club.liberty.asn.au

I need a bit of help diagosing a problem.

My MY07 Lib GT is sounding like a bit of a old, rickety boat in the rear. The car has done nearly 140,000km and I've got an adjustable Whiteline rear swaybar with Heavy Duty mounts and that's it.

I thought the problem was the "grease free" bushings that came with my Whiteline swaybar. So for a recent service, I got them greased up, but the sound isn't any better. The sound seems very similar to when I first had it installed, but it doesn't seem to be the issue this time around as the grease fixed it the first time.

I need to add also that the sound is far more audable when the weather is warm.

All I can describe the sound as is like creaky wood on an old boat. It makes the sound over speed humps, bumps in the road and just taking off from a standstill, so I'm not sure if it's rear suspension or not.

I'm thinking about recording a video to help diagnose the problem, but in the meantime, does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be?

Sounds like the bushes to me. I would check to see if they were actually done in your recent service.

You seem to be targeting the sway bar "D" Bushes as the source of the noise?
This may be the case, however.....
Try disconnecting the sway bar links at each end (secure the bar out of harms way) and going for a short drive where you know it should may the creaky boat sound.
If by chance the creaking noise does not go away, then you may be looking in the wrong area?

BillyCorgi wrote:You seem to be targeting the sway bar "D" Bushes as the source of the noise?
This may be the case, however.....
Try disconnecting the sway bar links at each end (secure the bar out of harms way) and going for a short drive where you know it should may the creaky boat sound.
If by chance the creaking noise does not go away, then you may be looking in the wrong area?

Yep, those are the ones I'm suspect of (the D shaped ones). They're supposed to be grease free, but when I purchased the bar, they made a noise straight away. I applied some grease soon after the problem occured and it fixed the issue.

I'll double check to make sure the service centre has greased the bushings. They told me they did, wrote down the did, etc. I haven't had a look to see if they did, though.

Driving without a rear sway bar (for testing) should be fine, correct? Obviously I wouldn't take it too hard, just go over some speed bumps to see if thats the problem.

chris12 wrote:Driving without a rear sway bar (for testing) should be fine, correct? Obviously I wouldn't take it too hard, just go over some speed bumps to see if thats the problem.

Yep, should be fine in a straight line. Just do not take any corners too vigorously while testing.

By the way, upgraded the RSB on my car with one I made myself.
It is 22mm dia so I used a set of standard front bar D Rubbers.
Used a smear of Silicone electrical cable grease on the rubbers.
Never had any noises?
Cheers!

They settle down and make less noise after a while (10,000km and counting), I think my rear bar has stopped making noise, front is still groaning. If you put grease on them, it means you have to annually take the bar out, clean and regrease otherwise the noise will come back as the grease has dried out.

I spray silicone lube into my RSB D bushes when i start hearing a bit of squeaking.
(I have the Whiteline 20mm adjustable)

Seems to last quite a while - guess because it re-wets the moly grease but also Silicone lube works dry too.

Once the paint wears off the bar i think they can surface rust a bit which can get noisy.

muzza wrote:I spray silicone lube into my RSB D bushes when i start hearing a bit of squeaking.
(I have the Whiteline 20mm adjustable)

Seems to last quite a while - guess because it re-wets the moly grease but also Silicone lube works dry too.

Once the paint wears off the bar i think they can surface rust a bit which can get noisy.

I use Silicone O-Ring Grease.
Harmless and does the trick.

Have a 22mm CorgiWerx RSB, CorgiWerx Support Brackets and Lateral Locks