I was able to get under the car and probed where bracket bolt held end of sway bar to car. The bolt seams to be broken off or rusted off inside the hole. Looks to be know clearance to push out the top. Im guessing the whole frame assembly will have to be dropped to remove bolt from top. Has anyone had this happen? I'm thinking more bolts will break disassembling.

I have this creaking noise and wondering if this is the case of stabilizer bar bushings going bad. I only get this noise when I go over bumps and braking or going downhill coming to a stop. I have already replaced the struts and the mounts. If I go over bumps and not brake at the same time I do not hear any noise at all. This noise can happen both going forward or reverse. All the parts "looks" good under the car, no cracked or leaking rubber parts., no play in the ball joints with the joints unloaded.

try a speed bump at only a few mph so the car heaves up and down ... do you hear it then? If not, how about if you entry an uneven surface while turning so that only one of the front wheels is elevated?

Nope, only when I'm going straight, going over a speed bump and touch the brakes at the same time. I can go ver the bumps fast or slow, if I don't touch the brakes I don't hear anything. Thank you for replying...

Does the speed matter?

Does it happen anytime you brake? From any speed? Or do you have to brake with a minimum amount of effort in order to feel it? Is it when the body of the car pitches downward when you brake hard enough?

If I go fast I'm sure I can't hear it due to road noise but if I go slow, every time the car pitch if I brake moderately I can hear it creak once when the nose pitches down and once up.

In my experience:

* If it's a creak, then look at the front or rear sway bar bushings.

* If it's a clunk or clatter when driving over a pothole, bumps or irregularities in the road, look at the sway bar end links

* If it's one or more distant "knocks" when braking hard, look at the control arm bushings.

* If it's a creaking only while turning the steering wheel, look at the top strut mount

* If the car steering "slops" to one side or the other depending on the crown of the road, look at the steering rack bushings.

* If it's a knocking or loose joint sound when you back out of a driveway or hit small bumps at low speeds, look at the inner or outer tie rods, or play within the steering rack (this is what I am still chasing down).

You have the same car I do (2005 c230 w/ sport suspension), so your front sway bar bushings are likely shot if you haven't replaced them yet. The replacement is a new sway bar with molded on bushings ... evidently they had so much of a problem with noise from these bushings that they molded them onto the bar. I haven't replaced anything in the rear of the car yet.

Thanks, JK, much appreciated. I dreaded you might say it was the sway bar bushings! The car has really been pretty good to me up till now. I've replaced a fuel pump (which died on me on the highway fast lane!!), strut and mounts, 2 trans pilot bushings (auto), 2 sets of rotors, 1 voltage regulator and an alternator pulley, that's about it. And the reason I had to replace 2 sets of front rotors was that the first set I had was cheap and warp when it got hot, they were Balo or Baro and were like 34 bucks each.
I'll probably just lube them so the noise goes away then turn the car in in the Summer for something else.

JK, One thing I found puzzling is that if I don't step on the brake while going over bumps, I do not hear the creaking. I can also hear the creaking if I go backwards and step on the brakes even without going over bumps.
Have you discovered what your noise come from yet? The knocking noise while backing out of the driveway. From my experience the tiers or steering rack bushing doesn't make a knocking noise. What you can do is have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth and you can see if the steering have any play in it, if not then it is neither the tired nor the rack bushing...

Had a mechanic take a serious look at mine.
The bushes at the BASE of the shock are worn out and need replacing.

However, replacing them means new shocks as the bushes cant be replaced.

As my car is not fitted with the self levelling system, it should be about $400 for parts.

Rear shocks on a 2005 c230, $75-90 each for Bilstein TC, $100 each for OEM Sachs.

Wow they're just as expensive as the struts!! Actually I got mine (struts) for $114 for the pair here in Laguna Beach (they're in Fountain Valley). They charged me $20 for shipping although I could have gone to pick them up as they are only about 15 miles from my house but they won't let me.
How long have you had your car for, John?
Ben, these must be for the rear, yes?

I bought my car new in Feb 2005. The shocks started really getting weak around 2011, and in 2012 I replaced them. So far the TCs have been holding up admirably, and as I understand it they are lifetime warranty, so if I feel they ever are loosening up or if the rubber starts creaking, I should be able to swap them out with a new pair at no charge (maybe shipping cost for the return set if they actually want them back).

Fyi,

* the rears are monotube, and the same shock is used for both sport and non-sport suspensions.

* The fronts are twin-tube, and I didn't know it but there are different struts for sport vs non-sport -- strut length is 3/4" less for sport, plus the sway bar link hole is M12 vs M10, plus the sport damping is slightly less (yes less) than for non-sport. Since i could only find one type of strut I ended up getting the one for non-sport, drilling out the sway bar link hole, and I live with extra 3/4" suspension travel whenever I jack up the car. The car handles very well, and I don't know if I would be able to tell the difference between the sport and non-sport damping rates (presumably the lower damping rate on the sport might reduce resonance on wavering roads at certain driving speeds ... who knows.)

But the car does feel sportier than it did with the stock suspension.

For me the specs indicated that it would fit my car and I didn't even check the link bolt hole till I had one installed so I had to drill the hole with the strut installed. I drilled the hole for the other side before I installed it though. Yes you are correct, it is longer (though I didn't measure it) which made using the spring compressor a little easier! For me I really didn't notice much difference in the ride but I don't go racing with it or anything so it works out fine for me, and the cost is quite a lot less, I use Stagg struts. I haven't changed the shocks yet.
I really don't feel like changing the sway bar, I think it's about the time and mileage when a lot of parts will need changing (i'm still on original water pump and starter). I'm seriously considering the 2017 E-class when it comes out but until then I'm going to need to keep this car on the road as it's fantastic on gas and nimble to drive.

Just replaced a few things myself yesterday and still have yet to identify the culprit of the thrumming sound coming from my front suspension

Replaced in the front:
Sway bar
Sway bar bushings
Sway bar end links
Balanced all tires.

How many miles are on your front struts? have you replaced the strut bearings?

Could you describe how you reproduce the sound?

No idea how many miles are on the strut bearing as I'm not the original owner. I'm going to say it's safe to assume they have never been changed.

Driving straight and at all different speeds it's audible. No vibration in the wheel, just a constant wawawawa type of sound, all brakes and rotors have been replaced as well.

Front bearings possibly?

When you're driving straight, if you turn the wheel slightly left or right, does the noise change? if no then it's not the wheel bearing. You can try put your spare on one of the front wheel and see if the noise change, this could indicate tire noise. This is due to cupping in the tires which could be caused by bad alignment or bad shocks or struts (tire bounce while driving).

I hate to say it, but sometimes tires can make a lot of misleading noises.

I had General UHP Exclaim tires on my car during it's middle years, and at one point I thought I needed a new front suspension, transmission, and differential, there were so many whining, grinding and vibrating sounds. I decided to replace the tires first, and it pretty much all cleared up :)

That is definitely true John. I used to work for Goodyear and MIchelin in my past life for over 25 years. Even tires that has wide vertical spacings on the sidewall (Technical term, if my memory is correct is called sipes) can create noise much like the old Willy jeeps did.
In the old days if you have front wheel drive cars and don't rotate the tires the rear will cup really bad and make noise just like a bad wheel bearing.
BTW all my front end noise is gone now, what I did was loosen the sway bar and greased all around the rubber bushing where it contact the frame and the bracket.

Well, after all the rain that we had stopped, my creaking while going over speed bumps and brake at the same time is back. I'm 100% sure it isn't my sway bar. The reason being I took the sway bar completely out of the car and go over the speed bumps and brake again and I still get that exact same creaking. The rain apparently lubricate whatever was creaking (driver's side). If I turn and brake I still get that creaking if the left front end dip from braking. I'm totally stumped. Could the thrust arm bushing be the cause? I can hear it really close to my footwell though. Whatever it is I have to apply moderate brake for it to creak.

Reply to jcnash post#9, I think you might have the material backwards.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...e29da5ae47.png

Had both Front-Upper and Front-Lower control arm bushings pressed out yesterday and replaced all with OEM Lemforder. According to my Indy, the balljoints were in solid shape at 102k miles. I know it's a bit of a gamble doing ONLY the bushings, but for $340 parts/labor, I found it hard not go ahead with it.

I must say, after replacing, the car is significantly smoother over bumpy driving conditions. As you can see below, the Front-Upper bushings were shot!


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...c8073fc910.jpg

Nice pics of those old bushings :)

If you haven't replaced the engine/tranny mounts yet and you can hear any engine noise/vibration, time to do the mounts. This will result in another noticable improvement in ride noise/quality.

-- John

Haha, no prob! :y I prob need to reduce the size of this images a little bit..

I replaced the tranny mount last winter, so that's checked off the list. I'll need to do the engine mounts after winter; remarkably they're holding up well for 12 years, no issues. Yet...