I have a 190E. I'm getting some sqeaking/creaking from the front suspension at low speed or stop when I turn the front wheels. However, when I wash the car or spray the front suspension with water, it goes away for a while, then comes back when it gets dirty or dry. Can anyone help?
Thanks, Scott

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Scott Chaffin
Homepage devoted to my 190E:
http://www.scotty-c.com

thats a classic symptom of dry bushings, not ball joints, relax.

try spraying the sway bar bushings and other rubber stuff with silicone spray -avoid getting overspray on anything else- and then drive it and see if the creaking is still there, if not, it's just dry rubber. you could replace the bushings with poly or just stock and it should go away.

I vote suspension balljoints, though it could also be any of the steering linkage bits creaking. Creaking bits will probably exhibit play. Time to poke and prod...

Be sure to test suspension balljoints while the control arm is supported by a jackstand. If they are 'hanging' the play will be masked.

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

I think it is the sway bar bushings as well. I would suggest replacing them though. It is a fairly easy repair and the parts are cheap (I bought a german made front set of four for $14).

Just need to make sure you use a good rubber lubricant when putting the new ones on.

My 'diagnosis' was based upon this statement:

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

Thanks guys. Yes, it does creak when car is stopped. I just need to narrow it down to where it is coming from. The sway bar bushings make sense because the bar moves when the wheels are turned and the car is stopped. But the ball joints don't have this effect unless the car is moving....right?

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Scott Chaffin
Homepage devoted to my 190E:
http://www.scotty-c.com

My opinion is your ball joint needs to be replaced. What happens is that from what I understand the balljoint is a sealed item, but over time water gets to the actual joint and causes rust to build up, which will cause your creak when you hit a speed bump or anytime the wheel is rolling and turning. A quick temporary fix ( temporary for a week or two) is to poke a hole in the rubber part and flood the joint with wd-40. In doing this, you will see the rust flow out of the joint. This will only help with the noise until you can get it fixed. I had that problem on my 89 300se and had the driver's ball joint replaced a few months ago and now the other one is starting to make noise. You may have to jack that wheel up off the ground to get the wd-40 in there good. My opinion is not 100% for sure, but it sounds like the noise that I have had in the past and now have.

I would say it the other way around.
Jack up the front, and see if you can reproduce the noise. If so, should be easy to locate.

Don't wait around when it comes to getting the suspension balljoints replaced. One of mine popped out of its socket!

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

Agreed. I had the same issue a while back. Horrible creaking noise when turning the wheels. particularly when the car was not in motion. It was the ball joints.

Don't forget, it takes a considerable amount of force to turn the wheels at a dead stop. (Borrow a car without power steering and give it a try...especially when you have 225s on your car ) The ball joint experiences quite a bit of side loading in these circumstances as the steering system tries to turn the wheel and the friction between the tire and the road tries to resist the motion.

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