I replaced the front struts (with Bilstein) at just under 162k miles on our R52S, and here I am 6k miles later and the steering is creaking. I first checked the bushing that is near the firewall under the steering wheel, but that was not the source of the noise. Then I had my daughter help while I checked the strut bearing, and sure enough the upper strut mounts seem to be making the noise:
https://rumble.com/v4e82dx-2006-mini...ut-mounts.html

I did use Lemfoerder parts when I did the front suspension work, so I am surprised these failed so quickly.

Guess I'm just looking for BTDT confirmation from others, and then I'll have to plan to order new upper strut mounts and do all the replacement work again. Fortunately, I have the lifetime alignment from Firestone so I can have them put everything back into alignment after the work.

 

I've have had the same issue = Creaking sound coming from front struts when turning out of a parking space after car has sat for a few hours. Especially first thing in the morning during colder temps.
I had upgraded my struts, front and rear, to Bilstien B14 adjustable coilovers, new Saachs top bearings, drop links, PF CA bushings, PF FSB bushings and balljoints etc...
The creaking seems to be coming from the top perch at slow turns. I did not replace the top plastic spring perch. Therefore I suspected an number of things:

1. The bearings needed the factory washer. = I reinstalled and greased the (new) bearings). It helped for a while but creaking returned a month or so later when temps dropped below 50º.
2. The top spring perch had 90k+ mi and should've bee replaced w/new = Rather than disassembling the entire unit; I loaded up a syringe with silicone super lube and injected around/between top perch and top of spring where they met. Worked great for a couple of months. Now creaks again.
3. Lastly - Since the top of the of the B14's have an allen-head on the threaded shaft and a 22mm securing nut that need to be torqued to 54# - I don't have a pass through torque wrench to be sure that it's snugged to specs.as the center strut shaft will spin while attempting to crank the nut down. I also found it nearly impossible to hold the spring to keep things from turning while tightening (these things are so pretty; I don't dare clamp anything on then (to keep from turning), at the risk of ruining the powder coat).

I'll have to try and source the right tools as a last resort to ensure that top mount is torqued correctly. Otherwise - new top spring perches will be in order.

Sorry I don't have an answer.... (as of yet).

 

Thanks for sharing your findings so far. Hopefully we can find a solution!

 

It was 67º when I pulled out of my parking space this afternoon after the car had sat overnight in 45º conditions.
Of course, not a creak, squeak, squawk, groan or even a murmur ...

 

Same here. The squeak completely disappears in warmer weather. Grab yourself a set of these - solves the pass-through problem when swapping the strut mount.

 

I picked up this set last year to help with upper strut nuts, etc.

 

Both great tools to have in my arsenal.
However and as unfortunate as it is; the Bilstein B14 top securing nut is 22mm (7/8") and the access hole on the top of the Saachs bearing plate is not much larger..
The crescent/crowfoot style won't fit in the hole to reach the nut. My sparkplug socket would be/fits perfect in the hole but it's shy at only 21mm and won't fit the nut.
Since the local autoparts store didn't have any 22mm sparkplug sockets; I bought and tried an 7/8" O2 sensor socket instead...but unfortunately, the same deal = the circumference of the O2 sockets I tried were too thick to fit in the access hole of the top bearing plate..
I think a combination of a crowfoot and a sparkplug socket would be a means to an end without acquiring more tools than I really want/have to store.
OR worse case - I Dremel out the access hole wider...but then my dust cap won't fit.

knitz's tool set shown - seems like it would be real convenient to have for anything that these little cars might throw at you.
I'm a stickler for torque values. So I'm still inclined to find a tool that will work along with my torque wrench.

On a side note:
I had Delphi, Bilstein B4 and Koni Yellow FSD before on this car and can't recall ever having to deal with something as annoying as this.

 

Yeah, as I was looking at that set, I was trying to think about how to adapt my torque wrench to it.

 

A bit involved but this larger socket might work with a 20mm crow foot wrench on the torque wrench end. Hard to say if it would stand up to 54 ft. lbs. without twisting.

 

Or this ...

 

^^^interesting video^^^
Notwithstanding the Harbor Freight tool falling apart (losing it's bearing)...nonetheless a similar (non HF), tool I may consider down the road.
I do find it hard to believe that there are no pass through torque wrenches available (that I could find) on the market?

With regards to the video/coilover - I wish my B14's had that 9mm nut to hold the piston in place while wrenching down on the main, larger securing nut.
Nevertheless: When I installed my front B14's, the piston shaft did not spin as I cranked the nut down as tight as I could. It was only until I used the torque wrench set to 54# did the piston/shaft actually spin. They're on there pretty tight. But I just have to know they are in spec.

Which reminds me: I neglected to add one thing I did attempt on my front B14's ; I'd clamped a pair of vise grips onto the nut on the bottom end of the strut thinking that the piston/shaft assembly went all the way through the strut itself.
However, That lower nut was securely torqued down and did not move as I thought it might hold/keep the piston shaft from rotating while I tried to wrench/torque down on the upper strut nut. So it appears the upper and bottom are not connected (?).

Anyway, even though I cannot confirm that the front coilovers are torqued to spec (without the ability to confirm with a torque wrench), I'm just glad I had enough common sense to head the warning not to use an impact wrench to hammer the nut down.

BTW: A 22mm / 7/8" sparkplug socket on Amazon goes for $35 - $45 ....
Guess I'll have to wait for warmer temps just not to be bothered by that annoying cold morning creaking sound.

 

Yeah, the shaft isn’t actually connected to anything. It’s somewhat similar to the mountain bike forks I’ve rebuilt. Or hydraulic cylinders in general. That said, I got my yellows as tight as I could and then banged them on the rest of the way with an impact, but I took care not to spin the shaft and waste all the seals (please, Koni, I did my best. Also, however many years and still no issues). The yellows have an adjuster at the top, so there’s no good way to hold them in place.

Schwaben sells a special 22 mm 1/2” drive socket for VAG struts. I have one in my toolbox for when I finally get around to pulling apart my Audi’s front end. Maybe it would work for Minis (or at least the B14s) as well?

 

That 22mm Schwaben looks pretty promising.
I'll have to source it. Just hope it's not too expensive and will fit the hole in the top bearing plate.
Thanks!

Edit: I never gave it a second thought to torqueing when installing the Koni yellows or any of the other struts at the time. They never creaked....
Perhaps I'm overly concerned / over thinking it?

 

I also have that squeaking sound when turning the wheel and it's cold outside, ever since I refreshed my suspension (including struts top-mounts).
I torqued everything to spec. I re-used most of the hardware (except the parts that came with new struts/top mounts).

Since the top-mounts don't show any sign of wear, I've just decided to live with it. Hopefully that sound will disappear after the top-mounts age a bit. For reference, they are FEBI BILSTEIN 24266

 

Thanks for adding your experience and the details of what you installed. Hopefully we'll hit on a common solution here eventually!

 

Trying to torque to spec is never really a bad thing, right? In my case, I knew I hadn’t hit the torque spec, and I couldn’t figure out how to effectively hold the shaft. I was more concerned with it being too loose than a bit too tight, so I reached for my impact.

It kind of sounds like the creaking is a bearing issue rather than the top nut not being tight enough though.

For what it’s worth, I’ve never had a creaking issue, but I’ve never run a stock style replacement mount. My originals were always quiet, and I didn’t have issues with my SPC plates or the Vorshlags I currently have.

 

I never had any creaking noise after installing either OEM Delphi, Bilstein B4, Koni yellow FSD. I always torqued the top nut to 50-ft # = something I saw on a video replacing struts/shocks on a 1st gen.
I think I remember the B4's shaft rotating as I neared 50#. At which point I had stopped wrenching down. Never a creak afterwards. These new B14s, however; are a different story.

My personal opinion and from what it sounds to be steel against plastic, I'm pretty convinced that (my) the creaking noise is not coming from the actual bearing itself but the spring rotating and rubbing against the (worn?) top plastic perch when turning/clocking the wheels at a low crawl after settling for a few hours.
I had lubed the top of spring and perch up before and the noise went away. I just recently completely refreshed my front subframe/suspension = top to bottom (all new PF bushings, swaybar, engine, trans mounts, inner+outer balljoints,droplinks, axles, struts + top bearings).
I'll be ordering new plastic top spring perches and possibly installing them this spring. We'll see.

BTW: I found the 22mm schwaben strut nut socket on eBay for a fairly reasonable price. Thanks @deepgrey

 

Oh. Ha, I see now where you mentioned the perches earlier. My reading comprehension has apparently not been great lately.

I had just now thought to measure the OD of the socket (30 mm), but it seems you beat me to it. Glad you found the one for a decent price.

 

Preface:
Unrelated to creaking struts; Yesterday afternoon, while driving - some jerk in a pos work truck pulled out in front of me (almost colliding), leaking fluid out of the bed, that I had assumed was water. Even so - I backed off at a safe distance.
I hadn't given it much thought by the time I got home. This morning I see the front of my Mini peppered all over with white paint that looked like overspray. The hood had been treated with polymer polish and the overspray came off easy. But removing the paint from my R side headlight lens was near impossible. I made a run up to a local O'Reilly and picked up some 600grit wet/dry.

While I was there; I had the presence of mind to look for a 22mm (sparkplug) socket and came across this....

7/8" thin wall O2 sensor socket....


I wasn't sure how well this thin wall 02 sensor socket would hold up - but it worked out very well and I was able to torque the top strut nut to 55 ft #. (the Bentley calls for a torque value of 47 ft # for the OEM top strut mount nut).
I went ahead and marked the torqued nut alignment with the rest of the upper strut bearing and strut housing just to see where there might be some parts rotation.

Success? Yes = for confirming proper torque, No = for eliminating creaking.
It was about 43° this morning when I did this.

 

Cold, 41º, rainy miserable day today.
Wet = no creaks.

 

Ok - So pictured below are 2wo consecutive images since I had successfully torqued and marked the alignment (previous post), and driven the car. The white dots indicate the initial alignment in relation to the top strut nut, spindle and top bearing.
The first image shows the left driver side top strut bearing which indicate a slight misalignment of the white dots after slowly turning out of my parking spot. A low mild creak could be heard.


As you can see there was just a very small degree of misalignment of the dots in the clockwise position. Both the 22mm nut and shaft are rotating when the front wheels were turned at slow speed.
I had driven the car for about 10miles and never heard any creaking during the course of my travel.


The next day/time I drove the car, there was still a low mild creaking noise when pulling out of my parking spot at very low speed.
After having taken a 70mi drive, the alignment dots on the nut and spindle have now moved a fair amount clockwise and now reside in the 1 o'clock position.

Although I haven't taken a photo of the right, top passenger strut and alignment dots - The dots remain perfectly aligned and show no evidence of the nut or spindle rotating.
Not sure what to make of it (other than the obvious) but it seems the left side is where the noisy creaking issue and spindle rotation is coming from.

I welcome any thoughts you might have.

 

So… something’s binding? The nut got tighter, and the dots rotated clockwise relative to where they were. Meaning… some part of the assembly is free to rotate clockwise, but not the other way? Or am I missing something?

Well, I suppose it could also be a whole lot looser, with the issue reversed.

 

Today, I heard some creaking noise coming from the front struts, first thing this morning, pulling out my parking spot and a few low speed lefthand turns. About a mile thereafter - no creaking while making turns.
After driving the car for about 100mi or so today, I checked the orientation of the alignment marks I made. As before; the Right passenger-side top strut spindle and nut remain without any misalignment or indication of rotation.
Pictured below is the top Left driver-side top strut spindle and nut. The left image is where the marks began to diverge/rotate from the initial alignment the day before. The image on the right is where the marks have moved/rotated as of today. It actually appears that the large 22mm nut is rotating slightly clockwise in relation to the spindle = looks as if it's actually tightening by itself (?)

 

82 degrees in Dallas today. Not a sound from the strut mounts.

 

The more I think about it, the more it seems like that bearing is the culprit. I can’t think of any other reason the strut rod and bolt would rotate like that. It would also explain why your spring is creaking, since I think a bad bearing would cause a torque on the upper spring seat relative to the lower one that wouldn’t normally be there if the mount could rotate freely.