B5 A4 1.8TQM- Front Squeak

[esee135]

I'm getting a front end squeak on the passenger side suspension every time I go over bumps or grab the fender and start rocking the car up and down. First I thought it was dry bushings, so I started lubing them with silicon and later graphite, it seemed to go away, so I thought. Then later the sound wouldn't go away after lubing, so I looked further. I can feel some tapping/creaking on the lower control arms when I rock the car up and down.

So I broke down, and injected grease into them with the needle, quieted the noise, now it's back, didn't even last 10km drive on the same day, I guess I didn't find the problem. All the ball joints (tie rods, upper and lowers) are tight. I can tug on the tire with the front end lifted, and it's tight, zero movement.

I changed out the outer CV boot, so it's not the axle/CV. I twisted the tie rods by hand, free motion, and still tight like a new tie rod. I had the upper control arms loose off the spindle, they were worn, but reasonably tight with no play. The lower control arm ball joints I had attached to the loose spindle, they didn't make noise, and felt like they were in good condition.

Is it possible for the shocks to squeak? I notice that the shocks are little softer than I like, but they're far from being totally gone. The noise does come with vertical car motion. The sound usually disappears on colder days. How about sway bar bushings? I didn't take off the belly pan to thoroughly lube it with graphite, but I did spray it, from afar.

[Naex]

mine did the same thing..when i got in and out of my car, or when i turned my wheel.. it turned out to be my ball joints.. i greased them up and it helped a bit but it came back almost immediately. i just replaced them all why i was at it.

[BONFIRE074]

most likely a control arm

[njm23]

Yes, it is possible for your shock to squeak like that.. It is a good chance that it is your control arms making the noise though Does your wheel have any play side to side or anything? It has to be either your shock/ball joint/control arms so..

[esee135]

Yes, it is possible for your shock to squeak like that.. It is a good chance that it is your control arms making the noise though Does your wheel have any play side to side or anything? It has to be either your shock/ball joint/control arms so..

Nope, steering is very tight. Usually when I've changed tie rod ends or ball joints there's alot of slop in the steering wheel before the wheel turns, and I'm not getting that. The actual wheel/tire has no play when I grab it and move it (12/6 o'clock and 3/9 o'clock positions). When I peaked at the shock it didn't look like it was leaking, I'll have to look a little harder next time.

[im sofa king]

Just because the wheel doesn't have any play doesn't mean that you don't have a bad bushing or joint. With the car on a lift grab some large Channel Locks and compress every ball joint vertically. If theres any play in any of them, replace it. But a squeak or creak usually points toward bushings. Get a pry bar or large screwdriver and put some force on the bushings, put the pry bar between the bushing and the piece the control arm mounts to and look for any cracks or sloppyness. And just to really narrow it down, have someone get in the car while its on the ground and have them do whatever it is that makes the noise. You will be on the ground over near the noise, put your hand on each control arm individually and see which one is the problem.

[ExpLlclT]

get that control arm kit off ebay

[rice_Rocket88]

Anyone have a quick diagram of what bushings to check? The thing that pisses me off is that both the A4 and A6 have this creak.. and the sad thing is that 5 months ago the A6 had a complete control arm job done... and the creak just started a few days ago.

Sat I'm going under armed with a grease gun, I just tried to spray some white lithium grease all over the bushings I could see.. two large ones at the top of the suspension, the end of the control arm near the top (3 joints). The sway bars and tie rods and the connecting section. Even the end of the struts.. the sound was still there... DAMN!

Sounds to me like it's coming from behind the steering wheel, but from the passenger seat it sounds like something rolling around in the trunk.

Any help would be appreciated... the A4 just had 2 new front wheel bearings around that same time. The sound does seem similar in both cars. Not really noticeable until I get into slower city driving and it just creaks when coming to slow stops, hitting bumps etc doesn't make it go nuts, but going through slow bumps make it creak once in a while.

Going outside the car and bouncing the car will not reproduce the sound, nor will moving the wheel when it's jacked up.

[sneekz206]

Its your control arms.. You probably want to change both sides with new control arms and tie rods.

I had the same problem a couple months ago and now its good.

[rice_Rocket88]

The A6 just had the control arms changed not too long ago....

[esee135]

My squeak mysteriously disappeared. I did however syringe the lower front control arm, and greased the crap out of it, and it was an intermittent thing for a while, but the sound is gone. I haven't heard the squeaking for the last 4 months.

I know what you mean, drove me insane every time I drove the B4

[rice_Rocket88]

I have the grease gun ready.. so stab it into the ball joint and go to town?

[esee135]

Pretty much. Mind you I have a tonne of miles on my A4 so I'm pretty willing to do the entire front end kit (tie rods, control arms etc.), aka, can't get any worse.

I bought one of those grease syringes from Walmart ( a needle with the grease zerk), put it into the gun, lifted the car on jack stands, wheels off, looked for a spot on the boot that would be least exposed, stab it with the needle and pump it full. Be sure to not stab the joint alot, just keep pumping until it's full, way better than punching 10 holes into the thing. I used synthetic grease btw. Not sure if it really solved my problem, or the sound just disappeared, but at least I know there's grease in there.

The needle is pretty fragile, you may break it, but they're cheap.

[Mike@PureMS]

As everyone's said it's coming from your control arms. 8 control arm, with a bushing on one end, and a ball joint on the other, so 16 "joints" to inspect. It's a VERY common problem.

Feel free to contact us if you have questions. Our control arm kits are a very popular fix for this.

[rice_Rocket88]

Thanks for the response guys. I am just very dissapointed as I have the bill in front of me. 7 months ago I did the entire front control arm set for the A6 and that squeak is back now.. I can understand doing it for the A4 now, but if it's only going to last me 7 months, there must be another issue going on.

I'm still going to give it a try with the grease gun since I have nothing to lose now.

Much appreciated!