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Post by shakermaker on Mar 23, 2012 8:54:36 GMT
My drive slopes away from the road down to the house and consequently there is a apex over which I have to drive the TF quite slowly. The clearance must be millimetres because if my wife is in the car as well, there is a nasty scraping sound and she is only ten stone. You can imagine how much she loves to stand out in the wind and rain as I reverse off the drive.
The point I’m coming to is that when I drive slowly over the apex, I can hear the front suspension creaking a bit. The only other time I can hear it is when I drive very slowly, say at walking pace, in a car park for example. It’s been like this ever since I bought the car in Dec 2010 and it's passed the last two MOT’s without a problem at two different MOT stations so I think it’s safe to say there is no obvious signs of wear in the front suspension.
Any thoughts?
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Post by Jerry & Di on Mar 23, 2012 9:43:05 GMT
There are lots of joints in a TF, most obvious point to lube are the top front grease nipples. Other than that, silicon spray on every joint one by one until you find a "dry" joint, or physical feeling for any free play. There will usually be a worn ball joint of some sort - some are replaceable, some are part of a larger component and thus elusive and expensive. Lots of threads on here about ball joints (mostly mine :  You can leave it until it becomes a problem, or spend hours pushing and pulling on every joint until you trace it. |
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Post by Mike H on Mar 23, 2012 19:28:36 GMT
Mine creaks periodically as well, but these days the car tends to be used mainly in the dry, with very few wet outings (generally only by accident  ). I do find however, that wetting it does tend to resolve the creaking issue for a while so, as Jerry suggests, lubrication of some description may be the answer. A hosepipe may give a quick fix and confirm the diagnosis - but make sure you do it before the ban kicks in ;D ;D ;D |
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g4wam
Junior Member
Posts: 45
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Post by g4wam on Mar 24, 2012 19:34:18 GMT
Hi there,
I had this on my F -really embarrassing when driving over uneven ground like a field.
It was a dried out lower ball joint-just get some white grease and inject underneath the rubber as much as possible and then keep it lubed .
Mike
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Post by shakermaker on Mar 26, 2012 7:56:36 GMT
Thanks for your help each of you. Jerry, I’ll get some grease into those nipples ASAP, but I’m surprised there is no mention of it in the Workshop Manual. In fact, I couldn’t find any reference to them at all. I know where to find them, or at least I think I do, only by checking back on your and other people’s references to it.
Mike, not sure in which part of the country you are but here in Wales there is no shortage of water. On Saturday we took the TF up the A470 to Talgarth near Brecon to visit a newly refurbished Flour Mill there. The reservoirs we passed along the way were brimming. The weather was fantastic, the car went well, and the route was glorious.
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Post by shakermaker on Mar 30, 2012 11:51:16 GMT
Jerry, Managed to find time today to grease those nipples. Those bearings had been greased at some stage, but not for some time judging by the amount I had to pump in to get it to squeeze out the sides, so thanks for that. Cols  |
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