Squeaky 2001 IM

Hi all,

My 2001 Intermecannica Roadster seems the squeak and creak a lot. Are there grease fittings that need to be attended to? My guess is that it is more body noise than anything else. Are there attatchment points or fittings that may need tightening or other attention?

Any other ideas or remedies?

Many thanks,

Wayne

Mine car has some squeeks eminating from the rear bushing where the torsion bar and the trailing arm attach. The noise sounds like a dry bushing. I have not yet taken the plate off the outside to check it so I don't know what is involved. I suspect the outer bushing to be easy and the inner a bit more difficult.

I sprayed some "TRI FLOW" teflon lube on it when the car is jacked up and that helped for a couple of months.

Wayne, there should be two on each side of the car if it's a VW-style setup. I assume you're talking about the doughnut-sized pieces of rubber.
I just put mine back in last week. If you have access to a dye-grinder or to a pneumatic cutting wheel (little discs, not a grinder), I'd suggest marking your current position before taking those pieces loose. There's a matrix for adjusting the torsion, something like 12 splines for four quarter-inch height adjustments making a 4:.25/in. ratio.
If you mark where your setting is right now before you dismantle anything, it'll make it a cinch to put it back where it was later.
If you need to take them loose and replace the bushings, I'd go with older ones instead of new replacements. I bought new ones and put them in, and the result was your description of a squeaking noise not too different from a child playing with a balloon animal.
I put the old ones back after hitting them with some Brak-Kleen. As long as they're not worn, torn or abraised horribly, I'd recommend taking an older pair to the problem instead of new ones.
(Sound about right, Dale?)

When I mentioned the squeak to Henry, he thought it would be those bushings. His advice was to use the regular ol' black parts. He was pretty specific about NOT using the RED Urthane parts.

I had some urthane bushing in my 911 suspension set up to Auto-X. What a squeaker, and there was nothing that worked. Except the suspension.

Guys remember that those urethane or Prothane bushings include a proprietary grease in the package. You're supposed to use it when you install them to prevent the squeaks. Heck, my car has recent OEM VW Mexico and it squeaks just the same.

Hey Dale -

I bet those Corvettes really hated it when their auto-x times got beat by a squeaky 911!! I can just picture that SEG on your face!


Peace - out!

Wayne, can you tell where it is squeaking from? Even generally - front, rear, under the dash?

Im going with poly bushings on my speedster 6 build with Henry. He warned me about some possible squeaking, but the positives in tautness of contact points,handling, cornering, braking, longevity, far outweigh the minor annoyance. Am I wrong about this?

Howard, yes poly bushings do squeak and you have to keep after them to keep them quiet. It is a little bit annoying until you get used to it and then it becomes more like "white noise." Also, I find that the squeaking is worse in the hot summer months. To me, it's not really a big deal now that I know the what and why of it.