Mark Stahl

Hi, everybody-
When turning the steering wheel in my 86 (whether moving or not), there is a bizarre squeaking noise coming from the passenger's side front.... almost like something is rubbing on the tire. This sound seems to be accompanied by what sounds like a squeaky spring noise that is exacerbated by small bumps when moving. There is no particular looseness or pulling in the steering. I cannot recreate this sound by 'bouncing' the car by the bumper.


To check it out, I removed the RF wheel and had a look around. No marks were visible on the inside of the tire and nothing was obviously broken (in a quick once-over) in the suspension, though I couldn't see terribly well. Strangely, the sound seemed to go away completely after I replaced the wheel and drove around my parking garage (the same place where I noticed the sound in the 1st place). After a short drive on the street, though, the sound was back and just as bad as ever.

So what should I be looking at? The car has, AFAIK, original shocks, springs, etc. and in the 3yrs I've had it I haven't replaced anything in the way of bushings, tie rod ends, etc.

Thanks!
Mark
'86 928

michaelathome

Try making sure that your lug nuts are torqued down to the correct spec. I have noticed the same thing on several of my cars when I didn't tighten them down enough.

Michael

Ron_H

Whether moving or not? When the car is stationary? I had a scraping noise I found was the steering wheel itself rubbing against a misaligned or incorrectly installed plastic trim around the wheel. I re-installed the parts and the noise disappeared.

TopDownL79

My car, also an 86, suffers from most of the issues you describe.
I found several causes for the many slightly different noises I've experienced. The biggest offenders are the upper ball joints. The boots were quite deteriorated, leading to an early failure of the joints themselves. I also need to replace the control arm bushings...separations between the shells and rubber can be noisy under the right circumstances. The original Boge shocks have to go as well. (I guess that I'll have to do some new Konis while I'm at it...)
My last front end fix will be to replace the steering rack / tie rods, while using solid rack bushings.

Anyway, the above items are what it will take to fix the "squeaks" coming from my car. Now it's just a matter of time and money...Until then - more grease!

Mark Stahl

Thanks to everybody for the replies....

I like the lug nut idea. May explain why the sound went away after I pulled the wheel; I can't say I was especially careful about the torque when I put the wheel back on, so it could have worked loose again. This is especially attractive as it wouldn't cost me any money

It's definitely not the steering wheel trim; I've had that before too, though!

I'll definitely check in on those ball joints. Haven't really ever paid them much attention.

-Mark

Mark Stahl

Quick update- Just retorqued the lugs. No difference; still a rather annoying noise from the RF upon turning the wheel. Looks like it's something a bit more serious; rats.

Mark Stahl

I realize this is coming a bit late but anyone who is searching the archives may be interested. Turns out that the RF *lower* ball joint had come apart completely. Good thing I checked; that's gotta be dangerous. I didn't realize it at first because in order to really get a good view of what was happening I had to test it with a pry bar while the car was jacked up. The other side was fine. Replaced with a used unit and all has been well for the last several months.

danglerb

Did it have the old style aluminum ball joint? (something like that) If so I would replace them both with the later steel ball joint.

ZEUS+

Also, if the ball joint boot is torn. Spray some lube on ball/socket while someone turns the steering wheel back and forth. If noise is gone, bingo.

Mike Frye

Mark,

Thanks for bringing this one to a close. I have a similar set of circumstances with my '85. I can see that my upper and lower ball joints are beat, because all the boots are torn, so I figured it was this, but you just confirmed it. I'm also doing the control arm bushings and tie rods while I'm in there.

I have the kits on the shelf (thanks Carl from 928 Motorsports), waiting for a snow day now...

BTW- Mine also goes away temporarily if I jack it up and put it down again, I think it has to do with the suspension having to 'settle' though. Just like why you can't align it if you jack the wheels off the ground.

BC

Very good thread. This exact noise occured once on me, and it was indeed a very shot lower ball joint.

And as Zeus mentions, some WD-40 took the noise away as I drove the car for a while until I could put it up on jacks.

Mark Stahl

That's good advice but I thought all the ball joints were steel after 1983:

from the 928 suspension faq here on Rennlist:
"In September 1983, the lower ball joint support was changed from aluminum to steel. The changeover occurred at VIN 92ES860404."

Since my car is an 86 I figured I wouldn't have that problem at least. I did not check with a magnet, though.