Vervish

iTrader: (4)

Sorry for the long thread..

My front passenger side wheel hit a massive pothole the other night. When I initially hit, I was certain that I either bent the rim or blew out the tire. Luckily - neither of those things happened.

I am now hearing a a very odd creaking sound in the interior. It almost sounds as if the passenger side fender is rubbing on another body panel (metal on metal creak). The sound reminds me of chassis flex noise in an old car when you jack it up or enter a steep driveway. I can only hear the creaking/squeaking from the inside of the cabin - sounds like it is coming from the glove box or foot well area. It creeks when I move from a stopped position and when I hit certain bumps (whether on the driver's side or passenger).

I jacked up the car and checked the suspension - I do not see anything bent or loose, (coil overs look fine). I also removed the plastic shrouds to check the shock towers and they look perfect. The car drives perfectly normal, I do not feel any difference in the ride and/or handling. I still need to get the car up on a lift for a detailed inspection, but I am relatively confident that the suspension is ok.

The passenger side fender looks correctly aligned - the one thing I did notice is that when I open the passenger side door fully and push lightly beyond the max open limit, I get a very slight squeak that sounds just like what I am hearing inside.. Otherwise the rest of the body seems perfect.

I found this thread that has me worried: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ease-look.html

Any ideas?

MisterSkiz

iTrader: (2)

Is it maybe the door hinges?

Joker4096

iTrader: (2)

now that i look at my car, it has similar dents on the roof around the sunroof like that car in the thread. hmm is the body of this car not as strong as i thought?

Vervish

iTrader: (4)

Sucks.

Think it is a combo of some "flex" in the chassis and the super thin aluminum body panels. I do not have any dents on my sunroof..

Joker4096

iTrader: (2)

Yea it is that. I'm going to get pdr in the future. I don't think the body is twisted lol. But man I guess it's a common issue.

MileHIFcar

There is a thread somewhere on CL about something similar to what your stating about some buckling around the sunroof after a hard pothole hit!

nks979

Ive got a small dent on my roof too, I thought it was just some minor hail damage. As for your problem vervish are you sure its not just an interior piece in the dash that got rocked loose? Could be an interior rattle, mine unfortunately has a couple of those now.

Vervish

iTrader: (4)

Yeah - I am hoping it is just some trim piece.

I plan on removing some interior trim pieces tonight to see if I can eliminate them as the source. I also have an appointment tomorrow at my local shop for them to put it up on the lift and confirm that suspension is ok. If this does not pinpoint the issue, I will go to my body shop guy to see if I somehow managed to make the fender shift enough to get the creaking sound..

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

You woke up the squeak demon with your transgression and he's pretty irritated about it.

I saw the thread you referenced. Same thing happened to my car, but the tire was a total loss - sliced the sidewall clean through. Dimpled three corners of the sunroof. All got fixed by insurance, but it didn't give me much confidence in the roll stiffness of the chassis.

Vervish

iTrader: (4)

Thoroughly inspected the suspension - its all good.

i have narrowed the issue to the front fender it must have shifted and is now creaking. I believe the tire made contact with the fender and slightly moved it.

Joker4096

iTrader: (2)

Yea I'm a little sceptical on the chassis stiffness now also. Did they just do a pdr to remove the dimples? Also what do you recommend to not have this happen again? More braces on the underbody? Sorry to go off topic.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No PDR. They addressed a number of issues so the headliner was out completely. Short of putting a full cage in the car, I don't think any bracing will strengthen the roof. You would be better off with no sunroof at all.

Vervish

iTrader: (4)

FWIW - my body shop guy said the dents near sunroof is common on all cars - he has seen it a million times on all makes and models.

i had him take a look at the fender. He pulled off the sideskirts, removed the fender liner and took a look. He does not see any signs of damage on the shock tower or to the chassis itself. The fender looks like it might have moved very slightly, but he does not understand how/why it is making the creak noise as it is not running against the adjacent panels. He loosened some of the fender support bolts and retightened them, this has greatly reduced the creaking noise, I only hear it now while entering steep driveways.

My only other option would be for him to do a full teardown to remove the fender...

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I traded my '93 Celica GTS for my '94 (first) Supra without hesitating at a time when the Supra was only known to pretty serious enthusiasts. It developed a creaking noise in the chassis that was not going to be addressed by Toyota after the 36k mile warranty. It was caused by bad spot welds. Well, bad for someone like me. For the average Celica driver, they'd never ever hear it. I asked the Toyota Master Tech I took on a ride to demonstrate the issue if this was common, and he said all cars flex, this one just happens to have a spot that makes a noise when it does.

You might have a really hard time "fixing" this. Best of luck.

mindcrime

iTrader: (2)

i'm now excepting all the rattle and nosies on the IS F. i just turn off the radio and listen to noises as i drive around in SoCal streets.