[stinkbelly]

My beetle makes a creaking noise when it is bounced up and down when it gets near freezing. It makes the noise when I hit a bump while driving or anyother time I rock the frame around. It only does it near to below freezing. It sounds like an old bed. My guess is that it is the shocks, but I may be wrong. Are there any greased body joints that may also make this noise when it gets cold? If it is the shocks, does this mean then need to be replaced?

This is a 06 TDI Beetle. 90K miles, New to me at 60K miles. This just started happening this winter.

 

[red99]

There aren't any grease fittings on the original parts (at least in '99). My guess would be the sway bar connecting link bushings. You could temporarily disconnect the links from the control arms and rotate them out of the way. See if the noise goes away when you bounce it. The torque for the bolts is 33 ft-lb.

 

[stinkbelly]

Are the sway bar link bushings at all four wheels? It seems like all 4 make noise.

The problem with playing around with it is that I am in Texas and we have had only a handful days near freezing this season.

 

[red99]

They are only used on the front suspension. You'll need to try and isolate the sound better. I don't think the sound that you describe indicates any kind of serious problem.

 

[stinkbelly]

With the warm weather, it will be hard to isolate. The car sleeps in the garage. It is always warm by the time I get off work. I may let it sleep outside one day if it ever gets below 40°.

 

[janitz]

My car is creaky in cool weather like that too.

When it gets cold, real cold, not Texas wear a t-shirt cold, moving parts become unmoving parts and the suspension might as well be hard metal rods.

 

[05yellowbeetle]

My '05 makes a creaking noise as well, but mine is in the rear. It has 94,000, owned it sine 7,800.