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I just swapped my winter tires for summer.... nice sharp steering again! So I fiugured I would lube my ever-creaking steering.
Symptom: Mostly when cold, moving very slowly, turn the wheel and you hear a creaking coming from the front end. It can be kinda loud.
Cause: Crap is rubbing against each other.
Solution: Lube it!
Background: My 2000 Boxster S did this and the dealer had a courtesy fix of replacing the strut bearings. These bearings are at the top of the strut assembly and are the supposed cause of this creaking. While the dealer "fixed" this on my Boxster by replacing these bearings, in a few years it came back. My 2009 C2S has been doing this on and off for the last few years.... same issue and it ain't the bearings. I replace all my shocks myself a few years ago when the rears were leaking (just had to do all 4 eh?) and when I had it all apart, I examined these bearings and they looked fine... but what do I know?. So I lubed them up with some high-quality lithium grease figuring I would get ahead of this. Did no good, creaking started the next year.
My conjecture: Crap is rubbing against each other. Really pretty simple. There is a whole Dagwood sandwich of parts at the top of these struts so anything could be rubbing. Even the boot/bump stop could be doing it. Regardless, lubing it stops the creaking.
Lube: I used silicone spray before... no need to jack up the car, just turn the wheel, reach your arm in there and shoot the crap out of it at the top of the strut. Silicone works immediately, but doesn't seem to last long. This time, I put the front end up on jack stands so I could turn the wheel and see what is going on up there. I then blew out the dirt with my compressor (top tip: close your eyes and mouth before you blast with air). This time I used Winzer Polylube 255... a miracle lube gel with teflon. It is delivered with a penetrant that evaps away and the lube sets up. I sprayed it up there, turned the wheel back and forth. Pulled the boot down and sprayed the top of that too. I started out trying to be neat and only hit where I see two things moving against each other... .but hell, I just shot the cht out it up there. Just went nuts and wiped down the excess.
Note in the pics below, I marked the stack o' stuff with a sharpie and then turned the wheel full left and right to see what is moving against what. In the end, it didn't mater as I blasted it all with lube.
Boy, you folks are observant. Warning: I am just a hack.
Porter Cable battery impact gun: Yes it works and works really well. However! I had their cheaper lower power model and it worked fine until it didn't. It broke. I had two battery packs so I went with another, larger Porter Cable model, the one you see here. If I did it again, I would not buy Porter Cable impact gun because of the failure I had... I was only using for light work like my wheels. For the chuck, the unit I have here has a built in chuck so the impact socket snaps right on to it. I did purchase an adapter so I could put anything else on it should I want to. The smaller gun required an adapter... I purchased a set of adapters from Harbor Freight and I promptly broke them. Sooo..... If you are going Porter Cable, get the bigger unit that I have here.... it is powerful, has the chuck built in, and hasn't broke yet. BTW, I have a Porter Cable drill and flashlight and all work of the same battery packs and they work really well, last a long time and charge quickly. I never wore a battery out in two years of light home use. BTW, I use a tiny bit of ant-sieze on my lugs per Porsche recommendation in my manual and torque down to spec... so I am not asking the gun to remove seized-up lugs.
WInzer Lube: Yea, I can't find it out there either. Wurth makes the same stuff... I think Wurth, WInzer... they all re-label the stuff. Pull the WInzer sheet and look for the Wurth equivalent. My indy turned me on to the stuff. I really is great as it penetrates deep and then stays put and at high temps so the sheet describes and it displaces moisture. I use it on everything anymore.... I still use WD40 for home door hinges etc as with WD40, you really can wipe it clean whereas the WInzer leaves a coating... as it should. But for the creaky steering, use your lube of choice... there is no one way. Light lubes like silicone and maybe WD40 will stop working after .... oh I dunno... 6 months to a year... maybe that is fine. Heck it takes a whole 5 minutes to shoot both struts so go ahead and use silicone spray.
Liftbars: See my write up here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...got-a-set.html The alternative I see here, besides the hydraulic lifts, are these: http://www.jackpointjackstands.com/ I chose the liftbars because you can go higher, and lift the whole side of the car with one jack. Overall, I am happy with the liftbars except for one big and small issue: Big issue: they are fiddly to get set.... the bars are heavy and you have to balance them on the jack to get the inserts into the jack points. Not hard, but you will have to lay down on the ground to get them set properly. The other small issue, is that your jack must go high enough to get your jackstands under the bar... this is not a lift bar issue. So high jackstands are great, but your jack has to go up high enough. Both of my jacks do but only by about 1/2" from max. All is good. So my normal operating height is higher than those JackPoints. To each his own.... IIRC, the lift bars were less expensive. I just did my analysis and pulled the trigger.... I am happy but there are other good products out there too... I think the JackPoints are probably faster/easier to use but way more expensive if you want to put all four corners on jack stands... and you won;t be as high as you can get with liftbars, high jackstands, and a high jack(s) to get them there.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Last edited by Bruce In Philly; 03-26-2019 at 02:29 PM.
03-24-2019, 05:11 PM
Creaky stearing? Lube it up!
