I have a 2006 Hyundai Sonata that has recently started making a noise coming from the front passenger side. It seems like the springs, since every time I hit a bump I hear that mournful squeak. But here’s the interesting part – as the car warms up, the noise gets quieter. First thing in the morning though, it is awful. Every movement of the car causes it to squeak. I brought it into several repair shops. The first guy didn’t hear it. I might go back if he changes the battery in his hearing aid. The other two shops at least heard it, but said it is normal. THe last one said that the springs are coated with something that just wears out over time.
More than likely, you are hearing noise from bushings in the suspension that have gone dry and need to be lubed. However, there is also the possibility that you have problems with a ball joint, and that is a safety issue, so I would suggest that you not ignore the problem.
As to, “the springs are coated with something that just wears out over time”, either you misheard that guy, or he is spewing bogus info.
I have pulled the lower control arm thru-bolts and dusted them and the bushing with baby powder to cure the creaking.
I’m with VDC on this. Typically these creaks are the result of drying, cracking, shrinking rubber bushings.
One particular bushing that I’ve found commonly does this on cars the age of yours is the bushing that holds the antisway bar to the chassis. The bar turns in the rubber bushing every time the wheel goes up & down, and it wears the hole to a larger size. It can be quieted temporarily with a bit of lubricant of just about any kind, but it’ll ultimately have to be changed.
Other bushings are possibilities too, and as VDC said it could be something more serious, but hopefully this idea will help lead to the squeak.
As regards the springs, I suspect he was alluding to the places where the spring ends are held captive by the strut components. As you can see from the attached “exploded view” drawing of my own components, there’s typically an “insulator” or a pad at each end of the apring to soak up vibrations. Perhaps that’s whata your guy was referring to.