This is a pretty low mileage car - still only 75K, and when I have checked the strut shafts themselves they are absolutely immaculate and still have the original smooth shiny finish with no visible wear. This is in contrast to my first Xantia (much younger at the time, but higher mileage) where there were obvious signs of wear on the shafts (from the top bush in the strut) where the smooth finish was worn through the hardening to an abraded matt finish in some small patches.
The struts have been lubricated twice in the year and a half I've had the car with lithium grease and yet in at least the last 6 months I have noticed a very definite "fidgityness" to the ride at the front most of the time, where it feels that for small movements the front suspension is basically seized and not moving freely unless I hit a larger bump. (I also notice the roll angle of the car keeps changing over small twists in the road surface - constantly tilting slightly left and right)
Also, if I raise the suspension fully it does the classic (?) creaking lurching movement for a good part of the way, mostly on the right hand side I think, but it's hard to tell. If I then lower it and raise it again it is perfectly smooth the second time and the fidgety ride disappears for a while - a while being a few hours to a day.
A week or two ago I got tired of this and decided to lube the struts again - I have always used a mineral grease before but this time I thought I would try some oil - not LHM as it's far too thin to be a good lubricant, but some left over brand new engine oil - which is significantly thicker than LHM. Again, the struts looked in immaculate condition when I checked them, I gave them three applications of oil to the shaft lowering and raising the suspension in between each application, and afterwards the suspension was moving perfectly smoothly and seemed good going for a quick test drive with no fidgeting apparent. (Bliss!)
Then two days later when raising the suspension fully it was back to it's creaky, groaning jerky movement as if it had never been lubricated. Just as bad as before!
Again, mostly on the right hand side.I can't believe those pristine looking struts are "dry" again in two days regardless of oil vs grease so it has got me seriously wondering whether I am barking up the wrong tree ? Is it possible that sticky struts is not the cause of the stiffness and creaking at all, but that I have something like a seizing ball joint ???!
Could a seizing ball joint (through lack of lubrication and/or rust in the joint) seize enough to cause the front suspension movement to become sticky and not move freely ? Such that when you forcibly move it by fully raising and lowering the suspension it "breaks free" for a while, then seizes up again when the car is left to sit for a day ?
Has anyone experienced perpetually "sticky struts" that resisted lubrication attempts that went away only when they replaced some of the ball joints ? The obvious culprit is the lower balljoint (oh dear....) but I guess potentially the droplink joint could also contribute ? How about track rod end ?
Come summer I intend to replace the drop links and track rod ends, however I have already made an aborted attempt at changing the lower ball joint so that one will not come willingly.
People might remember about a year ago I also had the problem where I accidentally drove through flooding at high speed in the dark which caused the steering and suspension to both start "creaking" under steering and suspension movement, that problem did eventually go away (but took months to fully disappear!) so I wonder if some water got into a ball joint somehow and that I now have some seizing joints thanks to that water episode.
Anyone have any suggestions ? This creaky front suspension and fidgety ride that I can't get rid of is really starting to annoy me...I know that the car can ride so much better (and has done so in the past) than it is at the moment.
I know that some silicone grease is a no no on metal.