For the past two-three days, I have searched endlessly for this. I have only come upon threads stating noise coming from the front end, or left or right side of the rear of the car. My noise is coming from exactly the middle of the beam on the rear. Over speed bumps, I get this loud loud loud ugly nasty dry embarrassing duck squeak. I have finally had it with the damn noise and actually took the time, after two years , to see where the noise is coming from. No, It is not the trailing arm bushings. They are not leaked out and are in good shape but I will be replacing those as well since I will be dropping the beam once I find out what to fix. It is not the strut mounts either, but I too will be replacing those when I drop the whole rear suspension assembly. I have gone out with a spray bottle filled with soap and water to troubleshoot where the noise was coming from. Spraying section at a time and pressing down on the rear of my car until I hit the spot that made the car stop squeaking. I have scooted under the car while having someone pushing down on the bumper to determine exactly where the noise is coming from. It is the left bushing on the beam. I see that ES does not make bushings for the beam (at least that's what I have read on here), so who does? Where will I be able to find these bushings? Or, do I have to go out and buy a complete beam from a lower mileage Maxima? The noise is not coming from either right or left side of the car. It is a very centric noise. I can hear it with my windows rolled up, as well as rolled down. Any help would be appreciated.

Note: I am on a completely stock suspension.
My car is a 2000 Maxima GXE with high mileage (210k)

Below is a post of what I am talking about
http://forums.maxima.org/4487961-post20.html (Courtesy of LA02MAX)

If this has already been covered, please don't flame me. I have tried searching everything I could. Simply link meand I will gladly remove this thread. Thanks!

 

I bet that if you can get the dimensions of the mount once you press them out, you can purchase a universal polyurethane bushing with a slightly oversized diameter and press it in with a rubber hammer....why go stock when you can improve what NISSAN failed to do in the first place. If you would like to get a custom bushing made there are a few companies out there that make custom order bushings, so long as you send them a diagram of it with all the measurements. good luck in your search!!

 

Calling something that lasts 210k miles something "Nissan failed to do" is a bit much.

Things wear out. Sometimes they break.

Other than that, yeah, you could get some generic urethane bushings, and also check if Moog or some other suspension part outfits make them. If you have measurements, a call to ES might also find someone who might take the time to look through their list of diameters etc to see if they have something close that would fit.

Worst case you'd be stuck with Nissan bushings again, at least for the next 150k miles - I am sure South Side Nissan's parts guy will happily sell them to you, and they may still have the maxima.org discount.

 

Thanks, I will get measurements for the bushings and I will go on a scavenger hunt for them. I plan to take my Max over 300k and I'm simply trying to make it as enjoyable as possible. Thanks once again!

 

don't get your panties in a bunch! the bushings for the rear bar are a design that 'works' for up to 150k...but is not the best bushing for the job. A rubber Press in bushing with the rubber on the top and the bottom instead of matching the angle of the 'panhard' is a small design flaw IMO. At least they should've rotated the bushing to match the angle of the 'panhard' to better cope with the lateral movement the solid axle makes. OOOOR, just install a solid rubber or poly bushing. Also, the rear bar is too short and doesn't allow for alignment or adjustment...lame. This is why my rear axle will be getting a custom chromoly Panhard bar with heims and cutting off the stock bar brackets will feel pretty good...NOT A FAN