so over the last few days i've noticed a squeaking/squealing sound coming from the front end while coasting at low speeds over not totally flat ground.

i just parked, popped the hood and pushed down on the engine bay frame a bit. it squeaked as the chassis rebounded. it sounds like a mouse. the thing is, the chassis didn't seem to have any additional/on-going bounciness to it, and i haven't noticed any increased vertical suspension travel while driving.

fyi: i had my TRD Struts/shocks installed about 3 months ago. (btw, i also have eibach pro kit springs, went 20k on stock shocks with no leaking)... i haven't bottomed out on them or taken any real hard hits. the only thing, is that every day on the way to work, as soon as i get on the highway, theres like a little mini speed bump that totally jars me when i go over it at about 30mph.. but nothing catastrophic.

i've also noticed a decent amount of bump steer. in addition, i hear that clicking/tapping sound from the driver side dash/firewall going over bigger bumps.

could my shocks really be blown??? (or perhaps they weren't installed right in the first place...?) if so, i would be TO'd big time. would they be covered under any warranty??? that would be such BS if not.

anyone else with TRD or aftermarket shocks experience this...or is it just my awesome luck again...

 

i noticed a weird kinda clunking noise when i got mine trd shocks and lowering springs installed. they said it was because one of my sway bar bushing went bad. i ordered a set of new hotckis sway bars since they come witht their own bushings. i hope that really is the problem or it will be a lot of money mis-spent!

 

the front bar might rub against suspension components.

sway bars are money well spent, even if it doesn't fix your problem, u will notice a huge difference. enjoy.

 

ironically, i got the trd rear anti-sway bar because i didn't want to spend the money on dropping the sub-frame to install the front one, so i compromised. but since they have to get under there anyway to replace the bushing, i might as well have them put in the hotchkis ones.

 

bump for OP-related posts...

 

bumpity

 

well, i had my trd shocks, struts and springs installed by a performance shop about a month ago... they messed up the install... after i went back, having them tell me that it was all set, there was still noise... so i took it to another mechanic for reinstallation, and he messed up also... my luck... so i took it to a reliable toyota dealership when noise got worst... turned out install was messed up so shock was gone... to make matters worst, strut mount, and spring perch was also damaged due to bad installation... trd parts were covered under warranty though, but the rest of the assembly wasn't... you are going to have to pay for labor... i found out the tough way also... your situation might not be as bad however... good luck... rath

 

oh crap, i hope not. but if my mechanic srewed up the install, he will surely cover the bill or try to fix it himself. but i hope not... :o

 

ouch this scare me srta cuz I just invested in trd shocks n struts I have the lowering springs and theres a little bit of noise when I pull into driveways and stuff nut nuthin serious does anyone think that it would get worse wit the shocks? and stealth good luck with your shocks personally I think it might be cuz of ur springs being too low for those shocks

 

well, now my suspension has pretty much no noises period, even on driveways... with the shocks, i think if it were installed correctly, then there will be no noise...

i got mine reinstalled at clair scion in boston, then kept on working on it until there were no more noises... they're great...

best of luck guys... rath

 

the eibach pro kits are the same height as the TRD springs

 

OK first I don't see where the struts being bad even came up on this. If the car isn't bouncy then the struts are fine. If there is no oil leaking from the top or bottom of the strut then the strut isn't blown. The squeaking is more that likely coming from the front endling or sway bar bushings. All you need to do is grease them up. They should be checked after/during oil changes.


IDK who you had do the install but WOW. I have never heard or something like that happening. I'm trying to figure how the spring pearch got damaged and what cause the strut mount to go bad. Unless they installed the spring upside down or something.




If there is clunking then that means the spring is not seated properly or something isn't tightened down properly.

 

hey josh, well according to clair scion, you know on the underside of the perch, there's a shape that the shaft has to match exactly... the peformance shop didn't do that,... i saw it too after it was taken off... they had it total opposite that the shaft made a total separate imprint on the the perch... and since they did that, the springs misaligned automatically... they didn't even try to align the tab on the perch with the tab on the rubber boot either...

they didn't cut the bump stops... not sure if this makes much of a diff...

they used a powertool to tighten the upper shaft nut, which they told me they could tell by the shaft being able to spin a lot...

and because i drive it back and forth, it caused damage to upper mount...

does that sound right?

 

Well it sounds right in explaining how it happened but DAMN that was just wrong. Is that shop still in business? Cause if they are I feel sorry for anyone who goes near them. I'm at a loss for words on that one.

 

fortunately i got mine installed right the first time. no weird noises whatsoever. my guy actually performed all those tasks that you mentioned even without me having to tell him about the little details of the install. but to the original poster, hope you get that resolved!

 

yeah the shop still is in business... prospec in quincy mass..normally they're pretty good from what i've heard tho...

what was ironic was that the technician at toyota who worked on my car had his tein coilovers or springs (not sure which) installed on his car there also about a year and a half ago... i guess that's before he became a technician because he said school made it too busy for him to install himself... they messed his up too... he shook his head when he found out i brought it to the same place... yeah, i don't recommend them

 

they are gas shocks.... so why would oil (fluid) be leaking?

 

There is still oil inside a gas strut. All the gas does is stop the oil from foaming.

 

i don't see any oil. but i think the ride height may be different between the two struts.

driver side appears to be half inch lower than passenger. Ie. i can easily fit index and middle finger in the wheel gap on pass side, barely to not at all (2 fingers) on the driver side.

 

Do you mean front and rear for just one corner? Who did the install?