[venturaII]

Hi All...been a while. Not sure if this would be the best sub, or if it should be in the Maintenance section, and I did several Searches which failed to turn anything up...anyway.. My '13 FR-S (90K miles) has developed a groan in the steering system when it's cold out, as it has been here in central New England for the past couple of months. I'm assuming it's the electric booster complaining about the cold temps, but wanted to be sure if I could just ignore it or if it was indicative of bigger trouble ahead?

Car is still pretty stock at this point...aftermarket swaybars, Sachs shocks, and camber bolts/adjustable LCAs with a 'sporty' alignment...lol. Wheels are currently 16" steels with 205 studded snows, so nothing weird in that department.

It's definitely not something rubbing....I hear the groan the most when I first start the car and it's dead cold, and I turn the wheel a lot to pull out of a parking spot or my driveway, or even making a slow tight turn into a side street. It seems to go away as the car warms up, but I haven't taken it on a long ride in quite a while, so it's tough to say with 100% confidence that it goes away when the cabin fully warms up. I can almost feel the groan in the pedals when it happens. I don't think it's the coupler bushing that I've read about, because I don't feel any slop anywhere... Anyone else experience this? Should I be saving for a new electric steering booster?