Creak Attack !

[JBF]

Originally Posted by elric75

I have a creaking or kind of tapping noise in my X5. It sounds like it comes from the A-pillars or lower windshield area though... not so much from down low or beneath the car. It is most noticeable in the driving situations you mentioned.

Where did your noises sound like they were coming from?

Mine sounded exactly like that. It sounded like the noise was coming from the lower windscreen or top of the shock. Front anti-roll bar bushes got rid of it. Apparently the anti roll-bar is connected to the shock assembly in some way and the sound is transferred up through the shock to the body/top mount part which is why it sounded like it was coming from there. Took a couple of visits for the dealers to sort it out - the first time it was supposed to be fixed but as soon as I drove off I could tell it wasn't. When I took it back I insisted on taking the service manager out for a test drive rather than the useless mechanics. Straight away he said he has seen it before and thinks it's the anti-roll bar.

It was like a low tone squeak, bit like a muffled donkey, heard when going over bumps in the road, very audible over speed bumps even at a crawl, also got it when turning in to a corner.

Still have several subtle clicks and creaks but the main source of noise was the anti-roll bar.

[dpgx5]

I have a creak as well, The only other thing I can think of is maybe a crack upper strut mount in the strut/shock assembly.

[JBF]

I thought mine was coming from the upper shock mount but the anti-roll bar bushes have sorted it. Also cured a slight pull to the left and gotten rid of road noise I thought was normal. As you can imagine I'm pretty amazed.

[dpgx5]

so it was your sway bushes? do you have stock or eibach sways?

[JBF]

Anti-roll bar bushes. Car is stock.

[elric75]

Finally got this tracked down and fixed on my X5. Turned out to be the hood hinges were slightly misaligned or something and causing the hood to make noise when going over bumps/turning/or anything that might cause a little frame flex.

Dealer was able to track it down using some kind of electronic tool to find where noises are coming from.

Originally Posted by elric75

I have a creaking or kind of tapping noise in my X5. It sounds like it comes from the A-pillars or lower windshield area though... not so much from down low or beneath the car. It is most noticeable in the driving situations you mentioned.

Where did your noises sound like they were coming from?

[JBF]

Well some of my creaking has come back and that sounds very plausable.

How was it resolved? Bit of oil on the hinge?

[elric75]

Yeah I looked on the documentation and it just says lubricated hinges, contact points, and seal.

[nikpottala]

I had a creaking noise which had a sound like rubber bushings squeaking. It wouldn't happen all the time but sounded when especially when I turned my wheel left to right.

I replaced all my front control arms, bushings and sway-bar links... still creaked.

I finally found the problem and it turned out to be the upper strut mount. You couldn't see anything from the inspection hole on the front fender but once the strut was removed and torn apart you could see a slight crack on the bottom side.

It's probably a 2-banana garage effort to remove the strut, compress the spring with an Autozone loaner tool.

Everything's been good since it was replaced.

[JBF]

So now it sounds like my rear control arm bushes need replacing.

Not sure I can be bothered to do it myself as I'll likely need the camber adjusted too - any good indys in London/SE who could do this at short notice?