We've been experiencing similar temperature fluctuations and it's exaggerated my squeaking. I hope it's the bushings too.

I think it twists or flexes. It's the rise and fall on speed bumps and humps.

I think after 5 years I might replace the bushings if another round of grease doesn't work. H&R makes teflon impregnated bushings, or just Eibach replacements.

Good luck. It's maddening trying to track down squeaks and noises.

 

#metoo am I using that right? Im in the same boat. Replaced my rear shocks last year after the winter, this year the sound is back. Probably the bushings.

 

Does the Hotchkis bracket fit around the Eibach rear sway bar?

 

I haven't gotten that far researching yet, I'm going to try lubricating them again.

Next step was to see if I could find H&R 32mm (f) and 29mm (r), perhaps from another application, and use the existing bracket.

I can't remember from the install if Eibach provided new brackets or if the bushings were thinner and the OE bracket got reused....

 

I got my sways 5 years ago. They came with red Energy Suspension bushings, and re-used the OEM brackets. Hmm... need to research the swaybar OD.

Doubt I'm going to do anything about this noise right away, being the middle of winter and all. While it's 60°F at the moment, by this time tomorrow we're expecting to dig out from 12-18" of snow.

 

I posted the OD in my above post.

You got your swaybars used IIRC. My bushings are black, I wonder if yours have already been replaced?

 

Bought them from an active forum member at the time, named Ashmostro. This was back in June of 2013. He had them on his sedan barely a couple thousand miles before selling the car and getting a 335is. No brackets, unless he kept them, and I don't really think so. He was a stand-up guy.

The car had only 13k miles on it back then... it's now 5 years and 25k miles later, and winter-driven (kind of). I've had my mechanic re-grease them at least twice during that time, not sure about the interval, but definitely twice.



As this goes through my head, I'd very much like this noise to be this simple. Not in the mood to chase down another suspension problem.

 

With a limited window for high temps before this winter storm rolls through, I got the back end up on ramps thinking I'd look at the situation. But the garage is wet and the underside of the car is gross, and the swaybar brackets are seriously gross, everything is dirty and wet, and I forgot how deep under the car the swaybar is, and I'm old with feet of clay, without a lift...



Anyway, I don't think it's the bushings, I think it's the end-links. So this Spring I'll do the same damn two-step with diagnosis and repair.

Since the car gets driven so rarely in the Winter, this is just going to have to wait for Spring, when I'll approach the shop again.

And it fcks with my plans to get the car tuned in April. Not liking that.

 

Interesting observation on the end links. Didn't really they they could be a source of squeaking. My only experience with a bad end link was snapping one in half on my Mazda 6s.

You could always just go with OEM replacements and get tuned as planned.

 

Well, the squeaking went away when you got the suspension fixed so I am guessing this is a new issue. Your guess about sway bar bushings is a good one, especially if they have been lubed before.

The sway bar twists quite a bit in the bushings and wears out/dries out the bushings pretty quickly. I had the same issue with Eibach sway bars on my Evo X. (Oddly, never with any other brands of sway bars so maybe Eibach has a flawed design?) The only thing that worked was waterproof marine grease. Try some of that.

Try waterproof marine grease. That worked well for me. You should be able to find it at any auto parts store.

 

That's what I used

 

Damn! Well, my advice is garbage then. That was the only thing that worked for me on those damn Eibach sway bar bushings. I don't know what to tell you.
Try putting it on the bushings instead of the tires?

 

New front tires... $200 each, plus shipping. Taking up space, waiting for winter to end.

 

Do you have Conti's in back now too or are you still on the Michelins?

 

Yes, Conti's went on the back this past Summer, and have seen about 2000 miles. These are the front's to match.

It's not an insignificant savings over the Michelins... up to $100 each, depending on size. And on paper the specs seemed so similar as to make it hard to justify the Pilots. After driving the Conti's in the rear for a season, feels like same-as to me.

But that's just dragging my butt around the road. A track-perspective might come to a different place. IDK