Out of nowhere, I started hearing an odd squeaking at low speed. At first it sounded like a creaky spring, but upon lifting the rear, it appears to be the rubber piece (shown at approx 1:00) rubbing against the tire. Is this an alignment/balance issue?
Anyone know what that rubber piece is?
When the weight is on the wheels, is there a contact between the bump rubber and the tire?
It’s not unusual for there to be contact between the tire and the bump rubber when the suspension is in full droop
Not sure. Will check that next. I only lifted to try and isolate where the noise was coming from. The rubbing is only on the left rear when lifted. Right side is fine.
With the weight on that part of the suspension, tranny in neutral, rotate the wheel. See any “wobble”. Hopefully not! Also, what is your tire size?
The rubber stop is a travel limiter for a fully compressed suspension. It appears to be in contact with the tire. Take it off and go for a drive or flip it 180 (I think you can) and see if it helps. What size tires are you using?
Tires are Vredstein’s 205 70 15. Been on for two years without incident.
Ok, I’ve seen those stops flare out a bit hence my suggestion above.
Several years ago mine suddenly developed a squeak squeak at low speed on the rear LH side. Turned out one of the prongs had broken on the brass fork that spreads the parking brake pads away from the rotor when parking brake is released. Just a thought.
David
68 E-type FHC
Oddly enough, ever since getting the car back from it’s front suspension refresh, new clutch, and new exhaust work, I’ve had the sensation that the car isn’t rolling quite as freely at low speed.
Decided to call my mechanic as the bump stop in question is very clearly brand new. His response was that if the noise was bugging me, he’d take a look but it really wasn’t anything to worry about.
I put some tire brite on the inside of the wheel and that has solved the squeak for now. We’ll see what the future holds.
I would immediately locate a new mechanic.
The inner walls of a tire are its weakest point It was not mentioned ( or I missed it) that the bump stops were replaced. I would address this in a proper way.
I’m just assuming they were replaced. I didn’t necessarily ask for it… the rubber just felt too new to me to be original. I will look at further when work slows down. The wheel itself wasn’t completely flush as I was able to get some play out of it when on the jack. Was able to tighten properly… that seemed like a bigger issue!!
The odd thing is that I’ve put almost 600 miles on the car since I had the work done and the squeak is a very new development.
If new bump stop replaced the old and now you have at least one rubbing the tire, it would have been very close before. Unless your car is an S3, for which 205s are the correct tire, were the tires fitted to your standard rims? There are more appropriate offsets to set the inside of the tire so as to give clearance on the Bump Stops.
Also, when fitting 205 tires to S1 and S2 cars, a 65 profile gets you close to the original rolling circumference of the original 185 x 70 tire. Even when fitting 195 tires we fit 65 profile to get close to the original rolling circumference.
Regards,
Bill
Bill, original tire for S1/S2 is 185 R15, which means an 80 profile.
The correct height if shifting to a wider 205 tire would be a 205/70 R15, not 205/65 R15.
Philip,
These bump stops are “handed” so they are designed to be installed so they tilt away from the tires. If you can look closely, they are not perpendicular to the mounting base. Just flip it around and it should clear the tires.
Curious how tire pressure might affect this contact. How many pounds below optimum might it take to be a factor?
Shouldn’t really matter that much: the bottom line is, this has to be fixed, before you possibly wear into the sidewall of the tire.
Trust me, that is not a happy occurrence…
Wigs, you look older in your avatar.
That’s from all the Jaguars I worked on…
Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong 
