ricknjaxfl

Clk320 cab made awful creaking sounds every time I turned into my driveway, which has a bit of a rise from the street, and sometimes would creak on any turn with any kind of dip. Two dealers and one Indy shop couldnt find anything, but suspected suspension parts or top alignment at header. A friend who is mechanically inclined solved it! He listened as I drove car over a bump, said try it with hood open, voila, no creaking! It was just that the two hood latches were TOO TIGHT. About a half turn loosening and ZERO NOISE. I no longer feel like the car is a piece of junk, as the noise was loud and annoying. I mentioned this solution to the dealer and they couldn't have cared less let alone wanting to. Use the info. I hope this helps anyone else with a creaking and groaning CLK.

jserio

Thanks for sharing. Good to know.

Andy11UK

Thank you for that, just 1 question if OK, when you say latches do you mean on the top of the windscreen or the part on hood that hooks into the header please?

I've got a creak but its above or slightly behind my head, but noise is funny could be anywhere,

ricknjaxfl

Andy, I meant the two hood latches. As they were too tight, there was no play when the body flexes. It always sounded like the noise was from the suspension, somewhere under the car. However I have also had noise from the cab top where it latches into the windshield header. There are small, hard plastic bumpers that the latch grabs when tightened, and mine are both cracked as the plastic is very hard and breaks after time. This causes just enoug movement to make the creak or squeak, of course MB does not offer those two little pieces as a replacement part, they wanted $200 per latch to replace the whole assembly, which I won't spend. So I use tape to hold the pieces of the plastic bumpers together and that temporarily stops the noise. Funny a cheap piece of plastic can cause so much noise. With tht top unmatched or open, you will see the pieces I am talking about in the latch assembly. When I get a chance I will try to upload a photo. Best of luck.