Front Right-side creaking
 

My car has been making a strange creaking sound on the front right-side for a couple of months now and I suspect it is related to the suspension. It usually makes the sound when the front right tire dips into a crack or pothole (a lot of them here in Montreal). It also sometimes creaks when I take sharp right turns.

I took the car in to the dealer in late July. The tech drove it and couldn't hear the sound for 30 minutes and gave up telling me it might be due to the rain. On the 2nd visit, the manager told me if the tech didn't hear any noise this time around I would have to pay. I was pissed and frustrated by the annoyance and got the manager to apologize to me and accept that I wouldn't have to pay a penny considering my car only had 8000 kms (4800 miles). So, I went on a road test with the tech and after a long drive he still couldn't hear anything. Then I found a huge hole in the road and slowly drove the front right tire into the hole and the creaking could be heard. The tech finally heard it and thought he had it figured out: he said it was my front sway-bar bushings, but I doubted it as those would squeak not creak. In any case, they ordered the parts and I had them changed on a 3rd visit at no cost. After driving my car, the sound was gone and I was pleased, until I heard it again a couple of days later.

Now that the weather is getting colder up here, I'm starting to hear the creak more and more. But before I take it back to the dealer and deal with their shitty service, I'd like to get an idea of what the hell the sound might be due to. Does anybody have any idea? I'd like to record the sound and post it... I'll try to do that this weekend and then maybe people will have a better idea what I'm talking about.

Sorry for the long post, and all the help is appreciated. Thanks!

greasing up the sway-bar bushings? if that's what you mean, i've tried that and it didn't help. any other ideas?

Squeak? over Speed Bumps
 

Hi Guys,

Just recently I noticed when I go over a speed bump, I hear a noise. At first I thought that it was something scraping, so I slowed down a little bit. (These happen to be very "mild" speed bumps, which had previously not caused any noise, so I didn't think that there was any reason why all of a sudden it should start to scrape).

Then, at a slower speed I was able to determine that what I was hearing was not a scrape, but a sort of a squeak while the suspension was moving. Note that I do not hear this happen when I hit a pothole. It only seems to be when going over a speed bump.

I just called my dealer, and have an appoinment for this Friday morning (2 days from now). He says that he thinks it might be the sway bar bushings, and that they might need to be lubed up.

I have a 2001 Pro ES, with 30k miles on it, so it's still under warranty. With that said, I don't want any half-a#@ed repairs being done.

I have 2 questions:
1) Does the service guy's diagnosis sound correct?
2) If it is, is the practice of lubing sway bar bushings appropriate, or should I insist on having them replaced?

Thanks ever so much for any help!
Eric

If it's your bushings, insist they be replaced while you're still under warranty. That's what I'd do..

Keep us updated. Mine make the same sound over speed bumps. It never happened before, but I have just recently started to notice it. Not a nice noise :(

Rear Bushings
 

I work for a Mazda dealership in service (Mgr). The noise you are descibing sounds correct. We usually just clean and lube the bushings. Depending on the area of the country you live in, what happens is you get road salt, dirt, dust, or whatever in between the sway bar and the bushings causing the bar the squeak when moving inside of the bushings. Cleaning and lubing them will take care of your concern. Replacement would only happen if the sway bar was loose in the bushings.

It should only need to be lubed. You can opt for some aftermarket urethane bushings, but then it will squeak all the time.:D

why is that ???

try this.... when you park your car get out and try pushing gently on the front right fender... if u can hear the slight creaking sound then bring it back to the dealer and do the same thing in his face.

my frined had the same sound problem with a toyota... very new too... took it to one dealer twice and they said they lub the blushing or something and that didn't fix it... took it to another dealer and showed them the sound, they said they lubricated some steering wheel rack thing... sound went away.... they said that if it happened again they would order a new steering rack thing for us......

also goto a good dealer... some place big....

HEy man don't feel bad my car does the same thing but i have ground control coilovers

I was starting to suspect that it was the steering rack or something related. I'm gonna go back to the same dealer and get them to figure out what's wrong this time!

I'm not afraid something is broken, its just damn annoying!

Is the sound you're hearing a squeak or more of a creak? My 2002 ES makes the same sound when going over speed bumps (on the right side) and I took it in and the dealer replaced my sway bar bushings, but the sound didn't go away. The new sway bar bushings started making a high-pitched squeak when going over bumps and the original creaking sound is still there.

All this to say, it might not be your sway bar bushings after all. Keep us updated with what your dealer does/says: hopefully the techs there are not as incompetent as they are at the dealership I go to.

I own a mp3 and i have the same problem....i already replaced the rear sway bushings but the creaking in the suspension is still there....same symptoms....only over speed bumps, not pot holes.

I'm starting to think that its the suspension creaking when its cold....i live in canada and notice that it didn't start creaking until it got much colder outside. I'm really interested in hearing what mazda says....

Does it sound like it has something to with the strut assmbly.

could be some upper strut noise which means either the upper bushing or replace the strut ..... this is very common on fwd cars....

does this happen when there is good movement in the suspension?

OK, Edwin, which one is it? I can't find it. :D