Ckroush

I've been doing a lot of reading while trying to figure out whats wrong with this car. There is a fairly loud squeak coming from the front end whenever I hit a bump. It doesn't matter if I run over a piece of paper.. I'll hear a sound similar to that of a noisy bed. Even if the road looks flat, if the suspension moves a millimeter, I hear a squeak.



I know ball joints are a serious concern and I figure that is my problem. The only thing that negates this theory is that when the car is parked and I turn the wheel either direction... I don't hear anything.

The car has 106k miles now and since I've been hearing this sound for a year now, I'm afraid of the day the ball joints collapse on the interstate.

Also...

When I am pulling into a parking space and braking while turning, I hear a clicking sound. Sort of like metal sliding against metal. Is this a problem that can be fixed with that shim kit or whatever you guys talk about?

What needs to be fixed? Ball Joints? Tie Rods? Or both?

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Sounds like it's your balljoints. If they're original balljoints, you might as well replace it anyways. The clicking noise while turning and braking can come from either the balljoints or the brake's fitting kit. It's probably worn out by now. Should cost about $40 for the front fitting kit

400DGRZ

iTrader: (2)

Thats odd. I've heard of ball joints making clunk and rattle sounds, but not squeaking.

milky

iTrader: (9)

actually, i was just about to post a thread similar to yours. Whenever i turn my wheel all the way, i hear a slight squeak, and when i go over speedbumps i heard a similiar sound.. its very annoying, sounds like my car is about to break.

Henry, i dont know if the OP has the same sound coming from his car as I do, but the new balljoints and tie rods didnt seem to help the problem. I still dont know what it is, unless like you said, its the brake fitting kit. But would that make noise when i turn? or go over bumps?

to the OP, since your balljoints/tie rods are still original, i'd suggest changing them out to see if it fixes the problem. Either way, you'll have to change them out sooner or later.

GS_OREO

I know this is a noob question, but why do we have to change the tie rods again ?

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

The joints gets stressed every time you turn the steering wheel. Just think of how heavy the front end is, and how hard it is to turn the steering without power steering. Those little joints goes through lots of pressure. Over time, they just wear out. They dont wear out as bad as the balljoints, but people just replace them anyways since the balljoints is attached to the tie-rods.

UDel

I have had a similar noise when going over bumps like a creaking thumping noise and then a louder squeeking noise when going over speed bumps. I have taken it to a few places and they all said my balljoints are fine(hope they are checking them thoroughly). There was a 2 TSBs for this type of noise. One was TSB SU0003-02 which was retorquing front stabilizer bar bolts and lubricating them, for some reason this cost $50 to do, it seemed to pretty much get rid of it or make it much less noticeable but after a few months the noise is back. I took it back to the Toyota dealership and they said I needed to do the TSB-SU004-02 which was $265 and had something to do with either replacing springs or shocks or putting some kind of buffer peice in which is supposed to stop the noise, I was not going to pay 265 dollars to stop a squeek unless it was something which could be dangerous. I asked the guy to relube the front stabilizer bar because they seemed to stop it the first time but he was adament it was not going to stop the noise, well the noise did not go away and seems louder so I doubt they relubed it, almost sounds like they made it worse but getting removing of the lubrication. Could also be your strut bolts, it is extremely annoying and inexcusable on a luxury car costing this much.

rra640

Do you have copies of these TSB's? I can't seem to find them on the web anymore.

UDel

Unfortunately no, I just have on the Toyota papers which said what the TSB number was and a brief description what they did for the first one.. I would like to know exactly what to do and where it is like a diagram I can look at so I can try myself to diagnose the problem with some tightning and WD40. I don't want to spend $265 for the other TSB and then it not correct the problem and have to spend more to try to correct it.

Ckroush

So it's the lower balljoints? I was at O'Reillys yesterday and got a price of around $30 for each one. What do you guys think? Is it just cheaper because they're probably not Daizen

400DGRZ

iTrader: (2)

The balljoints don't come from Daizen, they are OEM parts. Order from Sewell Lexus. About $120 total to your door in 2 days.