see what's rubbing.

If you find out, let me know. I have the same problem..


Ralf S.

I lubricated Gerrard to buggeration...

The offender was the offside trailing arm bush... although the squeaking seemed to come from the nearside..

I sprayed Halford's own brand "Rubber lubricant" on each side of the bolt.. between the metal plate (like a big washer) and the trailing arm itself. Use a nozzle to spray at the top, so that the lube can drain through the bush, rather than straight onto the floor.


Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

The offender was the offside trailing arm bush... although the squeaking seemed to come from the nearside..

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Thanks for the suggestion, I will have a go at it tomorrow to see if it improves anything. I'll post the results.

I spoke too soon...

It was quiet for a day which might just have been coincidence or the cooler weather.. yesterday the beast started up again, exactly the same as before..

I had to stop.. get out and start doing press ups off the nearside rear sill (5 door) .. luckily I was in a deserted lane... The squeak was definitely coming off the trailing arm bush. I'll give it another go this weekend.


Ralf S.

This is somewhat related to the squeaky problem. At low speeds, with anything more than just the driver in the car, the car makes grinding sounds when pulling away. (A very low pitched grinding sound). Even a light front passenger will cause this to happen, yet it doesn't happen with just me in the car. The grinding sounds like the nearside rear wheel area (same as the squeak), it sounds like the wheel arch being rubbed by the wheel but this doesn't make sense as at med-high speed there is no problem (with grinding). The squeak is always there.

I am thinking suspension component failure, but what? I don't mind replacing parts if needs must but first I need to identify what it is. This is more than just a bushing. Can anyone advise how I can check to see if anything is broken?

Source of my problems?

So in my never ending quest to get rid of the squeak from my car I think I may have discovered the source of the problem.

I noticed that there is a piece of rubber hanging down inside the spring from the top of where it sits. I'm not entirely sure what it is but it's definitely damaged, a piece of it came off in my hand.

I have attached pictures of what I've found any advice on what to do now would be helpful.

Thanks!

Re: Source of my problems?

Looks like your bump stop/top mount is breaking up. Whether that's what causing the squeak I'm not sure, but must be the place to start. Click on the ePER link above to find the part numbers you need.

Ralf S. said:

I lubricated Gerrard to buggeration...

The offender was the offside trailing arm bush... although the squeaking seemed to come from the nearside..

Click to expand...

I thought I'd give this a go just incase it had any effect in my case. I'm happy to say that it has gotten rid of the squeak :slayer:

I sprayed both trailing arm bushes and the suspension bushes as well as clearing out any dirt around it (whilst I was there).

The grinding sound is still there but I suspect that is due to the issue shown in the picture. The metal spring seems to be sitting against the metal on the car which may be causing the sound.

Anyway, thank you for the suggestion. It worked

Replace the top mount and the grinding will stop.

Re: Source of my problems?

Yellow Peril said:

Looks like your bump stop/top mount is breaking up. Whether that's what causing the squeak I'm not sure, but must be the place to start. Click on the ePER link above to find the part numbers you need.

Click to expand...

Thank you, although I am a little confused by ePER. Number 7. Is this the part that I want?