2002 R53 Creaking/Clacking
 

Recently replaced (last month), control arms, control arm bushings, tie rod ends, inner and outer ball joints, and passenger cv axle and the passenger strut mount.

I followed the various articles from Pelican, and NAM site for removing and remounting the subframe. Every thing went okay on the removal and re-install and I had it professionally aligned after the work.

However a week or so after the alignment, it started to experience some creaking and clacking when starting from a stop or on light acceleration in 1st or 2nd gear.No noise when the wheel is turned. No vibration or noise in higher gears/speed. The noise is coming from the drivers side of the vehicle closer and I can feel the vibration in the floor.

I put the car back up on jacks had my wife put the car in gear but cannot recreate the noise without load on the suspension. Which I believes rules out a clutch or transmission issue?

Could it be bad suspension parts? I used Hamburg Technic which I now understand may be crap.

You sure it might not be a loose bolt or such? If you push the front end down a few times and try to get it to bounce can you recreate it? How about jacking it up quickly or lowering it back down (carefully) fairly quickly? You sure all those ball joint bolts are actually tightened down and not just spinning freely?

Ever figure this out? I'm 90% sure I have the same problem and been trying to fix it. Had wheel speed sensors and engine mounts replaced which I thought was the problem but guess not... Please let me know!!

Creaking Clacking
 

Turns out the inner ball joint wasn't tightened. Torqued it to specs and now my suspension is quiet.