what's that noise?
 

Hello all, I have a question about a creaking coming from driver's side front. I test drove another maxima with the same sound and dealer said it was nothing--i passed that car up, but now the one i do have is making the same sound. It is a rather loud creaking when turning and sometimes when i hit a bump--the colder the weather the worse it is. I consider it rather loud b/c i can hear it with windows up and radio on. My dad wonders about a CV joint, and my boyfriend is playing it safe and not making any suggestions. I've looked at the CV boot and it is intact--not split or torn at the clamps. Any ideas would be appreciated, as well as lehman's terms--but please don't treat me like the guys at parts stores do ("this is where the oil goes..." ;)
Thanks in advance,
carrie

Re: what's that noise?
 

Could be a worn strut bearing? This site has information on what I'm talking about:

motorvate

I think mine has the same creaking noise. Had the same kind of issue on my older integra and never really got it looked at.

I'm not thinking strut bearing because as motorvate states it, that's more of a crunk-crunk-crunk, and can be tested simply by turning the wheels. This is just a "Squeeeeeeak" with the wheels pointed perfectly straight if the nose of the car dives and raises (on mine, just a little even and it'll make the noise). But not if I say, push down on the nose of the car myself when it's not in motion. It's a LOT more noticable in extreme temperatures too...when it's in the 60s or so you can't really hear it, but hot or cold, and it's fairly loud and barely when the nose dips at all.

With the integra the shops that looked at it always told me it was bushings. Not specific though, they said they'd just try different ones until it was resolved.

Sounds plausable to me that it could be a bushing. Mine is from the passenger side though. I need to examine the different bushings involved in our suspension and get replacements with the plan to install them with my replacement struts, when it gets warmer outside.

When I did my ES bushings on my car I noticed a creak/squeak coming from the front-end after a few weeks. Diagnosis: swaybar bushings were bone dry and needed grease. I'd definately recommend you check those (even though they arent ES bushings) and see if they need a lil grease. Hope this helps ya.

If your cars are lowered, I've read on here about the coils squeaking. They can be fixed with a plastic wrap. You can do a search on here to find more info. One post I remember even had pictures, and the squeak was more prominent in cold weather.
And like KMax2988 said, it could be from dry bushings, especially if you've got polyurethane. Polyurethane bushings really squeak if not greased, and especially in cold and/or damp weather.
You can have a friend try pushing down on your front end while you try to locate the noise. I don't know if it is just my SE (stock suspension, 72,000 miles), or my light as$, but it may take a couple friends to get the front end moving well enough to duplicate the noise. If you're lowered, make sure they are really big friends!
Hope this helps.

Dave

For the record I'm completely stock (SE), suspension-wise. The only time I've been able to reproduce the creak when the car was stationary was when one of my bigger friends in the passenger seat got out, in extremely hot weather.

There aren't any grease points in our car right?

When I asked an infiniti dealership in town to grease my front suspension, that's what they told me - there weren't any grease points. So I'm a little confused when people say to grease the bushings - I guess I don't understand what's meant by 'grease point' fully. ie, points that you can access without actually taking things apart/taking bushings out?

Thats basically why I just plan to replace bushings up front.

By grease the bushings I mean take the bushing off and grease the inner diameter of it. As for the control arm, you have to take the whole thing off in order to grease it.

You can spray wd40 or lithium grease at the bushing 1 at a time until the creaking or squeaking sound go away,then change or toke it apart and put some grease on it.Hope this help and good luck.:)