Clio 172 front suspension creaking

[grenpayne]

I recently bought a Clio 172 (non cup) for a daily drive and got it for a good price. It's on a 52 plate and has 44k miles (all documented), FSH and has been well looked after. I was pretty thorough going over it and under it and all looks good.

The only niggle is that the front suspension creaks at low speed over humps. My limited knowledge tells me that this could be the ARB bushes but they look OK. Any ideas what this creaking could be? Is it fairly common on Clios? Hopefully it'll be easy to sort out as it is quite annoying! Am I on the right track or could it be something more serious?

[rufusgti]

It's French. Creaks and squeaks are all part of the fun.
How bad is it? If you spray the ARB bushes with wd40 and take it for a drive they should temporarily quieten down. Would tell you if they were the culprit. I've had to change the rear shocks on mine as they were leaking at 60k. Seems to be a bit of a weak spot for them.

[simoid]

Me 182 creaks a bit from the front when I reverse into my drive, which is on pretty much full lock to the right, then down the camber of the road, then up into the drive, if you get me. As long as it doesn't feel like it's grating or otherwise nasty, I'd say don't worry about it.

It also comes on goes, probably depending on the weather or air pressure or something

[Flood]

^ Tyres hitting the springs, or something like that, it sounds terrible on my 172 cup, like the whole cars tearing itself apart. Harmless design fault though apparently, so nothing to worry about.

For the creaking I'd check the exhaust mounts first, they're useless and they seem to project their squeaks and rattles around different parts of the car.

[grenpayne]

Thanks It only really happens on speedhumps, not on full lock or when driving along. The handling is great and it feels really tight so i'm not too worried.

I have been mega busy of late, but did manage to do a little research yesterday and it seems that most of them do it. The car goes in for a small service with local indy on Thursday and I trust them to tell me if anything's wrong. Good idea on the WD40 though, I shall do that in the morning and see what happens!

[jagracer]

Interesting reading this, I've just fitted a new cambelt on my wife's 53 plate Clio DCi and noticed it creaking like fk on the way home. She says it's done it for a while but easily solves the problem by turning the radio up. One thing to note is keep a check on the ARB drop links as they have a tendency to break.

Edited by jagracer on Wednesday 14th September 19:55

[grenpayne]

Well the car has been serviced by our local indy, who are absolute stars and always give me a guided tour of the underneath whilst my car is up on the ramp. Suffice to say it's in very good order underneath and having had the inner ARB bushes changed, the creaking has completely gone