Hey guy, this is my first post since I registered to the forum a few months ago.
I recently replaced the rear shocks with kayaba 's after the technical control (belgium) rejected the car (Xk8 conv, 2000).
The car passed afterwards but since then I hear a not very strong sqeecking sound when driving slowly over accidented roads like dirtroads or cobblestones.
What could it be?
Also I have a vibration in the stearing wheel going at 120 to 130 km/hour.
Below and above that speed nothing. Could this be related to the frontwheel balancing, although I had it done already?
Thanks for your advice.
Luc

 

This doesn't ring a bell for me yet. More information would be helpful. Is the vibration and the sqeek related?

 

Both are not related.
The sqeecking noise is at very low speed from the rear of the car while the vibration is at +/- 80miles/hour in the steering wheel.
Regards,
Luc

 

squeaking at the rear could be the sway bar links, though those don't deteriorate that frequently, but you are in a whole other part of the world. My bet would be more towards the rear shocks, more specifically the lower bushing, and/or that top bushing that is rather large and is sandwiched inbetween the shock and the top metal 'hat' that mounts to the body. I can see it being a source of noise easily if its not tightly secured or it degrades and starts rubbing the hat.

The slight vibration at a certain speed is related to balancing, but rather the inability to balance a slight deviation out of the rim...if you have the wheels checked (check all of them, even a rear wheel dent can transfer a vibration to the steering wheel. I would bet you have a wheel with an inside ding that'll need to be repaired by a special shop (it costs $125 ea over here) then have all your wheels/tires balanced using a road-force machine, not the standard dynamic ones. You'll see a difference.

please let us know what you find!

 

Although I had the the wheels balanced before, I took it to 2 different specialists and wonder oh wonder after the 2nd time the vibration in the steering wheel at motorway speeds is gone. What I noticed the second time was that spacers where applied when fixing the wheels on the machine, resulting in a smaller offset to the center to apply the lead.