Creaking in front suspension
 

I posted this in the CLS forum but it is kind of dead there so I thought I'd post it here too since the CLS is based on the E-sedan. My wife has a 2013 CLS550 we bought CPO. We purchased the extended warranty when we bought it and we have a couple years left on that but we have had it in now 4 times for a creaking noise in the front suspension when going over speed bumps, dips etc. They replaced both front struts and the front sway bar and now they replaced both lower control arms. Dealer says creak is gone but there is still a slight squeak they are addressing.

Has anyone else experienced this and had it fixed? If so what was the cause? The car has approx. 60k miles on it currently. We love the car but this is kind of annoying... glad we purchased the extended warranty though.

My E550 has been a little creaky lately. Interested to see what the solution is but I haven't looked into it.

same as mine....Creakyyyyy
But mine is the rear...

I am also thinking replace out all the control arms, struts and sway bar.

Its going to be very costy for me.

I experienced a similar creaking sound over bumps in my C320 at 85,000 miles. An independent repair shop diagnosed and replaced both lower control arms (front) at 95,000 miles. Apparently the bushings dry/wear out, and MB recommends replacing these at about 90,000 mi as normal maintenance (or so the shop told me). The creak has since disappeared in front, but I now have it in the rear suspension. Probably bushings there, too.

In my case, there was no need to replace struts or sway bars, etc. Although I imagine that anything with a bushing will get old with time. HTH.

I had some creaking like this in my Range Rover at the end of last winter so what I did is went underneath and sprayed molybdenum Grease in all of the bushings I could get to. problem solved.
​​​​​​Might help

are your front brake pads and rotors aftermarket? cause mine are..!
They replaced the broken sway bar bracket in the rear under ELW.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...ebaa70dc88.png

I'll try this! Is this similar to what you applied? I have a slight clicking/creaking sound at very low speeds on the front side of my 2010 e350.

I think so. Might have been white lithium grease.Sorry it was a year ago. Couldn't hurt to try tho.
I remember it was driving me nuts when I pulled into the Starbucks window and could hear it creaking before , lol.
Hope it works!

My noise and creaking was the struts. Replaced both and the creaking went away.

Glad that struts helped your car. No help for mine. My noise has been at the left front, since the car was nearly new. They replaced the left front strut. No change.

Lately, the noise in my car has become temperature sensitive. It is quiet in the summer and fall, but now that temps are dropping into the 20's, the noise is coming back. I'll wait until the temp is sure to be cold enough, then back it goes. It spent 5 weeks at dealer last spring, but the weather got warm while they had it and noise went away. This time, I want them to get to troubleshoot it, not have it hide.

I wish you well! Best of luck with that. My creak, { I think} has gone away but I haven't been in a closed parking lot yet to hear it. To me mine sounded like the body was flexing. I have my fingers crossed it wont creak anymore. Its the clunking that almost put me in a tail spin.

I have had to make the major adjustment from my old car (LS430) to the E400 with steel springs/sport suspension. This is a completely different sort of car. The Lexus was nearly silent until you punched it, and then you heard the V8 trying to suck the hood into the air intake. Absolutely NO squeaks or rattles all the way to the 157K miles at trade-in. The E400, with its lower and stiffer suspension, is just a rattletrap by comparison. The Lexus handled better (believe it or not), was more composed, had a far better sound system. . . but it was old and slower. The E400 flies, in comparison. IIRC, the LS430 was said to do the 0-60 sprint in 6.3 seconds. Quite good for a 2001 luxocruiser. The E400, OTOH, did 0-60 in 5.0 seconds, per the Car and Driver instrumented test in 2015.

I have many little rattles in the car, but it is just too much fun to drive to let those get to me. Big creaking noises, though. . .

Okay
 

I have had,the exact issue... When temp drops and when the car Is cold, left front creaks and moans its way over speed humps and wavy pavement. Shops say they can't duplicate. Been going on for over a year. I guess unless it showa up as a fault, they dont know what to do. Frustrating

Are you sure the squeak is coming from the suspension? I had a squeak that sounded like a chirping bird every time I went over a bump or pothole. Took it to the dealer get looked at, and they replaced a few parts including the front strut, sway bar, bushings, and nothing helped. I'm happy for those parts though. They claimed it was fixed, but it clearly was not. There was a park near me that had a brick crosswalk. It squeaked EVERY time I drove over it. I took their master tech on a ride with me over to the park and showed him. He said he definitely heard it. The issue was pinpointed to the outside brake pad on the driver's side being loose and shifting around over bumps. They were nice and took care of the cost since this was a wear and tear issue, but I took it home like that. I bought some cheap anti brake squeal and put it on the brake pad guide pins. Headed straight away to the park, but I could already tell the issue was fixed before I even got there. After that point, I replaced all the pads and rotors, as well as inspected the caliper guide pins and lubricated them. It's been smooth as silk since then!

Mine is a lot like that, too. The unfortunate thing for me is that there is a dip in the pavement where my driveway meets the street. That's usually the first thing I hear in the morning. It just puts my teeth on edge.

Last spring, when I took it to the dealer, I was able to show their senior tech how to cause the noise. I just crept over a speed bump about a block from the dealership. They still couldn't fine the cause. I guess it could also be a plastic part scraping against the suspension -- maybe an underbody cover or inner fender panel. It could be rubbing, rather than creaking. You can almost feel it. I doubt that it will ever "go away."

I'm taking the car in for new tires and alignment in a couple of weeks. If it is cold at that time, I will let the current servicing dealer look into it. I "fired" the selling dealer's service department when the kept the car for over 5 weeks and accomplished nothing.

Question
 

Did you ever find out the issue? My 2017 e300 has the same problem.

+1 same thing!
Front suspension noise only from driver side over speed bumps since very 1st mile.

My money is on a stabilizer link or stabilizer bushing... more so than a ball joint.

yeah, antisway mounts are a common cause of suspension squeakks.