Groan and Creaky Front Suspension???
 

First things first mods:

Tein Flex Z dampers (recently installed to replace a set that had 50k on them)
Whiteline Sway Bar with adjustable end links (45k since installed)
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings (45k since installed)

A little while ago I noticed a groan/creaky noise in the front suspension when the car is stopped and you turn the wheel to the right and left. You also hear this creak/groan noise and you go over bumps in the road.


I thought it might have been the coils needing a rebuild so I sent my old set out to be rebuilt and got a new set and threw them in. It changed nothing.

The noise goes away totally if the car sits for a few days (don't really drive it on the weekends that much) for about 30-40 minutes until I think it loosens up.

I thought originally it may be the steering bushings but the fact it happens over bumps also not just when turning makes me think that it is less likely that.

I am wondering if it is maybe the bushings in the control arms or maybe a combination of both?

Any ideas?

My first suspect would be the white line swaybar bushings... just pulled mine after 10k miles to clean and because they were groaning and squeaking... Thay maybe listed as greaseless but lube them with a good bearing grease and see what happens..

Ed

Apply grease to bushings and report back. :)

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Will do, I am very suspect of the sway bar bushing too.

What kind of grease should I use?

did you ever get this issue figured out? i'm having a similar problem.

Check for cracks in the top hats too.

Does it make the noise when you turn the wheel at low speeds?

I had this same issue that had gotten progressively worse throughout this year (~40k miles on the clock). After tightening and banging on everything in the suspension, swapping out my coil-overs for OEM set up, I figured out that it's the steering. I've found two problems - the knuckle joint before the steering rack needs lubrication and the steering rack itself seems to be loose!

I've sprayed WD-40 onto the knuckle and the creaking went away (mostly). I still need to get up there to tighten the rack itself which is rattling over small bumps in the road, etc.

You should look at replacing your steering rack bushings if your rack is making most of the noise. Very important though, WD-40 is not really a lubricant, it's a solvent. If you need to lubricate something you should be using a quality grease or fluid film, not WD-40. WD-40 will end up dissolving and removing what little grease may have remained from the factory originally and can actually end up making the problem worse (or worse yet causing parts to seize). Never use WD-40 as a lubricant.

Gotcha on the SR bushings. Hopefully, it's just loose and not dying as some other folks have experienced.

The WD-40 was just a test to see if anything on the knuckle would help with the noise. It did which tells me that it needs to be relubed with something appropriate to keep the noise away. I'm waiting to do all of that together (to give the WD-40 a chance to go away).