2004 mini, 44,000 miles. when its cold out I have a loud creaking sound on the right side front when I turn the steering wheel. the colder it is the louder it is. After the outside temp warms up the sound will go away. It happens with or without the car moving and it sounds like a plastic or rubber draging on something with a slight delayed reaction to tuning the steering wheel its like a snaping or crunching sound. ive inspected eveything under the car and there is nothing rubbing on the tire/wheel and its only on the passanger side. It has a new steering power pump and the steering fluid tank is full. anybody with any thoughts?

 

check the cv boots

 

Ive heard that on other cars when the struts go bad....

 

Unless you have a lot of potholes and overall just bad roads, I would think that this could be something jarred loose. But I agree with the checking of your CV Boots.

 

i had the same exact problem with mine. It ended up being strut bushings. the dealer fixed it for ~$1000, however mine was covered under my 30 day warranty since i had just bought it used.

 

What
the
F***

 

Yeah, my brides 05 auto has the exact same noise. I pulled the right front wheel, stuck my head up in the wheel well, turned the wheel, and hear the top strut bushing letting out a creek. Wont do it lock to lock, though. Like dcmack above posted, it appears randomly, though consistently. Did your dealer repair or replace your struts. I would guess for $1000 you got new struts instead of new bushings.

 

Note to anyone: it should not cost anything over $300 in the worst-case scenario to replace the upper strut bushing. Supply your own parts ($75) and taking it to an independent shop ($75/hr x 1hr) would be the cheapest.