CX-9 Front End Creak

ctbale

Member
Contributor
:
2022 CX9 Tourin
I think I went down the cowl plate bolt rabbit hole, my creaking noise wasn't that. Mazda Dealership agreed with my suspicion that it was the LCA Bushing doing its stick-slip thing. Getting a new Right Lower Control Arm installed tomorrow. Here is the text of the note I left for the technician to get him informed on my troubleshooting. Get it back tomorrow. Probably should have just injected some silicon grease in that bushing. Fingers crossed this is a fix. Probably just temporary.:::

Creak from front end, more on right side, noticeable at slow speed, over uneven terrain and with body roll.

I purchased the car with two miles on it I helped them pull the stickers off the paint and I've never hit a pothole or speed bump so there's no damage to this vehicle that's responsible for the noise. Started noticing it at around 8000 Miles currently has about 12,000

Nothing in the glove box nothing under the seats nothing in the door pockets. So it's nothing rolling around inside the car. Torqued all 12 cowl panel bolts to spec. No help, still creaks. Removed cowl panel from vehicle and drove for a few days. No help still creaks. So it's not the cowl panel. Checked torque on both end links connections. At strut were tight, but lower connections at sway bar I got about a half a flat. No help. Checked a few subframe bolts. I got movement on the two 17mm headed bolts nearest the sway bar end links. Got about two flats on the right side and about one flat on the left side. Just use a combination wrench on those so I'm probably still under torque. No help, still creaks. I now suspect LCA Fwd bushing slip-stick for the noise.
 
Probably should have just injected some silicon grease in that bushing.
Sometimes squirting some silicone lube or even WD-40 into a bushing, one at a time, can be a good way to diagnose the location of a noise. The lube isn't a permanent fix, just a tell-tale.
 
Sometimes squirting some silicone lube or even WD-40 into a bushing, one at a time, can be a good way to diagnose the location of a noise. The lube isn't a permanent fix, just a tell-tale.
I was gunna stuff a pointed punch in there and inject some silicone grease. That would have fixed it. Mazda says it should rotate, they actually have a TSB on this. Thier fix was to use a coating on the LCA bore that has less friction. That revised LCA came out on 2020 and should be the one on my 2022. Still creaking even with the fancy coating. If my left side starts doing it I am just gunna deal with it my way. I wanted them to replace the right one because if its still making noise on the front right they said they would replace the strut mount. Be happy to put this behind me. Super annoying. Love the car otherwise. I am in a 2023 CX5 loaner and holy cow it feels small. But just as fun to drive. AND NO CREAKS!!!
 
They replaced the Right LCA. No more creak! :). Also I asked them to increase the toe when they aligned it. I had it at .04, high speed wander was hard to keep it in my lane on highway. 2000 miles ago I had it adjusted to .18 total tow. Drove better. Today they set it at .26 total, much better. Easy to keep it centered in my lane now. Zoom zoom!
 
Last edited:
Congrats on getting your fix! Noises drive me crazy. I currently have a creak as well as a pop on my 2020 from both front driver and passenger sides ( more on the right side as well) and it is NOT the cowl bolts. You mentioned a TSB on this? I cant seem to find it. Happens when pulling into my driveway at an angle and steering wheel turned. Also popping occurs when there is body ungulation and roll, turning slowly around corners or going over speed bumps, especially with wheels at an angle. Driving me NUTS. Thought it was the top strut mounts as well. Already brought in to dealer and service advisor heard pop in floor board and those idiots still gave it back with nothing done saying they could not find a problem even though advisor heard it. Freaking joke.
 
Last edited:
Congrats on getting your fix! Noises drive me crazy. I currently have a creak as well as a pop on my 2020 from both front driver and passenger sides ( more on the right side as well) and it is NOT the cowl bolts. You mentioned a TSB on this? I cant seem to find it. Happens when pulling into my driveway at an angle and steering wheel turned. Also popping occurs when there is body ungulation and roll, turning slowly around corners or going over speed bumps, especially with wheels at an angle. Driving me NUTS. Thought it was the top strut mounts as well. Already brought in to dealer and service advisor heard pop in floor board and those idiots still gave it back with nothing done saying they could not find a problem even though advisor heard it. Freaking joke.
2021 looks like they changed the coating to reduce friction. You should be able to find it just by doing some googling. But even with the new coating the bushing still sticks slips as the control arm swings thru its travel. I was going to jam some silicone grease in there but I didn't want to temporarily fix it.. And even though this TSB does not apply to 21 and after that doesn't mean it still can't occur. Don't let them try that bulls*** on you. I dislike dealers generally but this dealer I'm using in Minneapolis down in Burnsville Minnesota it's pretty solid. Walser Mazda Burnsville Mn
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20230522-151944_Xodo Docs.jpg
    Screenshot_20230522-151944_Xodo Docs.jpg
    80.3 KB · Views: 107
2021 looks like they changed the coating to reduce friction. You should be able to find it just by doing some googling. But even with the new coating the bushing still sticks slips as the control arm swings thru its travel. I was going to jam some silicone grease in there but I didn't want to temporarily fix it.. And even though this TSB does not apply to 21 and after that doesn't mean it still can't occur. Don't let them try that bulls*** on you. I dislike dealers generally but this dealer I'm using in Minneapolis down in Burnsville Minnesota it's pretty solid. Walser Mazda Burnsville Mn
Thank you for the info, I have a 2020 but my VIN is apparently out of the range of VINS listed on the TSB. I found the complete PDF of the TSB and attached. Was thinking about trading in for a new carbon edition even though I only have 19k miles on the odo. My engine is on the list of one that is affected by the cracked head and coolant leak which really pisses me off that it will occur sometime in the future. My headlights also flicker and bounce like they are loose and of course the dealer says it's normal. I love when they say they compared it to a similar car and it does it too. That means nothing. That vehicle could also have the same defect or issue. Dealing with dealers is really draining. Everone is so incompetent.
 

Attachments

  • MC-10170655-0001.pdf
    679.7 KB · Views: 87
Yea, like talking to a brick wall. Just because the TSB only covers to model year 2020 doesn't mean later model years are immune. The new coating was an attempt to fix it. My car proves it didnt fix it in all cases. Feel free to site my repair. Work was done May 24th. 2022 CX-9. Walser Mazda Burnsville MN. The dealer and myself can confirm the diagnosis and repair. But if your gunna get rid of it, not worth the heartburn. Smokin deals on 2023s right now. Getting rid of mine did cross my mind but I dont know what I would buy. No car is perfect. You can try shooting some lanolin based spray like fluid film or Surface Shield in that rubber bushing. It's item A on the diagram. That's what I'm going to do if mine starts creaking again.
 
I got my RH LCA replaced. Still creaks. Next is gunna be strut and upper strut bearing.
 

Attachments

  • CX9 Creak.mp3
    32.7 KB
i've had this in both my cx5 and cx9.

if you have already tightend the strut brace bolts on the top, u will hear this if you also if you try to lift the car. it's the top of the coil rubbing on teh strut mount/coil upper plate. every so often, i take some wd40, point the tube upwards when you hold the car in the wheel well gap, and spray the top of the coil where it meets the strut mount plate. they have the TSB for the sleeve but this works out fine for quite some time.
 
i've had this in both my cx5 and cx9.

if you have already tightend the strut brace bolts on the top, u will hear this if you also if you try to lift the car. it's the top of the coil rubbing on teh strut mount/coil upper plate. every so often, i take some wd40, point the tube upwards when you hold the car in the wheel well gap, and spray the top of the coil where it meets the strut mount plate. they have the TSB for the sleeve but this works out fine for quite some time.
Do you happen to have the TSB for this? I have the same issue!
 
Do you happen to have the TSB for this? I have the same issue!
the tsb for the sleeve and strut bump stop? i'll have to go look for it. it's somewhere. dealer wouldn't do it for me as they said they couldn't replicate it. i gave up after 3 times so i just spray lubricant.

update: it's on this same one, it's further down pg 8
 

Attachments

  • 02-001-20.pdf
    679.7 KB · Views: 89
Yes, is it the one I attached? What year is yours? I have a 2020 that is outside the tsb vin range below, built in Feb 2020
 

Attachments

  • MC-10170655-0001 (1).pdf
    679.7 KB · Views: 72
Mine is 2019. They all have the same issues really. I think I read somewhere the sleeve didn't help after a while. Other cars have robber insulators on top. Think we lack those
 
Yea, my 2022 is outside this TSB on all three situations. But that doesn't make your vehicle immune to the problem. My dealer installed a new LCA because they thought the stick-slip on the LCA foerward bushing was likely. I was impressed. But it wasnt it.

I did soak the heck out of the upper spring area when I had the wheel off with lanolin based fluid film but no help. This was after the LCA replacement. Might try it again.
 
Yea, I just did some spring work on my 2002 Chevy Silverado. The upper spring lives in a soft rubber insulator. Ours looks like hard plastic.
 
I think if we add rubber spring pads on the top and bottom it will also improve nvh. Bump nvh is pretty bad on these.
 
I think if we add rubber spring pads on the top and bottom it will also improve nvh. Bump nvh is pretty bad on these.
This is really great information. Thank you for posting it. I have been trying to figure this out for quite some time. I don't know how clear my audio file was but did the sound in my upload sound like your sound?
 
This is really great information. Thank you for posting it. I have been trying to figure this out for quite some time. I don't know how clear my audio file was but did the sound in my upload sound like your sound?
i really can't tell from the 2 second audio. you really have to diagnose it in person. put it on a ramp and either use chassis ears or statoscope so listen to where it's coming from.
 
Back