Hey everyone,

Whenever the outside temperature is below 0 Celcius (32 Fahrenheit for those in the States) my car squeaks whenever I go over speed bumps or drive on a slightly bumpy road.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

All Cobalt owners face this issue and there isn't really a fix with the stock suspension. It's one of the many annoyances we have to live with as Cobalt owners

 

its your intercooler and lower lip of your bumper scraping. This has been discussed numerous times.

 

You're kidding, right??!!! Jeez...that's pretty embarrassing. lol

 

Uh huh

I don't know what model you drive, but even us SS guys deal with it. We drive domestic econoboxes, such annoyances are to be expected. If we wanted quality we'd have bought Hondas

 

Design flaw, perhaps??

I'll have to search for that discussion but I don't understand why it only occurs during sub-zero temperatures.

 

well I do know that if you brought your car in an complained about it they can "fix" it but you will suffer in handling performance.. I believe they replace the sway bar bushings.

 

Yeah, it's a 2009 SS. The dealership replaced some front bushings last year but the problem persists.

 

sorry, I was joking, its the bushing on the swaybar/ sway bar endlinks. its actually a strange squeek that sounds like your bumper is scraping, lol.

I have the 2009 SS sedan. so I do get the noise. every day going to work. OH the worst is when the shifter is frozen in first gear!!! I can move it back and forth but not side to side. It takes the car 15 mins of running to warm it up enough to move.

 

Yep my car does it, my 06 LS did it and my sister's 06 LS did it.

 

Sounds more like a hooker getting pile driven into a rickety old bed, but whatever metaphor you use should suffice .

GettingAUsernameSucks mentioned it's a result of the TC having stiffer bushings than the 2.2/2.4 models (and it's actually the rear ones if you listen closely ). Naturally the colder the bushing gets, the more noise it's going to make. If you go to the dealership and complain they will replace them with a softer bushing but after the **** I put up with in my 2.2 I wouldn't recommend this.

 

Cold sucks.

 

I figured you were being sarcastic but I'm kinda' new here and didn't want to disagree. lol.

Thanks for all of your help guys...glad to hear I'm not the only out there with this problem. GM really should get their act together and start producing some quality stuff. I've always considered myself a GM guy but I'm on my second Cobalt and I'm still disappointed.

Maybe I should buy a Ford next time?! lol

 

The control arm bushings I make fix this you can buy them from OTTP a preffered vendor here. Another source of that squeaking noise are the swaybar drop links, the best fix for that are Powergrid Inc.com , drop links, you can buy those from OTTP as well or contact Chip directly at Powergrid. Eitherway you will be happy imho...

If you are disappointed in your Cobalt TC I am sad for you, bang for $ its hard to beat. EVERYTHING else new that has performance even close to the TC is a lot more money...good luck in your quest for perfection...

 

The kicker is the bushings are a better quality product, they're stiffer on the TC to improve the handling. The trade-off is they make a hell of a noise in the cold .

 

Thanks for your help and advice, qwikredline.

I agree; this car is great in the "bang for the buck" category but having said that, some criticism of GM in terms of build quality is still warranted. I've only ever owned GM vehicles (and will continue to do so) but I just wish quality control was a bit more stringent. While this might not be a deterrent for myself and most of us on this forum, I'd hate to see GM continue to lose market share to the European and Asian manufacturers as a result of poor quality control. I never ever thought I'd see the day that someone would consider buying a Hyundai over a GM. Hyundai Pony anyone??!! lol

 

I read somewhere that the oil in the struts freezes up, causing the noise. Does that make sense to anybody?

 

Glad you were joking about the ic scraping - my 2.4 has the same squeeking and I'm pretty sure I don't have an ic

Pretty much determined mine is the bushings where the front anti roll bar pivots on the chassis - the bushings get cold and stiff so instead of flexing, they kind of chatter when the front bar pivots as the bushing grabs/releases/grabs/etc on the bar.

Annoying as hell, got a few ideas for a fix but it's too damn cold in the garage, and by the time it's warm enough to work in, the squeeking is gone so I don't think about it - until it's too cold again

Ahhhhh, the joys of cost driven design......

It gets thicker (like any oil) but if it gets cold enough to freeze....you got waaaay bigger problems

 

Not to bring to life a dead post, but I'm glad I found this info. I work at a Chevy dealer and no one knew about this when I described it. I thought I was rubbing a splash shield but nothing's the matter when I get underneath. Mine is like clockwork- 32degrees and squeeking like mad, 33 and all is well. I have 7800 miles on my 09 SS/TC and for the first 7000 no noises and it was freakin cold. Why would it come out of nowhere?