For the past few months, there has been a loud squeaking eminating from the front right tire area of my truck. Since winter has hit, the squeaking has seemingly doubled in noise.
Some facts:
- Persists regardless of speed
- Persists regardless of turning/driving straight
- Braking doesn't seem to be a factor
I won't be repairing my truck myself (I'll likely take it into a Meineke or Nissan Dealership) but I would like to get an idea of what the issue may be. I don't want to get messed with or end up spending money that I shouldn't because I don't understand the problem.
Try this before going to a mechanic, it might save you some big bucks. While the truck is stopped and not running, press on the front bumper plastic rythmically, like you are giving someone CPR. You might try a few different spots, try it high, try it middle, try it low, for me it was right in front of the wheel. See if you can make it squeek.
There is a support rod behind the bumper that goes from the bottom up to a body mount. That body mount is a little square piece, has rubber on both sides and a screw in the middle. That screw came loose for me and I got a loud squeek with the smallest bump or movement on the truck.
You'll still want to fix it or have it fixed if you can't do it, but at least you could tell the shop whats wrong instead of letting them say you need something major. I'll try to get some pics tonight after work.
If you can make it squeak like this, there is nothing mechanically wrong.
If this is the squeak, it's not a hard repair it can be a hassle, but not difficult. Mine was a pain because (of course) the bolt was frozen and since it goes into a rubber mount I couldn't get any leverage on it. I cut the top bolt, undid the bottom bolt (which broke off of course) took the rod off, zip tied the rod to the mount and soaked the bolts in PJ Blaster for a week before I could turn them out.
So if you can make it squeak by pressing on the bumper, don't let a mechanic tell you you need $1000 bucks worth the new whatever.
I did what was suggested above. There was some slight noise (little click noises, occasional squeal) but nothing really even noticeable.
The slight noises got a little stronger as I moved towards the middle of my bumper, though were on both sides (even though the high-pitched squealing I get when driving is only right side).
I was finally able to drive my truck around last night. It was about 25 degrees F, and made no squeaking at all. It seems to only squeak when either warm (audible) or when slightly cold & wet (very... very audible).
I'm going to drive it when warmer and check the above list.
Ok, I drove it around last night and made a few notes:
- Frequency of squeaking increases when speeding up & decreases when slowing down
- Not effected by going over bumps, onto curbs, etc
- Not effected by going up or downhill
- Not effected by 4WD High (forgot to check Low)
- Not effected by radio, heater/ac, etc
- When breaking suddenly, the squeaking will cease
- When breaking slowly, frequency decreases with speed rather than stopping completely
Over the 5-10 minutes I drove around going over bumps, ice, etc there were a few times where I'd break suddenly or for no reason at all the squeaking would completely stop. When it stopped, at some points it stopped for a complete minute or so before restarting. Frequently, though not always, the squeaking would begin again when I just completed a turn.
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