Creaky Clunky Front Suspension
 

2005, 107,000 miles, Kinetix FUCAs, eibach springs, tokico struts. Aftermarket has 2years/20k miles on them. Everything else is presumed to be stock/original to the car
I have been trying to diagnose this for months with no luck. I cannot diagnose exactly where the sound(s) is/are coming from, but it is definitely coming from both sides. I suspect I may have more than one problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROdB...ature=youtu.be
I am getting a creaking and clunking noise in the front suspension when I turn the wheel left to right and right to left, AND when coming to a stop. It is very prominent and present in warm weather (>70*) and when the car heats up, In cold weather, it takes a while before the sound begins, on setting only as the car warms up. It is very very loud at lower speeds, and less so at speeds greater than 20+mph.

-Because I get clunking when I come to a stop, I have looked at the front LCA bushings for wear, especially the inner bushing that tend to give out allowing the LCA to slide forward when decelerating. However, the bushings on both sides look intact and there is no play in the LCA.

-Payed special attention to the ball joint since the car is lowered ~1" and there seems to be a lot of reports of ball joints wearing out quickly when lowered, but they also do not appear to be significantly worn or torn, and have no visible play. I've tried looking for play in the wheels by shaking it up and down (12 and 6 o'clock), and left to right (3 and 9 o'clock), and there does not appear to be play in either wheel. I've tried leveraging a metal bar underneath the wheel to see if I could observe any vertical play in the ball joint, and did not see any.

-Suspected perhaps a tie rod or the steering rack itself, but steering is tight with no deadzoning, no wandering. There is no play when tugging or trying to move the tie rods.

-Checked into sway bar bushings and end links and cannot find any damage to them as well.

I've got a date with Nissan over this, which marks the first time in almost 6 years that I may be outsourcing a repair, so this is my last effort to keep the combo going haha
I am all ears on suggestions.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....a246b328e8.jpg

It may sound obvious, but when I installed my Z1 UCAs I missed one bolt with the torque wrench and it was way high, clunking sound over bumps. I put it back to 35 ft lbs and bingo, almost perfect. It would be good to have a spotter in pass seat to take note on speed, bumps etc for that side of the car.

One thing that might help- Heavy grease, spray lube, etc on 1 part at a time driving up to 5 miles. If the noise goes away you have a starting point. If you get impatient and hit everything at once, you'll never know which component needs attention. If you hire an honest tech, he'll find it (hopefully). If not, you'll throw parts at it. gl!

I set aside all of Sunday to give jhc's suggestion a try, I can't believe it never occured to me to soak each part one at a time to pinpoint the noise... Anyways, it was 56* outside so I went to get a baseline for the noise and nothing! Drove for 40 minutes trying to get it warm enough to get some creaking and clunking going on, and nothing the entire time. So frustrating, but I suppose it indicates that this is temperature dependent, doesn't help a whole lot.

I've got annoying clunks and creeks up front. It gives the whole car a rickety vibe. Pretty much the same situation as the OP. I was searching both sides last night but didn't think to diagnose via lubricant. Anyway I saw a suggestion on another thread that creeks may be caused by disintegrated paper gaskets between the struts an chassis. I've been busy all over the rest of the front end that I haven't had time.

Just wanted to update this since I do believe I have finally solved my problem and hoping I can help others. To recap the problem, the front suspension was making a creaking noise when turning. It was exaggerated at low speeds, but not entirely gone at higher speeds. It seemed very temperature dependent, getting worse with heat and better with the cold. I could not replicate the sound with the wheels in the air. The car has aftermarket struts, springs, and upper control arms. All bushing along the lower control arm and sway bar appear intact and had been lubricated.

The fix:
I was able to determine that it was in fact coming from the driver's side. Youtube recommended a video of a similar creaking noise, which was suggested that it was the upper strut mount bearing. I don't think the 350z has a true upper "bearing", but more of a metal perch for the upper strut mount sits. Either way, I dissembled it, thoroughly cleaned and then lubricated the upper strut mount, the metal stopper on the strut and where the nut attaches to the strut. I think friction was causing it to bind when rotated, creating my creaking noise, but that the pressure was removed when the wheels were off the ground. So far the noise is gone even in 90+ heat!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....8c8b309bed.jpg

Cheers for the update, always good to hear when people solve an issue like this.
In my case I think jhc's suggestion is the problem with my car, as I had replacement suspension sent out to me from Meister R (completely new) and I still have the creaking.

Thank you for the follow-up info. That is greatly appreciated.

I experienced exactly the problem you describe. In my case it was a rusted (and consequently compromised) front cross member. My fix was replacing the front cross member.