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Over the past 6 months, a rattle-creak has developed, seemingly from the right side. It usually doesn't start until it's been driven for 10-15 minutes. Increase in temp. will increase the intensity and decrease the onset. Rain will have the opposite effect. It sounds more like a creak as I come to a stop and more like a rattle going over relatively small irregularities and swells in the pavement. It doesn't directly resonate through the steering wheel. I just replaced the outer tie rods again after replacing them 15,000 miles ago (along with a new rack from NAPA) and checked out the ball joints before having it aligned and inspected (NY). I bought the car (with 207,000 mi.) in Georgia 4 yrs ago from the original owner who had all the maintenance receipts back to 1991 from the Volvo dealer (a small fortune). Most of the front end parts including several bushings had been replaced, though this was 50 to 100 thousand miles ago... I also installed Bilstien shocks 4 yrs ago. My only thought would be that the noise is coming from one of the bushings. If so, which one would be most likely and how can they be checked? All the bushings looked pretty good when I replaced the worn out tie rods thinking that was the problem.
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