Hi Guys, Another quandrie or two...since I've been fixing everything from the engine harness to all new brakes with sucess and am back on the road I was quickly reminded of another nagging problem.....It's creaking comming from my front end...left side more than the right. I have sprayed the entire suspension area with silicone lube when that did'nt work trans oil....Is there a perticular single thing that gets dry and creaks on these things? this 1995 car only has 60k miles and the front end is tight, no play, altho I do suspect prehaps the steering damper may be wearing out as I have a slight wobble above 70 mph even tho theres no runout in the wheels and I have had tires balanced 3 times now....I did put amg 17 monoblocks with factory sized tires for that car/wheel, I had a non mercedes shop do the alignment and may go back to my dealer for that as I know there are extensive m-b procedures to be followed as well as which tires can cause the car to drive funky at times....then in the next thread I can revisit steering wheel squeaking... altho I've seen posts I can't find any on c280 creaking... thanks, Cliff

When does it creak?

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I had to replace the bushings both front lower control arms (due to creaking) on my wife's 95 C280, when we bought it at 60K miles. It was very diificult to get the old bushings out, and by the time I replaced the bushings and ball joints I wished I had bought new arms from Mercedes, which incidentally did not offer the bushings separately (for good reason). It also needed an engine wiring harness, but it's been absolutely trouble free since.

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1983 380SL
1995 C280
1995 S500 coupe
1990 Mazda Miata
2004 Suzuki Hayabusa

Thanks for the replies you guys, It seems most noticable when moving slow and hitting slight or shallow dips in road, when turning into my drive way for instance which is a pretty smooth entrance...I like this car but just this month along with me doing the work I think I'm near $1500. spent and have other places to spend my time and energy as I am building a resto mod 61 econoline pickup w/450 h.p.mid engine and have a couple other cars I'd like to be restoring....I think maybe I'll drill a 1/8 hole in the contorl arm at bushings and squirt some oil or lube in there and see what happens....like I said the car is tight and for that much more and cost/ work just for a noise which for the moment is harmless but a sign of friction where it's not supposed to be Is pissi'in me off....I got a friggen acre and a half of grass to cut and no help from any cheerful(or not) female...which can also lead to noticable peace and quiet while and after doing the chores and having a few beers...so maybe my attitude will change later for now it's become F--k that car....thanks!

Mine had squeaky sway bar bushings. Would squeak when I hit a bump.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

From my experience a dry/creaking bushing is on a fast road to failing, so perhaps a change might be best if you don't want a big job or the expense of having it done. I sometimes wonder if Mercedes used environmentally friendly rubber on some pieces during those years as well. I just got back from driving the C car and although very different from my S coupe, it's a pleasure to drive.

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1983 380SL
1995 C280
1995 S500 coupe
1990 Mazda Miata
2004 Suzuki Hayabusa

" It seems most noticable when moving slow and hitting slight or shallow dips in road"

A few years back, when my W124 made a loud squeaking/creaking noise over speed bumps and shallow dips in the road, the problem turned out to be the ball joints.

So before you go drilling anything, it couldnt hurt to try and squirt some oil inside the ball joint protective boot to see if that resolves the problem.

+1 check the ball joint boots for signs of cracks; water gets in and lube gets out.

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88 300e
89 300e
93 400e
93 500e
77 308 GTB