MercedesLondon

I have a problem with a late 2012 W221 S350 AWD in trying to trace a clicking, tapping, creaking or knocking noise, (difficult to describe the sound exactly) that the car emits when the car front dips under braking and rises back up. i.e. always a double ‘creak’.

This gets worse the longer the journey you go on. This morning I went out for a journey of 14 miles and it only made the noise once when almost back home. Yesterday I was out for a journey of about 60 miles and over the last 20 miles made the noise at every slightest touch of the brake pedal. The noise doers not appear by going over bumps or any surface undulations.

The car has done 66,000 miles and I have owned it for three years and done 10,000 of those miles in that time.

I previously changed both front suspension air struts, (fitted genuine Billstein make as supplied to M.B.).

Changed front left lower suspension arm with ball joint.

Changed both Sway Bar / Anti-Roll bar links and made sure all fixing nuts were really tight.

Changed both front electronic engine mounts and transmission mounting, (genuine M.B. parts used). These were changed at the suggestion of my local M.B. dealer to cure a vibration on acceleration, later in fact cured by replacing right front drive shaft.

All ball joints and bushes tight and with no play anywhere.

Most people think the noise comes from the right front, with one thinking it is coming from front center.

Has anyone else experienced such a noise and can advise what they did to cure it? All suggestions welcome.

Senecat

It's always something you screwed up if you did work to it. I would also check that calipers are secure.

MercedesLondon

Already checked the calipers and this appeared suddenly about three weeks ago which must have been at least three months since I last had to work on the car and that job I had to do was replace the heated AdBlue pipe from front to back so completely unrelated. Been repairing cars professionally for over 50 years. I leave screw ups to others and then correct them..

Senecat

Well at least you have a Rolls you can putz around in til you get it sorted.

I dunno man, post a video. Right front makes sense, you replaced left control arm, why not the pair? Get the neighbor kid to jump up and down on the core support while you stick your head in there and listen...

MercedesLondon

In furtherance to my original posting, I have now recorded this nose which I would describe more of a creak than anything else.

It ONLY appears once you have driven for sometime, appears to come from the right hand front and is only evident when braking at comparatively low speeds (20-40 mph) when the front of the car dips and rises as you brake.

It cannot be emulated by moving the suspension when stationary or when going over rough surfaces.

If anyone has experienced this noise and can advise what it is please comment, but please don't guess. We have checked absolutely everything it could possibly be by way of play in any suspension joint.

Arrie

I cannot get the video to run but what you describe sounds like what I had and it was the load bearing lower control arms, both of them and indeed the noise got worse with longer drive. This I think is because the dry ball joint just gets “drier” with longer time with small movements.

Checking the ball joints for play is not easy on these suspensions due to the double lower control arms. Unless you have them both in bad condition the good one (usually the non-load bearing one-the forward one) keeps it tight and you cannot feel the bad ball joint by hand like you do on cars with just one lower ball joint. You will need to remove one or them to be able to check for wear.

I’m quite sure it is the right side load bearing lower control arm ball joint that is dry and makes this creaking noise. Very annoying noise indeed.

MercedesLondon

It is just an audio recording and I've changed it from a wmv to an mp3 so you should be able to hear it now. Would appreciate if you could listen and confirm it is the same as you had.

Thanks

MercedesLondon

Hopefully the audio is now attached.

vettebk

Yes, the music file played. It sounds to me like the lower control arm. You mentioned you changed the left but did you change the right side? The weight of this heavy car is on those lower control arms. They are also not terribly expensive. My S600 also had squeaks and creaks until I replaced the lower control arms. My hassle was since I replaced them one at a time on the extended warranty, they only wanted to cover half of the alignment after installing the control arms. I asked them how they do a half of an alignment. They only laughed. I paid it and the squeaks are now gone. Suggest you try changing the right control arms with an OEM or Lemforder replacement part. Do not use a trashy Chinese pattern part.

MercedesLondon

That is good to hear that someone can actually equate the noise to something they have personally experienced, (that was exactly what I was hoping for). Certainly make senses that it could be a dry metal ball in a dry plastic lined housing. Bring back greaseable ball joints !
I actually only replaced the L H F lower main control arm as it had been damaged before I got the car, but that was three years ago and all has been good up to one month ago. (At that time used a second hand original MB one off Ebay which had no play in it at all). Taking into account that had done an unknown mileage might as well now replace both with Lemforder. Whilst some Chinese replacement copy external lights are very good, I would not touch their suspension parts and even more so any intrinsic electric part, like and ABS sensor or MAF sensor etc.

kevm14

Once you get to a clunk, if it's the joint, it's worn. But mine was just creaking so I had luck injecting grease right through the boot. First I localized the noise with an automotive stethoscope (it was the right lower main control arm ball joint). Then I tried injecting some grease with an injection needle (can get them everywhere). I expanded the boot but the noise didn't change. Perhaps that's because the joint sits on top of the boot so the grease couldn't really travel up there. Then when I had the car in the air and the suspension was in full droop, with all the weight off the joint, I injected even more grease hoping the different position and no load would help the grease "flow." Well, that worked. I may attempt on others.

FWIW, I tried squeezing the grease out of the injection hole and it absolutely would not squirt out, to my amazement.

EasyPhil

This sounds like the sway bar links. If you changed one control arm, the other is surely bad as well as well as the thrust arms. Check the rubber bushings on the thrust arms as well as the ball joint. If the ball joint is easily moveable, it's toast and the whole arm needs replacing. If the ball joint is good, you can just replace the bushing but you need a bushing removal tool for that.

Arrie

This is not really the same noise I had as mine was very annoying squeak when ever the front of the car moved up or down but yours sounds like "stick-slip" in a ball joint or something else with load on it. I really think it is that load bearing rearward lower control arm ball joint. Easy job, I changed them both myself and did not even need alignment after the job. Got parts from FCP Euro.

MercedesLondon

Well, I replaced both Spring Control Arms with original M-B from my local official M-B main dealer and the noise is still there, Any knowledgeable suggestions as to what it might be based on the audio recording would be appreciated.

A WORD TO THE WISE FOR ALL. Whilst looking for these parts and deciding where to go, I saw on EBay a company offering 'Genuine Mercedes' parts at prices too good to be true. I checked them out and found that 'GENUINE' is the trade name of a parts manufacturer in China, obviously so named into making buyers think they are getting something they are not. I mentioned this to the M-B parts dept. when I collected my parts and they said they would report it to M-B HQ in USA. I hope they can get these deliberately misleading shysters busted out of business.