Thread: Squealing and I'm losing my mind.

I'm not sure what a center bearing is on an axle, but...

I stuck my head under the car when it was on the ground, lo and behold, the damn aftermarket balljoint when under load (obviously not when it's jacked up, hence the inability to see what was wrong) is too long and rubbing against the cv axle...well I'll be a monkey's uncle. Since the part was from rockauto and i'm in Canada, it'd be a cold day in hell before I send a $20 part back to the states to get another one. Going to hacksaw and take off a bunch to get it low enough that it doesn't rub anymore and report back to see if that fixed the sound. Go figure...went under to look for a motor mount problem, saw that! Hey, potentially no more parts to replace? YES PLEASE.

Leave the nut on when you saw or it will be hard to start it after you cut the threads. (Maybe you already new that :^)

Okay so the sound is still there but it's much much less loud. Going to get the other side's cv tomorrow and call it a day.

CV in, new balljoint, good clearance. everything is now completly new behind that wheel, still getting the sound, almost like the tire is out of round/flat. problem is all four tires are balanced and changed in different configurations...still getting the sound. I'm so confused.

The wife's in town, she seems to think it's coming more from the middle of the car - going to check rear engine mounts, psgr cv axel bracket, and swaybar bushings (even though i changed the swaybar endlinks and bushings already last week). Also while i'm under there check the motor mount. thinking now that i have an extra person finally, i can put it on jack stands while on the hoist and let er' rip and scoot underneath and find the damn sound once and for all.

Very dangerous to get under a car while it's on... I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a lift.

Did you replace the wheel bearings?

All four tires are out of round. sigh. So that's the culprit. As it is now, I'm getting a really weird groaning from the rear suspension. Its all new, just wondering if the rear shock spins freely like the front? If not, I may have to recompress the springs and adjust the top hat a little bit...thoughts? Forgot to mention every so often it groans very loudly.

Replaced the tires, quietish. Fixed the rear strut, it was angled funny on the bottom. Quick Q about tightening the struts...how do you guys measure torque with a wrench, and how many threads deep should the nut be on the tops?

Snap-on makes a socket that fits nicely - I don't have mine in front of me, but this is what it looks like:


A137, Socket, Shock Absorber, 3/8" Drive, 1/4" oval width, 29/32" long

Use a socket like this with a torque wrench and an offset wrench like this:


XOM605, Set, Wrench, Metric, Box, 60° Deep Offset, 12-Point (5 pcs.) (10 to 19 mm)

Good luck!

Thanks man! Ordered and waiting. In the meantime, I moved the strut a bit in the strut top hat and rebolted, still making the groaning sound. It typically starts when I first apply the brake, and sounds like a tuba hitting an E note a few times, but here's the weird part - I know brake pad groan, and this one sounds like it echoes through the strut/body - It's incredibly unnerving.

Thoughts on that?