Best way to silence a nagging...

[ritmusic2k]

...suspension system?

My car squeaks and groans over every speed bump and pothole. I get the occasional clunk, I believe from the left rear, but that hasn't been verified.

Nevermind the clunk for a minute, do we think the squeaking is any kind of indicator that components are at the end of their service life, or can/should I just find a way to lubricate things so they quiet down a bit?

While I'd love to make this into an excuse to revamp the entire suspension setup, the budget is just not there at the moment. I'm just trying to plan ahead for suspension repairs (what and how soon will it be necessary).

Question in a nutshell is, is a squeaky suspension 'broken', or just squeaky?

Once I find the source of the clunk I'm sure I'll come up with a whole range of other questions

 

[Mr95Gl]

Your clunk noise can be a variety of things. Endlinks, Strut Mounts, Axle, the list goes on. I guess there's 2 ways you can go about silencing those noises.
1: Revamping your suspension.
2: Picking up a set of head phones and...... well, you get the picture.

 

[CerberuS]

Squeeky often results in bad Tab bushings. Thats whats happening in my Explorer right now....

If theres more like a CLUNK sounk (like metal hitting metal) Id check Subframe bolts , broken coils (rear) , front susp goodies (tie rods-bearings-ball joint)....

pretty hard giving any support without hearing it tho...

 

[Zeegs]

The clunck is probably your strut mounts wearing out. Mine was the "occasional clunk" like yours. I pushed it till I could afford to replace, by then it was the "always clunk", they were pretty bad when I took them apart.

 

[Ground Rat]

Join the Reserves of any Military Branch. After about 2 months of **** go to the base and find the Hobby Shop. Put your car on lift and check out entire suspension. Prepare to curse car for 13+ years of original suspension whose Parts are fRusted and takes mucho Penetrating oil,patience, and a BF breaker bar to take apart. Go drop $600+ on suspension parts and redo the whole chassis while paying only $5 hour for use of lift. Just what I did but next time going to do Heavy maintenance in Spring or Fall(blasted Humid and Hot in Louisiana). Go Air Force Reserves