Squeaking front shock?

spoiler: gained some valuable lessons and it was... just the hood latch in the end haha.
In January I deleted my XREAS using a full set of 2023 stock takeoffs. I torqued everything properly (on ground) and then retorqued everything recently because of this squeak (I had forgotten, lesson learned: just set a calendar reminder for retorques) and I’m glad I retorqued because it needed it however it did not solve this squeak. My confusion is because these were factory takeoffs from a 2023 so I wouldn’t think the coil assembly would be the issue here but you can clearly see some of the rubber misaligned which I didn’t notice until recently. Was this assembled incorrectly or something? I bought assembled takeoffs for my install cuz I didn’t want to mess with spring compressors, but if this is causing the squeak I guess I need to disassemble the shock?

(picture of both struts and YouTube link of the squeak.)
https://youtube.com/shorts/OTU0KhIn0rU?feature=share

 

tldr; 99% sure the top of my driver’s coilover rubber is slightly misaligned causing a squeak - XREAS delete, 2023 stock takeoffs installed.

 

Hello jstam316.
I'm not certain but it sounds more like something rubbing a metal shield. I would also like to delete the suspension on our newly acquired 2023 Limited. I was warned about XREAS system, over $4K to replace if needed at this time. No idea of costs when actually needed. For now I will enjoy the ride and deal with it when time arises. Good luck locating source of noise, wish I was close enough to help you out. Definitely need someone listening to every part that is suspect!

 

Hmmm that’s a good thought too, yeah I could use all the help! Fortunately I do think I’ll have a friend helping me soon.

 

@jstam316 - I don't know if this has anything to do with your squeak or not, but it looks like the previous owner installed a spacer on top of those coils...see the yellow arrows pointing to that below. My stock springs do not have that above the rubber isolator. Also, my top studs have more threads showing than your photo.


A spacer that size isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just wanted to point that out in case it might be the source of your squeak.

Additionally, one of my coils' rubber isolator looks like the one you show being 'misaligned', which I don't believe is odd, it's just the way that rubber looks right at the end of the coil spring, as the coil doesn't have a flat surface on top IIRC. You can see in your photo that the end of the coil is just to the left of that dip in the rubber if that makes any sense.

Your second photo shows the opposite side of the coil, which is making full contact with the rubber isolator. Both photos look like there is a spacer.

Maybe you installed the spacers, as it would be apparent they are there when you had the shocks in hand prior to installation. Either way, those possibly could be the source of the squeak...

 

Ah, yes forgot to mention I installed the cornfed spacers during the xreas delete, however, the passenger shock has no squeak and I reached out to cornfed and this is not a known issue so I forgot to add that to my post!

 

Never mind.

I still don't think the rubber isolator being 'misaligned' would be the problem. My driver's side looks like that.

 

that's comforting to know yours looks the same! I don't know if 'misaligned' is the right term but just all I could think to call it. I really want to figure it out but don't want to spend a ton of time chasing it so I'm hoping someone will just chime in with an "aha" moment.

 

From the movement I can see in your video, it sure looks and sounds like the noise is coming from a moving part within a bushing, i.e. upper/lower control arm, or sway bar. Or even the lower shock bushing.

 

welllllll, I just found & fixed it (at least for now). I just went outside to begin 10 minutes worth of wobbling the truck and listening as best I can and on the 9th minute I'm standing at the wheel well hip-thrusting the car (what a sight haha) and I think "wait, is it inside the engine bay somehow?" so I pop the hood and resume my wobbling and to my surprise the sound is gone. I close the hood, begin again, squeak is back, pop the hood but don't open it... it's gone. So I get some spray silicone lube just to see what happens, hit the hood latch and a couple other potential "rub" spots, then close the hood for one final round of thrusting aannnddd voilà, gone!

so for my own sake of documenting here's some lessons learned from this whole "squeak experience": doing my suspension myself was one of my largest car projects to date so this squeak had me doubting my own work big time, thought for sure I had done something wrong. Fortunately, that did lead me to remember to re-torque which I had mistakenly forgotten and will from now on set a calendar reminder to do that. Next lesson, take a step back and truly diagnose before diving into guessing a problem and beginning to throw solutions at it. And start with the easiest solution first rather than jumping to a 'worst case'.

 

It's surprising how often a sound doesn't originate from where it seems to. There are so many ways for it to be conducted from one place to another.

 

Great hearing you located the source of noise jstam316
Relived that it was located and taken care of. I ride a motorcycle on occasion, it's always something other than what we imagine it being. Thank you for sharing the update! Please keep us informed on ride comfort..

 

It's so true! And of course, I was convinced I caused the problem and then you start convincing yourself you heard it from somewhere haha. Sounds/squeaks are a psychological game more than anything

 

thank you! Short answer: Ride comfort through ~5 months has been excellent in my opinon.
Long answer: I'm not sure if it's because the 4runner is the nicest/newest vehicle I've ever owned, or my expectations are low, or I'm very low maintenance, but I have yet to be bothered with nose dive, or body roll, bumps, etc. I also switched to stock 17s instead of the 20s and I've heard that the additional rubber improves the drive? Also, my xreas was at 170k when I replaced and I barely lost any fluid during dissasembly so I think it was pretty much dry, so back to the low expectations, maybe the ride quality improvement is me comparing to basically dead suspension beforehand.

 

Adjust your hood bumper stops so it tightens up your hood when you close it. I had the exact same issue on mine. Seems to be a common problem.

 

Yep, hood latch and rubber bumpers will do that. I had the same experience. I since applied small pieces of electrical tape on top of the two bumpers and a piece around the hood latch. So far so good. All it takes is a small amount of dust on these areas to cause the squeak.