Hurdigurdiman

As tires warm up the pressure rises. Maybe you feel vibration from worn out shock absorbers on the front which you don;t feel on softer colder tires. Bounce the car up and down at the front and see do you hear any knocking. You may hear something even on cold softer tires.

EastBay

The constant knocking/chattering over bumps after the front suspension is warm is the inner tie rods as posted here before



Not too hard to swap out, but I have a set on Longacre toe plates to reset to the toe myself. Complete cure.

The tie rod ends use a junky polymer bushing that squeeks when worn out. After I had them on the bench you could feel the very small amount of slop in one of the old inner tie rods.

AndyK

New tie rods mean another alignment, right?

EastBay

only the toe setting, which is easy if you do yourself or cheap if it is all you ask for

if you do your own work, toe plates are worth every penny, take a look

AndyK

Also, if I jack up my front end, and there is ZERO play in the 3 - 9 oclock test, then it's NOT my tie rods?

EastBay

Not sure what your problem is, but mine was that terrible squeeky rattly sound over bumps after driving for a bit. I had no looseness in the steering.

Mine had zero play also, handled great otherwise so it took me awhile to decide to replace the inner toe links, I replaced the outer toe links since I had it apart anyways. As I mentioned before, the play on the bench was very small, but was enough for it to make that crappy noise.

I had replaced all the sway-bar links with no relief previously.

There is a previous post from a few years back where someone nailed it and could make the old inner tie rods squeek on the bench, look it up

worked for me and the car is once more enjoyable

AndyK

Mine isn't a squeaking noise, it just feels like rattling, felt in the steering wheel. Like someone was knocking on the hood whenever the car hit a bump.

perryinva

Just felt or more heard than felt? That's tie rods, even though there is zero play. I think that when the car is on a lift, there is pressure against the tie rods you feel no play. It is only those small bumps after is is warmed up you feel/hear them. Annoying, but not dangerous or performance reducing.

AndyK

That's probably why my mechanic said there was nothing loose - with the car on the lift.

I hear it, AND feel it in the steering wheel, more of a knocking. But yes, the small bumps bring out the noise/rattling.

A full set of tie rods is about $200 plus labor. If that would solve the problem, I think it's worth it since the noise detracts from the driving experience !

R1_Pete

Brilliant!! Must check my own seats for kiddie milk bottles!

Kahdmus

Andy, fwiw, your experience/description sounds exactly like mine.

cuttinsod

had similar symptoms...turned out the front left strut was shot (75K miles)

AndyK

My car only has 24k on it, so the struts are probably fine. I am guessing it's the tie rods, so when I get some extra money, I'll buy a set and bring the car in to my mechanic. Not sure what labor usually is on the tie rod replacement?

AndyK

As an update, I notice my car tends to feel like it's very darty at high speed - like the steering is either super sensitive, or, something is loose!

I heard my rattling again when I got home, and notice I can get it to rattle when sitting at a light, and I turn my steering wheel left and right quickly.

Is that more evidence that it's tie rods, or something else?

Capt. Obvious

When was the last time you had the car professionally aligned? If the car feels twitchy at high speed, that's often a side affect of having very little toe-in or even a bit of toe-out in the front.