Creaky and Squeaky Coilover

I just bough my first 4Runner and put a Rough Country 3" Vertex Coilover with rear V2 Monotube Shocks. It looks and performs off road really well. I am happy with it minus an obvious creak coming from the front suspension at low speeds. It sounds like a 400 year old wooden ship going down the road.

It is happening when it is wet or the humidity is high, which it always is in South Texas. I've spoken with the installer that told me it was normal, the manufacturer doesn't think it is normal and they instructed me to lube every contact point with white lithium grease. I've done that to now avail.

Has anyone else experienced a noisy coilover suspension before? Any suggestions on how to isolate what is causing the noise and repairing it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Not normal. Although I have no first hand experience, reading this forum does not instill confidence in Rough Country parts installed on 4Runners. Regardless,
Something is:
-installed incorrectly
-missing
-loose
-broken
-wrong part
Or a combination thereof.
Noisy and creaking ain’t normal. If installer is a real shop, have them fix it or remove it. Otherwise, go to a shop you research and can trust, and have them diagnose. Take all your new part #s that were installed to the new suspension shop to verify they are correct for your vehicle.
sorry you are going through this. Sounds like your installer is a jerk.

 

Thank you for the reply, Kilo Papa. I had 4 Wheel Part install the kit, bumper, winch and tires. When I took it back to have them torque all the bolts they touched after 1,000 miles, I asked them to address the noise. The counter guy told me that coilovers are inherently noisy, especially in cold weather.

I called Rough Country after that, they told me to lube every contact point on my front suspension with white lithium grease. It hasn't improved anything, but they asked me to try and isolate what component was making the noise. Any suggestions on how to isolate the cause?

My next steps will be to start with the manager of the local 4WP branch and hope for some forward movement from them. If they can't fix it, I want to buy another suspension and get a refund on this one.

 

Good for you on taking the issue to a higher level. Hope that changes the direction this installation has taken for you.

Asking for removal and a refund all from the same shop has its risks. If you are able to swing it, I might have a different shop either do the removal or be ready to look at your rig right after the original shop removes the RC parts.

I surely would not use the original shop for another suspension.

As for diagnosing, I’m betting there are others here with better ideas than mine but I would begin by slowly trying to repeat a creak/noise and begin isolating the origins or perhaps use a sound recording camera to isolate location as I slowly drove the rig. Start with determining if the noise is from front or rear? Driver or Pax side? Narrow it down.

My 21 TrdPro has coilovers (as do all 4Rs) and they are not generally creaking and squeaking.

 

Hello 4040RUNNER1,


Not normal...........
My first question to the you, did the shop tighten the lower coilover bolt with the truck in the air vs weight of the truck on the ground. Proper method is lower the vehicle then tighten fastener.
It puts preload torque on the rubber gromet when you tighten it in the air then lower it.
It's easier for them to tighten when it's in the air than lowering it.

 

Thanks all for your help. The shop that I took it to had another tech look at it to get a different perspective after I sent the manager some videos of the creaking. They did get it solved, they had improperly tightened something on the sway bar that was causing it to bind under articulation. It doesn't appear to have caused any damage, so hopefully all is well that ends well.

 

Glad the shop did the right thing and it worked out for you.

 

Glad to hear the shop found the issue. Also glad you took a video and remained persistent. Any good shop will make it right.