I just had my lca replaced b/c my ball joint was fried after a few giant pot holes (new moog part from Rock Auto). My car feels much better but there is a creaking/binding when I turn my wheel from side to side when the car is stopped. It is not noticeable when moving.Is this a tie rod end or something not right w/ the lca install? Ty Brian.

 

Probably your strut bearing is bad on that side.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Struts are fairly new. What's my best way to check this please.

 

I had the same thing once...right after replacing the struts and strut bearings. turned out to be a bad ball joint....

 

Thought you were out of town until Monday or Tuesday..?

 

thanks for the tip. I'm having a very similar issue.

 

Struts can be replaced without doing the mounts where the bearing resides. If the work was done by a shop and the invoice does not show additional parts cost for the mounts then they were likely reused. From my experience, short of disassembling the strut assembly it can be difficult to further diagnose strut mounts beyond them being noisy/clunky. They can cause poor unpredictable handling if left unchecked. If you take the top hat apart you will most likely find a ruined bearing or pieces of one. At the time of the strut change they probably looked fine and were not recommended (assuming you didn't do the work yourself of course).

I had a similar noise on my driver's front that ended up being the bearing. I replaced both sides with the struts and no more creaking noise. You can try shooting some WD40 down into the strut mounts from the top in the engine bay to see if the noise quiets at all. It won't solve your problem but can at least help in diagnosis.

It's highly unlikely this was caused from the LCA install unless the ball joint is faulty as it is essentially the bottom pivot point for the spindle with the strut bearing being the top. There is a very slight possibility the mount was damaged if they were too forceful with the spindle when moving it around during the installation. That can primarily depend on if the cv axle was removed to gain access to the nut on the ball joint.

 

Turns out it is the hub.

 

This doesn't make any sense. Hub or wheel bearing does not make any noises or have any movement when stationary. And you mentioned the noise is NOT present when in motion.

Pls elaborate or help us understand how this diagnosis was reached.

 

this. 100%

 

I was told by a mechanic after the car was on a lift and he shook wheel. I will get a 2nd opinion before I have it installed because I know you know what you're talking about. The car is much better with the new LCA. I saw the broken ball joint myself. Thank you for asking even though I was never able to make it out to New Jersey.

 

Maybe this mechanic is a moron and thank you guys I will get it double check before I put it in the part that I don't need. I will have it rechecked by someone else tomorrow. I've ordered the part from Rock Auto, if it turns out I don't need it I will return it and have what is needed repaired. I will absolutely post what happens. Ty guys.

 

The hub may very well be bad....but what we're saying is a new hub won't fix your original stated issue of creaking when the wheel is turned while you're not moving.


There is a 95% certainty that the issue is your strut mount bearings.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ing-wheel.html

Go OEM for strut mount bearings...I bought MOOG and one failed within a couple weeks after install, gave me the same clicking noise when stopped...turned out the grease or w/e inside spilled out

 

Thank you so much. I will be standing underneath the car with the mechanic. How do I tell if the strut mount bearing is bad while checking?

 

well chances are when the car is up in the air, you're not gonna hear it, since there's no load on the suspension.

It can only be heard / pinpointed when car is on the ground...hood up, steering wheel turning but car not moving.

 

If there's play in the wheel/hub when the car is jacked up, then it's usually not the strut bearing- it'll be a ball joint or hub.

It could be a bad/poorly installed ball joint. And yes, it could be a wheel hub or strut bearing too. If the creaking wasn't there before the ball joint replacement and is now, then I'd look at the ball joint.

Does the ball joint you bought have a grease nipple in it? If so, pump some grease in there- it may have been installed dry.

Did you replace the entire control arm, or just the ball joint? On an old Altima I had, I replaced only the ball joint, and after about 10,000 miles the "new" ball joint came loose from the control arm. I pressed it back into place and tack welded the edges in so it didn't come out again. The point is the Altima control arm looked very similar to 4th/5th gen control arms with a press-in ball joint, and this is yet another possibility.

 

if it's the bearing:







^^ this is a top view of the bearing. There is two parts to it, what you see here, and a disc that is the bottom part (see next pic:



^^ bottom view.



Basically what happens when the strut is compressed and the car is on the ground, the bottom part of the bearing moves with the steering wheel and the top part stays stationary with respect to the car.

With bad bearings, the bottom part doesn't move as easily, which is the cause of the creaking you're hearing (the bottom of bearing not moving as well = binding of strut because strut doesn't turn as well with wheel= your creaking)

 

There's no grease inside strut bearings.

I've only seen one defective Moog bearing when new, and I've installed hundreds of Moog mounts/bearings.

 

I did replace the entire lower arm but I don't remember the guy putting any grease in. I did not think new cars had grease fittings anymore, holy s@#$ if so that's probably my problem.

 

It depends on the type of ball joint. Some are sealed and not greasable. Some have a grease nipple and are greasable.

MOST run-of-the-mill mechanics install the sealed/non-greasable version.

 

My oem strut bearings had white silicone like grease.

 

whatever is in them that makes them spin then...my moog one was bad, so I replaced both with OEM a few weeks after install.

 

the 4th/5th gen OEM strut bearings have a teflon-impregnated plastic disc in them to serve as the bearing. 3gens actually had steel bearings. Yeah the mounts were 2" thick, but they last forever.

 

^

 

Yea i had 2 separate cars with bad moog strut bearings, couldnt believe it was that since they were new, but OEM strut bearings fixed that stationary creaking problem for good.

 

I had the car checked by another (real) mechanic w/ me standing next to him. The hub is wobbling all over the place & my stabilizer link is also bad. I guess that would do it lol.