Hi, I've been having an inconsistent squeaking from my car the last few months. I had my mechanic look at it originally, but he couldn't reproduce it. Last month I had the dealer look at it while I went for oil change and inspection, they say they think it's from the shocks, but said everything looks fine though.

I have Koni's. Originally I thought it was coming from the front driver's side, but it sounds like it's from the rear now. So it sounds like from the rear driver's side only as far as I can tell from in the vehicle.

I originally started noticing it cornering right with the car moving, like a highway curve. It still does it. No squeaking when I make right turns. Now I hear it when I brake too, but only sometimes. When I brake with the car in gear, it squeaks, when I throw it in neutral and brake, it doesn't make any sound. My shocks look fine, don't see any leaks, haven't notice any change in ride quality. I tried bouncing the rear of the car up and down and no sounds. I don't hear squeaks on bad roads or going over bumps, sometimes a slight squeak on dips.

I made a video the best I could while driving. The squeals happens around the 13 sec, 39 sec, and 1:12 mark. Does it sound like the shock or something else? Thanks.

 

Great sounding car. BOSS quad exhaust? Oh I see Borla S. Catback?

Yes, I heard 3times in that video, seems to be more frequent at decel. One thing for sure is difficulty to diagnose and pinpoint exact when it comes to squeak. Sometimes it's even harder to replicate the same.

You have the Koni's. I'd guess the car is lowered? I see the BMR PHB but did you have the control arms replaced to correct the geometry as well? In any case, I would start by re-greasing installed components and go from there.

They might 'look good' from outside but it's the inner portions that need attention. But again, this may or may not be the case.

 

Thanks, they are Borla S mufflers only right now.

I never changed the UCA or LCA when I lowered the car. I had Steeda Sports, at the time I bought it, people said they don't lower the car a lot to need an adjustable UCA or LCAs. I mean, the car has taken a beating driving lowered on horrible NYC streets the last 3 years. I did grease the PHB when I installed it, guess I'll start there.

But yes, the squeaks come on deceleration/braking and when I'm going right like on curves or coming off the highway on sharp curves. When I'm braking in gear and the squeaking starts, I throw it in neutral and it immediately goes away, does it sound like maybe something with the rear axle or driveshaft?

 

Many says that UCA/LCA is not necessary if the car is lowered moderate. No expert but I'm one of those who believe every inch changed must be compensated for. Balance is important. Not going to - put more power (ex. supercharger), leave everything else (brakes, suspensions, cooling...etc) stock - and go slide everywhere at the car meet heh.

Maybe the factory parts are starting to fade after 3yrs in BigApple, but they held good until now, etc. I remember a control arm TSB though? Not sure if front or the rear. Supposedly the front ones from Ford are solid. My fronts are stock as well.

I had to take down everything in rear (UCA/LCA PHB...), re-grease the heck out of em joint by joint a while back. The noise was more of a bone-creaking than a squeak though. Oh, mines are from Whiteline. I guess they get dry quick over time?

Curious to hear it goes away in neutral. If anything I've heard of, in regards to MT82 trans noise is the clunk. Also, I think there's whats called driveshaft/line angle. Ours is 2-piece factory.

 

I think the control arms were for the front. I'm going to try to grease the joints this weekend and see if that helps. I do have the clunky MT82, but this is definitely not it. Maybe it's the UCA?

I tried different ways to recreate and find the squeaking, in neutral on braking, definitely no sound, but in neutral, going around a curve, it does squeak. If I brake lightly, sometimes the squeak doesn't come, and when it does, it usually fades away once the car slows down almost to a stop.

 

Had a similar intermittent squeaking and it ended up getting traced to a slightly bent rear axle shaft. The no sound in neutral thing makes sense with that diagnosis, I think? Could definitely happen on those rough streets. Cost to get it fixed was $1,050, which included new rotors in the back since the bent shaft was rubbing on it.

 

Thanks, how did you figure it out? Was it on one side of your car? I guess it would be hard to tell just looking under the car? Was that cost done at a dealer or your own mechanic?

 

Figured it out by going to the dealer and having the service manager ride along with me. The noise wasn't easy to hear with the windows up and the service manager ended up leaning out the window to listen to the noise while we drove. Yes, totally on one side only because only one of the axle shafts was bent. That cost was at my dealer, who I've found to be comparable on costs to the local, independent mechanic I know & trust.

 

Thanks kylerohde, I'm going to inspect under my car this weekend and grease up all the joints, see if that helps. I'll have to wait a few weeks to bring my car back to the dealer and I'll tell them to inspect the rear axle.

 

When you lowered the car, did you by chance remember to install a new adjustable pan hard bar? Or did you keep the stock one in place?

 

I do have a BMR adjustable PHB, I only greased it when I got it the first time. It's all rusted and the bolts are seized now. I trying using wd40, but the bolts won't budge. I actually bought another one and will switch it out next weekend, but I think this may have to do with the rear axle.

 

Funny, with the windows up I can't hear it, but with the windows down it sounds loud when it squeaks. When people look, I don't know if they are looking at the car or wondering if my car is some junker or something now.

 

I had this exact same noise and problem when I bought my 2013 GT used that was already lowered from the previous owner and had re-used the factory Panhard bar. I had the dealership then install the Ford Performance one to see if that would alleviate the problem, but it still persisted.

Turns out because the rear axle was able to shift side to side because of the factory bar still being used, I ended up having my rear rotors needing to be re-surfaced and new rear brake pads installed because it had caused small grooves and had been constantly rubbing and eating away at the old pads. I have never had the problem since then.

Since you haven't installed the new Panhard bar yet, next time you take the stang out see if your rear axle is shifting side-to-side by looking at position of your tires to the rear fenders on your driver side and passenger side and see how far they are sticking out or in. If there is a difference where one side is sticking out more than the other or shifts completely to the other side after driving again, the current aftermarket one you have on either has or is near failing or wasn't installed correctly to begin with.

 

And to note what my symptoms were that I described to my SA:

- Chirping/squeaking when braking
- Chirping/squeaking when TURNING slightly around e.x. a curve like a round-about. Just the turning alone on a gentle corner would cause the noise without needing to apply brakes
- No noise when going over speed bumps or going straight

 

When I originally lowered the car, I did use an adjustable panhard. It looked center to me, but last month when I put on my new SVE wheels, I can see that it is slightly shifted towards the passenger side. The wheel sticks about a few mm. The position hasn't changed each time after I drove it. I think if the panhard bar is locked, it shouldn't change the position of the body to the axle when the car is not moving.

You said you had the same exact noise, was it from the panhard bar or the rubbing from the axle to the brakes? What were the circumstances for the sound? Mine happens when cornering right and on deceleration/braking when in gear, in neutral it goes away.

I will see what happens when I put in the new panhard bar. I threw some wd40 on almost every joint in the rear and still squeaking so far. I did check my rear brakes originally in case the shield was rubbing the rotor, but they look ok visually.

 

The noise is from the axle shifting into the rear brakes/rotors that caused pre-mature wear for me. Mine occurred pretty much during the same circumstances you are having. All in all, I had to get a new adjustable panhard bar to replace the incorrect OEM one, new rear pads, resurfaced rear rotors and an alignment that apparently wasn't done either when it was lowered down originally.

When you get the new panhard bar installed, take the car in and have your rear brakes and rotors inspected. Likely you may end up needing the same work done that I required.

 

Well, I installed the new panhard bar and nothing's changed, if anything, squeaking is more frequent and sounds worse now. Guess I will have to take it in next week.

 

Any word on this progress? Did you get her in to the shop to get looked at? Sorry to hear.

Have you checked the sway bar? When I first installed my adjustable PHB (BMR), and put on my Koni shocks and Steeda springs, I had a slight squeak and it was due to the stock sway bar lacking a good greasing. Once added, issue went away and has never been back since (knock on wood).

You know - you could always get long tubes The way mine is set up now, there's no way I'd hear a squeak if there ever was any... lol

 

The squeaking has gotten a lot louder, I took it around some curvy roads and you could hear an echo of squeaks following the car, lol. I think it definitely is caused by something shifting around when the car's in motion. I mean the only good thing is it drives fine.

It's funny, I went to the service dept today and they were closing the location. WTF. They have been closed 2 weeks ago, said I would have to take my car over to another dealer in another borough. Weird. I took it back to my mechanic and am having him recheck it again since the squeaking seems to be coming more consistent and louder. I'll update once they figure anything out.

 

I recently purchased a 2008 Mustang 4.0 Coupe Deluxe for my daughter's first car. It had 115k miles on it. From the Carfax and my personal inspection, it has turned out to be exactly what I was hoping it to be, an all original car that had no history of major mechanical issues. It was just driven by previous owners who had to do nothing to it. I wanted to be the one who performed the first maintenance on it. It had the original serpentine belt, spark plugs, fuel filter filled with very dark brown mirk, totally flat shocks, springs and struts, cloth seats, complete with drivers side hole in the lower outside back rest and totally glazed over headlights. In other words, a perfect car that had never been messed with by a wannabe teen age mechanic.

This forum helped me find the "clunk" in the front end. I read where someone suggested that the fastest, easiest and cheapest first step in the process of elimination is to remove the front stabilizer bar. I removed it and wa-la...no more clunk. Someone had placed a plastic shim behind the passenger side mounting clamp in an attempt to stop the "clunk." That was the first and only shade tree fix that the car had. New bushings are on the way.