2006 E320 front suspension creak

[Roger57]

My E320 has an extremely loud creak which appears to be coming from the offside front. Took it to my local indie who of course could find nothing wrong but suggested it may be the lower track control arm balljoint. No charge for the examination, but it would be £95 plus Vat to replace. Hmmm, thought I. Maybe I'll have a toot around first.

So with the aid of three spring compressors and lots of muscle, I removed the bolt which secures the shock unit to the arm, and undid the three bolts holding the upper wishbone balljoint in place. This meant that I could move the suspension parts around and examine all the bushes and ball joints for wear and noise.

Nothing was found.

The bolt through the bottom shock mount is threaded most of the way along, which doesnt make sense (perhaps someone can enlighten me); most other suspension setups I have come across (and there have been a few, I can tell you) would have enough thread for the nut to be secure and the bearing part of the bolt is plain. This one isnt. Maybe they just found one in the parts bin and decided to use that. Wouldnt surprise me. Cant say I'm too impressed with some of the MB quality, especially for what was an expensive prestige vehicle...

So, all reassembled, all nicely cleaned, greased and thread locked. Problem persists....

The creak occurs when I brake to a halt and the nose dips. For this reason I suspect the culprit may be the damper unit itself.

Has anyone come across this before and replacing the damper has fixed it?
Cheers
Rog

 

[streethawk]

Check the front torsion arm bushes for split etc

 

[guydewdney]

that bottom bolt isnt right. not original i suspect.

ive replaced most of the front suspension on mine now and it all can make creaking noises.

currently i have an upper antirollbar linkage creak. its not oem tho

 

[martyz]

Strut top mounts can cause creaking,catches a lot of people out.

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

This is going to sound quite mad, but I assure you it is true. My 2008 W211 E220 had exactly the same problem and I thought it sounded like it needed a lot of grease all over the front suspension, but the day after the creaking started, the brake pad warning light came on and I contacted my indie for replacements. A few days later (still creaking) he replaced the pads and discs on the front end and said he couldn't find anything wrong with the suspension or make it creak when he road-tested it. It hasn't creaked again since (5 months now), so not sure what was the cause.

 

[Paddcomp]

I've had all my ball joints replaced on the front (4off) and suspension control arms for good measure. The ball joints were worn and needed replacing, but there's still a clunk noise and can be felt through the feet. 5 garages have taken a look or done fixes so far and I've stopped throwing money at it.