Creaking Front End Has Tested My Sanity

[broncoben]

Fine people of the Bronco Sport community,

I’m hoping you can help me identify a problem that has me on the brink of SUV insanity.

Starting about 6 months ago, I noticed a creaking / popping noise coming from the front right side of my 21 Badlands. It happened when accelerating and decelerating and only appeared in colder weather. The car functions fine, but the sound was quite loud and irritating. I took it to my usual shop and they diagnosed it as an issue with the brakes I installed. They said they weren’t seating correctly and weren’t releasing fully front the rotor. They “fixed” it and sent me on my merry way… or so I thought.

The next day, the phantom creaking returned. I was flummoxed. I took the brakes apart myself and things seemed to be in fine working order. As the months got warmer, the creaking started to disappear and my sanity was preserved.

Or so I thought. Last month, as the weather turned cold, the creak reared its ugly head. Like Poe’s beating heart under the floorboards, it haunted me on every drive.

I then tried another shop hoping they could relieve my anguish. After an initial diagnostic that it was the front shocks, those were replaced…

..but..

THE CREAK PERSISTED.

I brought the car back in where they proceeded to tear it apart over the span of a week. No major issues were found, save for a slightly sloppy weld that they said may have been rubbing and causing the creak. They cleaned it up and assured me it was fixed…

…but…

THE CREAK PERSISTS!

I’m at my wits end, broken and defeated by a compact SUV that I desperately want to love, but continues to spite me in Ecoboost curses.

Has anyone else run into this issue? If you can give me a fix, I can personally guarantee a life filled with good fortune and Bronco karma.

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[Dude]

THE CREAK PERSISTS!

Has anyone checked the motor mounts yet?

 

[BravoAlpha]

lost me at front shocks. (I can’t imagine them not installing new bushings on the tower and making sure that was torqued down properly). That’s what I thought it was.

I would hone in on those strut towers and those bushings and give it one more run to make sure those are installed properly.

wait for cold, pop the hood, start it up and have someone spin the wheel slowly all the way to the stop in either direction while you listen. A strut bushing issue should reveal itself

 

[Mwittke5857]

I just have the rear groan in colder temps. The rig stops just fine, I just consider it my back-up alarm???

 

[broncoben]

Has anyone checked the motor mounts yet?

I believe the second shop did, but I’ll inspect them again. Good call.

 

[broncoben]

lost me at front shocks. (I can’t imagine them not installing new bushings on the tower and making sure that was torqued down properly). That’s what I thought it was.

I would hone in on those strut towers and those bushings and give it one more run to make sure those are installed properly.

wait for cold, pop the hood, start it up and have someone spin the wheel slowly all the way to the stop in either direction while you listen. A strut bushing issue should reveal itself

Looking through the quote of the services provided, it looks like they did replace the strut assemblies as well. I tried the test you suggested, but the dreaded creak didn’t occur.

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