Hello all,

This entails 3 different questions:
1. I have this loud squeak coming from the rear passenger side shock/tire area. If i bounce the corner up and down its super load... but when driving and I go over 50mph, I can't hear it anymore. What is it? Is the strut bad? Maybe the rubber mount for the spring? I can't figure it out.

2. I have anther squeak in the center dash area... almost sounds like a Relay flicking back and forth super quick... but everything in the dash and instrument panel is working fine.... thoughts?

3. This may relate to question 1 as well... I bought the car back in November, it has aftermarket rims and tires, and whenever I hit a large bump or dip in the road the back tires scrape on the wheel well. The distance from the tire to the wheel well is the same in the front as the back... but when I put anything in the trunk, even 2 cases of pop... I can run over a small crack in the road and it will scrape.
The Rims are 17" and the tire size is P235/50 R17 the front tire has a bubble and all 4 have about 1/4" of thread so I want to buy new tires soon.

Thanks for all the help!

 

It's probably the shock mount. Put the car up on ramps and get underneath while an assistant jumps up and down on the bumper. You'll see it quick.

Don't know, but it's probably not important.

Don't know, but it probably has something to do with the mount noise. Just buy some new struts and mounts. That would fix it.

 

I think items number 1 and 3 are related. The original tire on the car would have been a P205/60R16. The rims would have been 6.0Jx16 with a 40 to 42 mm offset. I'm lazy tonight, so I used the tire size calculator at http://www.csgnetwork.com/tireinfo4calc.html to make comparisons. The original tire width is 8.09", the width on the new tire is 9.25" or over one inch wider. I'm guessing the new rims are 7" wide. If the new wheels were not selected with the right offset to compensate for the wider profile, then they can either rub on the fender or suspension depending if they are too far out or too far in. You know they are rubbing somewhere and I think the squeak you hear is the tire rubbing on the strut. Get the rear end of the car up on some jack stands, pull the back tires off and inspect the rear struts for damage. I think you might be looking at new tires and wheels for the car.