Club Cobra - Front Suspension Noise

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Front Suspension Noise

I'm getting a squeak on rough roads. The noise seems to be coming from the right front. I called Doug, he said to put a wrench on the upper control arm bolts and grease the rubber mounts on the front sway bar. I did both of those things and still have the squeak. Has anyone else had a similar issue with their front suspension? My car is an FIA, but 427's should be similar. Maybe Bob has an idea for me......I hope.
Thanks........Ron

See if spraying the shock shafts with silicone has any effect.

Front end squeek

My ERA squeeks and it drives me crazy. The noise seems to go away with humidity. I've tried lubing all of the front end joints (A arms, sway bars shock mounts) and even went so far as to disassamble everything and put on the "super teflon stuff" for plastic bushings. Nothing seems to help.
If we find an answer I'd like to know.
Car is FIA #2039 with SPAX coil overs.

Found the squeak !!!

If your interested....... A friend and myself isolated the location by rolling the car over a 2X4 with the motor off so we could more easily hear and pinpoint the noise. It turned out to be the right front coil over shock assembly. We took the shock/coil off the car and loosened the lower spring tension nuts to relieve the coil pressure. With the tension off the spring, we could take the aluminum cap off the top of the coil spring itself. We saw metal shaving on top of the rubber bumper that slides on the upper part of the shock staft. The shavings and THE SQUEAK were coming from where the top of the aluminum cap was seating itself in the upper attach point of the shock. We put a healthy amount of lithium grease between the top of the alum cap and where it seats itself on the upper attach pt. of the shock. Drove the car....NO SQUEAK! Don't know if this is a long time fix or not at this point, but at least know where the problem is. Hope this helps somebody out there with a similiar problem......Ron
Attachment 11061 You can click the picture for a larger view. This picture is a 427 frame, but from the ERA FIA website under "suspension,front" in the index.

Hum ERA2047 has the same squeek noise. I thought it was just my car. I have tried all of the above but lubing the coil over aluminum cap. I guess I'll do that now.

Thanks guys, FIA Mike

What coilovers are you using? Sounds like a service bulletin is in order for ERA's using these shocks...what about it, Bob?

My FIA has the spax coil/overs. If the squeak should come back or another shock begins to squeak, I think I'm going to buy a thin neoprene washer to put between the two metal contact areas.

My FIA has Spax coil overs too.

FIA Mike

Unfortunately, Spax has changed their design several times so a fix (or the problem) may not be consistent. I believe Ron has a damper with a top fitting welded to the shaft and it may be that there's some excess weld interfering with the fit of the spring perch. Some dampers have a screw-on top with black powder-coat on the top and spring perch.

I was sure my squeak was coming from the right rear passenger side of the car. It was the right front strut bushings -- old car - rotted bushings. Had a pleasant ride yesterday - finally some warmer weather.

Had a chance to drive the car today for a good long drive. I now truly believe that the squeak is gone. The day we fixed the car, I only had time for an around the block test drive so I still needed to really verify that the fix worked. IT DID!!! Hope this info is of help to other ERA owners with a suspension squeak that has eluded them.