ALS2000

Just had a broken spring. replaced with tein basic. car looks great, except the creaking sound from the front passenger side. Even at a standstill, if I turn the steering wheel lock to lock, I can hear the suspension creaking on the passenger side.

did a search but nothing specific to tein. read it might be the strut top mounted wrong? will suggest to the shop to check that.

Any other ideas of what can cause such a "creaking" sound. when drivin in a straight line there is no noise at all. only when turning the wheel whether turning while driving or turning the wheel while the car is stopped. same creaking sound.

thanks again all.

phister

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/363495-common-suspension-noises-solutions.html you try our suspension problems thread?

jemfrap

damn i thought teins was a good brand

samaritrey

i doubt the issue is the springs. My guess a bushing is worn or something is not tight.

phister

Teins are a good brand. most likely its the sway bar bushings or something along those lines.

ALS2000

Thanks, that's the exact thread that helped the most to suggest to me that maybe the top strut mount cap or whatever it's called is the culprit. I was asking if there were any other suggestions for me to ask the shop to check. But thanks for reposting it in case someone else with a similar problem reading this has not stumbled on that thread yet.

phister

Usually if its the strut it'll be making chunking or banging noise when hits bumps or any driving because its still loose. All you have to do is pop open the hood and tighten the bolts down. But you can make sure the lock nut holding the hat down is fully tighten by using a vice grip on the hat and using a wrench on the piston and turning it till you can't anymore. But from what you're describing it sounds like a worn bushing or something dealings with the sway bar bushings or LCA.

TruTaing

Does it make noise while driving straight? Going over bumps?

If its only your front passenger side that is making the noise while turning the wheel in park, then I bet it is the front top strut mount bearing/bushing not being seated properly during the installation. It has to be seated properly otherwise, itll make squeaky sounds non stop from the rubber making contact with your strut tower.

ps - I wish you would have just posted in the common noises thread. It would help consolidate future searches and people w/ the same issue you have.

phister

He said it only makes noise when turning (even when the cars not moving) and going over bumps I believe but not when going straight. Maybe the seat hat isn't sitting right against the car frame?

ALS2000

sorry bout that. still pretty new to this forum. wasn't sure if anyone would read that post if it was on the last page. but I will do that in the future.

thanks phister and trutaing for your suggestions. the car seams to groan/creak only when hard braking and turning the car or turning the wheel. no noise when going straight or over bumps at all. I am going to the shop that installed today after work to get it looked at.

Trutaing, thanks for the initial suspension thread. I printed off the photo of the top hat and will bring it to them to show them what part it might be. I imagine they will understand.

phister

also make sure all the bolts are properly tightened down and that the seat locks are tightened as well. I got a little chunking noise this morning from my driver side rear coilover like it was bottoming out so I lifted it up and retightened all the bolts that I removed during install and checked my seat locks to make sure they weren't loose. Did all those checks and the chunking noise went away. It could be something simple as that. But start with the seat hat and make sure its lock nut is all the way down and that the hat is properly seated when its put back on. The creak might be the hat trying to turn to get into the proper spot. It's kinda like when you put new springs on, you have to sometimes turn the wheel from lock to lock to get them to seat, it makes a pop noise sometimes when it seats.

ALS2000

Went to the shop today and they said everything looks right. the installer was aware that the shape of the top hat has a notch and must be seated correctly. Everything appears tight. He said the problem may be that the shock is too short? And therefore the 3 inch piece of metal at the top of the assembly (the horizontal piece that you can see when the hood is open, it moves when you turn the steering wheel) is not seated flush against the rubber seal. There is about a 3 mm gap between.

They will actually remove and reinstall both front coilovers tomorrow. I appreciate the gesture as they are trying their best to remedy the situation but any other suggestions? Does is make sense that the shock is too short and therefore there is a gap (at the part under the hood in plain sight)

Wish I had a pic to show but waiting for new camera battery charger in the mail.

phister

No that will not be an issue with the noise. Its usual for there to be a gap when you lower the car to have the gap. If you pop open your hood and push down on your car a couple of times you'll notice that the part moves with the piston, not allowing it to hit against the rubber bushing. The only reason for that to make a noise is if they didnt tighten the lock nut and the bolt tight enough. I have TEIN coilovers and I have no problems with them at all. I'm thinking they didnt tighten the lock nut down all the way. There's a DIY on installing the TEIN coilovers, I recommend you print out those instructions and see if they did all those steps properly.

ALS2000

great suggestion phister, I printed the instructions off. the diy suggests using washers (not supplied) with the sway bar mount. I will show them that section and also make sure they tighten the bolts well when they reinstall.

hope all goes well and thanks again

fookoo303

mine has a gap there and it's fine. It doesn't make any noise or anything. I also looked and there is no impression there, so i dont think it's supposed to be in contact

ALS2000

fookoo303 thanks, you're right. the gap is supposed to be there. They added a washer at the top of the whole assembly right under the black piece under the hood to each side so that they could get the nut tighter on the threads. seems to have worked. hopefully it is still all good in the morning when it is cold.

however, now that the front sounds are gone the rear can be heard creaking quite loudly. they say they have tightened everything there is to tighten and that the spring sits on metal and there is no cushioning so I will hear some creaking there. I get the noise while braking hard or accelerating hard, or doing a full turn (like a 180). It's not so bad but still annoying. Any bells ring for you guys?

TemjinX2

did you tighten the suspension under load? if you tighten it when its not under load, it can make noises.

phister

Yea make sure its tightened under load. Also did they use the perch on the top of the springs? They're not suppose to. Mine makes no noise at all.

fookoo303

when you say perch, are you talking about the rubber spring pad? Because you are supposed to use that.

phister

Not in the rear you're not because if you do, the spring wont seat correctly. If you read TruTaing's install he's says not to do it. I also noticed that when I did my install that if I put the spring perch ontop of the gold perch like in the picture below, it doesnt seat properly and the spring sits at an angle.

fookoo303

hmmm... guess the coilovers are different because with my h&r I actually bought larger spring pads to even out the drop and mine seats just fine. I guess it would make sense if the adjustable part is on top, it would need to be flat.

phister

Yea I was questioning it at first but when I put the adjuster in to test it out it sat nice and flush. Each brand has there own way of doing this.

ALS2000

still having noise from front and back. not that loud but very annoying. maybe I am just picky, hopefully will settle a bit. probably will buy some of that silicone lubricant and spray everything just in case it's bushings and not loose bolts. they seemed to have tightened everything. I even brought the instructions from DIY here and they followed it again. I don't think it's an install issue. oh well. will have my independent mechanic take a look also next time I need servicing.

Thanks all for the help

phister

Turn up your radio lol I'm pretty picky about my car too. I'm always checking and rechecking if I hear an unfamiliar noise.