Hi - Have been hearing creaking noise while braking hard and coming to a stop. An independent tech who test drove with me said it's the front shocks(I already knew the front shock was leaking) but I was not convinced. Anyway, since the strut was leaking, I went ahead and replaced it myself with Duralast struts. After further research, a YouTuber says it the caliper piston making such noise on his Civic. The noise matched exactly, so I decided to service the front brakes. Noticed uneven wear on passenger side brake pads, so replaced front pads with Duralast Gold and checked the piston movement. Piston moved fine with no creaking sound. My front upper control arm ball joint boot cover is torn, but I doubt if the ball joint is making that creaking sound. I still hear that creaking sound when braking hard coming to a stop, I don't think I hear it with soft braking.
What other components can make such creaking sound? I can only suspect the lower ball joint at this point. I kind of hear such creaking noise during sudden takeoff also, I think.
Please advise.

 

If your ball joint boot is torn or tracked you REALLY want to change that ball joint. It may or may not be the noise, but if you've ever seen what a ball joint failure looks like, you'd still want to change that anyway.

I'd personally test the ball joints (videos on youtube) and change if needed.

 

* (If not the brakes) As far as the noise, most often for me it is the sway bar bushings where it attaches to the A arm (not the frame). I would suggest going over speed bumps and see if it makes the same noise.
2nd the upper A arm bushings.
3rd take a pry bar and see if you can move the lower A arm enough to have weak bushings where it bolts onto the frame.


*As far as the springs/struts go.I would not be looking at the leaking strut, but the coil over rubbing as it twists against the strut housing or the top bushing where it connects to car body. If you only replaced the strut and not the whole assembly, this could certainly be the problem.

*As far as the brakes go. It is normal to have the driver side brakes wear out faster than the passenger. It is also typical to have the pad that rides against the caliper piston to wear faster than the outer pad. *I assume that you put the anti squeak on the metal clips where the pad slides inside the caliper bracket?

 

No, lower ball joint boots look fine, no cracks. I hear that creaking noise only while hard braking and right before the vehicle stops.

 

Sway bar end bushing replaced last year and they are still in good shape, no cracks.
Upper LCA is the original with ball joint boot torn and all grease completely out, those are my suspects as well.
Will try the lower arm for any movement. Since the creaking noise happens only right before the car stops, I suspect something that takes all the car weight may be cause that noise.
I replaced the front full strut assembly(Duralast)
Regarding brake pad wear, its my fault. I never serviced slide pins in the last 10 years or so, hence the outer passenger side pad was wearing out at an angle. So decided to replace both front pads and lubed the slide pins.