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.
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.