Control Arm Creaking & Squeaking Noise Fix easy DIY

[islandbayy]

I put together a little DIY to resolve the Creaking & Squeaking of the upper control arms. Low cost, less than $30 first time and then about $0.25 each time after (if your jumping in to this without a grease gun).

Should take you just a couple minutes to do. In most cases no need to pull the wheels off, especially if you have air suspension, just raise it to max. Though if you want to pull the wheels off, you can also inspect the other suspension components.

 

[articaine]

I put together a little DIY to resolve the Creaking & Squeaking of the upper control arms. Low cost, less than $30 first time and then about $0.25 each time after (if your jumping in to this without a grease gun).

Should take you just a couple minutes to do. In most cases no need to pull the wheels off, especially if you have air suspension, just raise it to max. Though if you want to pull the wheels off, you can also inspect the other suspension components.

I have a Model Y and about 1 year and 2 months into the purchase I noticed a squeaking while driving at low speeds. This was verified by mobile tesla and then had to goto TSC who again verified it this noise but said they didn’t know how to fix this. There seems to be several YouTube posts demonstrating almost the same thing where the upper control arm is the culprit. Don’t understand why those TSC techs say they don’t know how to fix it.

 

[islandbayy]

I have a Model Y and about 1 year and 2 months into the purchase I noticed a squeaking while driving at low speeds. This was verified by mobile tesla and then had to goto TSC who again verified it this noise but said they didn’t know how to fix this. There seems to be several YouTube posts demonstrating almost the same thing where the upper control arm is the culprit. Don’t understand why those TSC techs say they don’t know how to fix it.

Because they didn't want to do the work, and trying to cut down on warranty repairs.

 

[trayloader]

I put together a little DIY to resolve the Creaking & Squeaking of the upper control arms. Low cost, less than $30 first time and then about $0.25 each time after (if your jumping in to this without a grease gun).

Should take you just a couple minutes to do. In most cases no need to pull the wheels off, especially if you have air suspension, just raise it to max. Though if you want to pull the wheels off, you can also inspect the other suspension components.

Hi Kman,

problem is not the moisture, and road conditions, the main issue is the heat outlet from the batteries supercharger session right at the front wheel. This heat gets trapped in the upper wheel well, liquifies the fat of the control arm ball and over time creates this peoblem. 90% of all issues are on the LEFT side, and the whole air routing has beeen mitigated on the Facelift cars.

 

[islandbayy]

Hi Kman,

problem is not the moisture, and road conditions, the main issue is the heat outlet from the batteries supercharger session right at the front wheel. This heat gets trapped in the upper wheel well, liquifies the fat of the control arm ball and over time creates this peoblem. 90% of all issues are on the LEFT side, and the whole air routing has beeen mitigated on the Facelift cars.

I need to disagree with you. I'm seeing it on all years, and all models. Even a brand new 2022 MX with less than 10,000 miles. At least that one got warranty replacement...
Next, I managed to take apart a replaced control arm seal, that had the noise issue. The grease was not liquified. it was intact. Problem though, not enough of it, and some rust on the ball. Also, even if it was liquified, if it's not leaking out, it's still at least staying in the ball joint providing some protection. I haven't seen any Tesla's where the grease was leaking out at all. Further, at least with the design on my Model S, water coming down the windshield, gets diverted and drains down the gutter directly on to the control arm. Not a good design idea. I have not been able to look on a new re-design version if this has been changed.
It is possible that grease may lose consistency due to supercharging heat, but the frequency of supercharging, or stationary air conditioning use, I believe wouldn't be enough. My old gasoline truck, got much hotter by the wheels than my 2016's (S and X) get from Supercharging, and those were original through 150,000 miles when I sold the vehicle.

 

[Penquinsky]

Yes, my 2018 model 3 has this problem as well. I am wondering why none of ICE my cars ( Toyota, Mercedes) had this front control arm issue. Now car started to have squeaky noises right after a technician came and did a repair for some kind of recall. I brought it to Tesla service. It was determined that front control arm needs to be replaced.

 

[2manyusednames]

I can vouch for @islandbayy (KManAuto).

Read my other post here:

Creaking/Squeaking control arm ball joint fix

If I went as far as to take the arm off the spindle and my control arms had more than 30k miles on them and they were revision A, I would just replace them. At 90$ a side why not. squeaky vs worn out needs to be assessed. $90 bucks? Really? Seems like a no brainer to just replace them...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[islandbayy]

I can vouch for @islandbayy (KManAuto).

Read my other post here:

Creaking/Squeaking control arm ball joint fix

If I went as far as to take the arm off the spindle and my control arms had more than 30k miles on them and they were revision A, I would just replace them. At 90$ a side why not. squeaky vs worn out needs to be assessed. $90 bucks? Really? Seems like a no brainer to just replace them...

teslamotorsclub.com

THANK YOU!



Just thinking silently out-loud.... Going over the posts from my video, as well as checking Analytics for the video to see where traffic is coming from, key words used to find my video etc... etc... etc.... and finally, the amount of traffic the video gets from people looking for a fix. My conclusion this is a VERY wide spread problem, with many more people than most would think looking for a fix. The number of people going to my video for the fix should represent only a small small fraction of the people experiencing an issue. Given that, I'm really thinking this has hit RECALL Territory.

 

[islandbayy]

Well, just saw this, Control Arm Safety Issue Here's why I've been pushing for a Recall.