Creaky front end 2003 Jetta

Thanks for your reply. I had a chance to look at the car and - not surprisingly - when I bounced the car by pushing on the front fender it didn't make any noise - Murphy's law.

The stabilizer bushings looked OK and the lower control arm bushings weren't shredded. No oil running down the struts, dust boots look OK. The rubber ring at the top of the strut mount looked like it was higher than I would expect, but when I jacked the car up they only went down maybe 1/4 inch or less. And I assume shge would report clunking rather than squeaking if it was bad strut mounts. Both strut mounts look identical relative to "height." Ultimately, I suspect it will have to go the the dealer and unfortunately, it's a dealer that charges Porsche prices for VW repairs, and one that doesn't go out of their way to save you money.

In many cases, cars seem to have certain repeating problems due to manufacturing or design issues. What I was looking for was something like, "Oh yeah, 03 Jettas had a bad batch of ball joints in them... See 'em all the time." If that were the case, I might try to fix it myself.

Bill

It is probably the notorious and well known anti-sway bar bushings. You can replace them with fresh ones, spray some spray grease at them or take them off and grease them. They will get noisy on occasion some other time. They will not make noise when parked.

Yeah, what he said. I had this happen on my 2003 Jetta a couple years ago -- fortunately while it was still under warranty, so I have no idea how much the repairs cost. But as indicated, it made no noise when cold/parked. The creaking over bumps only started after driving it for 10 minutes or so. Then I noticed it mostly while driving slower (probably due to less wind noise). It didn't sound horrible, but rather sounded like a suspension on a

-Corey

Jim, Corey...

Thanks! That's what I was looking for.

Bill

That's exactly my problem too.. Thanks for the info guys!