Just drove my newly purchased STR home from Raleigh to Cola last night. Today, she's squeaky around the right rear wheel. 62k on her. Wondering if it's a likely or not the rear shock, whether all these cars had adaptive damping and what to do next to get her squared away and approximate cost involved. She feels very firm on all corners but with a good bit of effort she squeaks when pressed down and when rolling my wife, whose ears are better than mine, heard her from the passenger side. Cheers all, and thanks,

Rob

 

I would look more at either control arm bushings or the most likely culprit: sway bar bushings/link pins.

 

Thanks,

I just got her and don't want to take her off the road immediately. I'll get her jacked up and check it further tomorrow. Guess I can safely drive her a few hundred miles with the squeaking?

 

Yes your car has CATS. That's the computer controlled struts. Not many people have complained about squeaking on the STR. If you find out please post back. I have 75K miles on my 2005 STR and it is quiet.
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Depending the kind of noise and when it does it, maybe a wheel bearing.

 

Hi,

I occasionally get this on my STR with changes in weather etc. I jack her up and spray WD40 or old oil onto the lower ball joint at the base of the rear strut and all is fine. Your ball joint will be fine if you can't feel any movement the rubber in the bush can dry and sqeak..

 

Don't use WD-40; WD stands for Water Displacing and is rarely a good choice when it comes to a lubricant...

 

Thanks Gents,

Weather permitting I'll pull the wheel off tomorrow. We were 74 degrees yesterday and this evening we'll get below freezing. This afternoon my wife couldn't hear the squeaking. Course I'm running all the scenarios through my head ... wheel bearing, bushings, shocks, $$ but whatever it is I'll deal with it and get a good baseline established. I called Leith Jag in Raleigh ... car had spent a couple years in the Raleigh area ... they'd given the prior owner a 7k laundry list in Nov. 2010 when the car had 53k on her. She had just over 62k when she was traded in. I think he had an indie do the work and I'm working to track him down. Cheers, Rob

 

Funny, I have the same thing, but I have an '03 X Type....

 

I have used copper grease on the bush and bolt as well as oil, but WD40 was the only thing that cured it, so may be water ingress into the bush then drying out causes it..?

 

It's possible that the grease is too thick not vicious enough...Spray lube should work better assuming water isn't an actual problem...

 

I have a 2003 s type with 79,000 miles and have had to replace both rear lower control arms and 2 front upper control arms. I don't know why but the large metal bushes on the lower arms go bad and the ball joint goes bad on the upper. Arms are very expensive and the bearings for rear are available from a dealer in England. about 200 per arm for the bearings that go bad (rear lower) New the arms are over 1000 but you may find them on ebay 600-800. This is the one thing that I cannot comprehend, why so many parts of suspension need replaced at this mileage. I have also had to replace both rear tie rods, 1 rear upper control arm. 2 shocks ( I thought this was the problem originally) turns out no.

I am getting well versed in this. Did all of the labor myself. Not terribly difficult.

 

dont forgrt rear lower hydrabushes are available; aftermarket.

 

I have the same squeek on my 03 STR.
The rubber ball joint covers have become brittle and some cracks and the lubricant has escaped. I use white lithuim grease in a spray can with the small plastic tube tip and shove it into the rubber bushing and load it up with good shot of new yummy grease....the squeek is gone....for a few months anyway