Ok, for a while now, I've had this loud creaking noise in my front passenger fender. I can hear it even while I'm in the car. Now, it mostly only happens when I turn left. One of the guys at O'Reilly's said my control arm was shot. I have no clue what that is. I plan on redoing the suspension with D-specs and Eibach Pro kit because my car sits uneven. I think my strut in front passenger side is out or my spring is sagging. Could this be the noise I'm hearing?
Any thoughts?
could be your stuts or spring or maybe wheel bearing. my very very very last guess would be control arm unless it looks messed up.
Control arm is just a piece of steel with two bushings and a ball joint
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Primer Counts as Custom Paint Right?
BTW: This is my Sig.
If you have no clue....take it somewhere that does to get a proper diagnosis. There are tons of causes for noises, and without hearing them/where they are coming from.....no one on the internet can diagnose it.
If you want to do the repair yourself, more power to you, but before you go throwing parts at it take it to one or more shops, have them look at it, and make them show you the bad part, and make them show you why its bad......thats how you learn.
Struts affect how the car rides, not how it sits.
14.330 @ 96.37mph
O.K. I think I'll take it to get checked out.
But as far as the car leaning, could the passenger front spring be sagging?
leaning? alot of shops will do front end checks (sears does here) you might want to head there
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Primer Counts as Custom Paint Right?
BTW: This is my Sig.
leaning to me mean something is wrong with the spring, and/or the way the strut is mounted....i cant think of any reason for a car to lean other then that
Well the front passenger side sits lower than all the other ones, It may be because the previous owner wrecked it on that side and rebuilt it. There is a different strut on that one side. I think it's an HP blue.
If the noise occurs when you turn the wheel to the left, it could be your cv axle. Try doing this. Find an empty parking lot with a bit of maneuvering room. Turn your wheel all the way to the left and then drive in a complete circle. If you hear popping and/or creaking noises, more times than not it is caused by a damaged cv axle. Then turn the wheel the right and drive in another circle, to test the righthand cv axle.
We used to perform this simple test when inspecting vehicles for problematic cv axles on the used car lot.
Other items that could cause these issues are the following:
- Lower ball joint on the lower control arms
- Broken or cracked sway bar (yes this can happen!)
- Missing endlinks on sway bar (not connected at all and is still trying to work)
- Bad struts/shocks
- Damaged wheel bearings
- Broken rack and pinion arm
According to your last post, there was an accident in this car as well? That opens a whole new can of worms. You could also have frame damage, on top of any damaged components.
I would have to agree 100% that you should take it to a reputable shop, that actually knows what they are doing, for a full diagnosis of the issue. However, I wanted to give you my .02 on what could be the issue.
It seems to me if your car was in an accident and someone from a shop says your control arm is bad that that is probably the problem. The clunking could be all the things listed above but the car sitting lower on that corner could be a result of the control arm bent or somthing.
Thanks for all the input guys. I'm having it checked out next week. Hopefully the repairs won't be to extensive.
