volvodude

I have a 1998 ES300. Great car! I've only had it about 3 months. It's got around 140k on it.

There is a LOT of creeky/clunky like noises coming from the front. Mostly when it's cold out first thing in the morning and not so much when it's warm out. I was told the struts aren't leaking, and the car seems to handle pretty tight, so it doesn't seem like the struts are needing to be replaced.

I'm assuming the strut mounts are probably cracked/bad? If the strut mounts (bushings) are bad, I've heard it's not worth replacing unless you do the struts also since you have to take all that apart anyway?

I also notice some creeking sounds when pulling (turning) into a parking spot. Would this also be strut mounts, or control arm bushings (not sure if this car has these, my volvo did), or tie rod bushings, ????

Thank you for any info.

Michael

JetsonES

The noise while tuning may be the bushings in the steering column. Apply silicone grease to them and they will quiet down. The creaking could be your control arm bushings or the strut mounts or even the sway bar bushings. You could try silicone grease on the bushings. If you replace the strut mount you may as well replace the strut while you have everything torn apart, it would stink to have to redo all that work in the near future.

Oro

Mounts usually making a popping or slamming sound if bad, and mostly over bumps. Also heard it described as "footballs in the trunk" (for rear ones) - which is accurate, too. So nothing you sound like reminds me of that. Also, 140k on smooth-ish OR roads should not do it, but bouncing on pot-holed city (or other) roads can wear them out.

I would think first of control arm and sway bar bushings - I believe the rear ones in this generation go bad and are a little tricky to replace. There was a good DIY not long ago on this using PVC pipe and some clever cheap hacks to do it properly.

volvodude

Hi Oro,

The sounds are definately a popping/clunking almost rattle like sound. Would control arm and/or sway bar bushings make noise just driving down the road with minor imperfections in the road?

There definately doesn't have to be any major bumps, pot holes or speed bumps to hear these noises. Just driving down with any roughness sets it off.

The other noises when turning into a parking spot is more of a creeking like sound.

I would assume the control arm and sway bar bushings are suspect here.

Thank you for your input!