janbog

I have 2009 Q7 with 117,000km on it and recently I have experienced noise/ squeaky in front wheel as I turn my wheel left and right as well as going over bumps. It's annoying as hell and I looked underneath couldn't see anything wrong, checked struts and no leaks. I took wheel off and put the car off the ground with front wheels off ground and then turned the steering wheel all the way left and right and no noise. As soon as I put the wheel on and car was on ground noise is back on while turning but louder when going over bumps etc. I sprayed all connections around wheel, ball joint etc with silicone spray,, same results.
Does anyone know what could be wrong here? During winter I had similar thing happen to the passenger side but it went away after a month. The driver side doesn't seem to go away.

frqflyer

Is it only when the car is moving or stationary also? If when moving it could be a wheel bearing. When it was off the ground did you check for play in the wheel by grabbing it at 12 and 6, and then at 3 and 9 and working it back and forth? Sometimes a bearing won't drone all the time at first and just under certain angles of load. It could also be the CV on it.

If it does it stationary it is probably suspension or steering. If it can be produced stationary it should be easy to pinpoint the source with someone turning the wheel for you.

janbog

Noise appears when car is moving and going over slight bumps and when stationary and I turn my wheel both clockwise and counterclockwise. When vehicle was off ground I moved steering wheel with no noise. I also held to rotor and moved the wheel sideways and no noise with no play while moving, sturdy. I will get help and have another look as one person turns steering wheel and I'll check underneath to get close to squeaky noise.

frqflyer

With the wheels up obviously there will not be much load on the steering. Get up under the car (safely) with it on the ground while someone turns the wheel and pinpoint it. Probably something on the suspension, could even be power steering pump or even a belt chirping under load or unload conditions. I would have someone crank that wheel with the engine off since it would be easier to hear and if it still happens you know it isn't the pump , belt or anything else that is moving. The only thing that would be producing it at that point is maybe the suspension, ball joints or rack.