Puma 1.7 - 83k front suspension refresh

[PaulyV]

Good day, thanks for reading.

I have a 2002 1.7 Puma on 83,000 miles. I have a lot of squeaking up front from the suspension, particularly when the car is hot and the steering is engaged left or right. When stationary I swear that if I push the left front down I get the squeaking from the right front.

I wanted to ask what I should replace for a front suspension refresh. Bushes? Shock Absorbers? Anything else?

Needless to say I need to get rid of the squeaking but a good refresh would not go amiss as I am taking the car to Silverstone later this year.

Thanks in advance.

Pauly

 

[red]

Any noises going over bumps?

 

[PaulyV]

The creaks certainly come when the car is moving up and down vertically at the front - nothing on smooth roads. It seems to happen more when turning. Almost always happens when the car is warmed up rather than from cold. No additional noises, such as knocks, over bumps - just the creaking.

 

[Van_Dammesque]

Try replacing the drop links, these are cheap and you could do it yourself before trying more expensive routes.

 

[PaulyV]

...they appear to be very inexpensive. I will try that for a start and report back in a week or two with results. Thank you.

 

[PaulyV]

I never did report back on this thread - something I find most annoying on other forums.

Droplinks replaced and the noises went straight away. Oddly enough, on very rare occasions I still get the exact same creaks but for short periods of time, so I suspect it was not directly the droplinks creaking but in replacing them I have generally taken the strain off whatever the real culprit is. I can certainly live with it now.

I am replacing the anti roll bar bushes up front soon so we shall see if that gets rid of the issue altogether. Rear bushes are also being changed.

 

[grogee]

Interestingly I've been having similar problems with my wife's Renault Espace, the ARB bushes were worn so I replaced them, and am now getting a creaking noise (which I'll live with - it passed MoT!). Did drop links at the same time.

My Puma's drop links are looking a bit tired so I'll probably have a go at doing them soon, although it's MoT on Monday which will tell me where I need to focus the money...

When I looked at ARB bushes on the Puma they looked pretty good, no obvious wear - 2001 (Y) with about 75k miles.