Kizashi Club

Hey! I purchased my Kizashi new Nov 10th, 2012. Now has 40,600k. It has been an awesome car. Only issue I have had (save for the three second reverse cvt engagement and paint chipping) has been an accessory drive belt that jumped and wore prematurely.
For the past few months when the vehicle is cold in the morning, the front end makes a horrible crunching noise when I am pulling out of my driveway. The car will also do this if I continue over speed bumps. Once I have driven the car for some time, the noise goes away. For the past two oil changes (each 5000km interval), I have had the dealer look at the front end and to their surprise, they cannot find anything. I have looked at everything myself and can't find any issues. Here's the link to my video on youtube. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks guys and gals.

If, when cold, can you recreate the sound by bouncing the front end up and down with your hands? If you do that with a friend trying to narrow down the location, it might be better than a mechanic looking at it on a lift.

Any other dealers near you?
That sounds like warranty work to me.

What side does it originate from?
You don't have any aftermarket suspension mods do you?

Front sway bar end links on subarus always clunk but your sound seemed to be more of a squek associated with the compression of the strut/spring.

It is probably strut making the sound. If they replace one make sure they replace both at 40k you have enough miles on the car that it should be done as a pair.

If you could find someone with a gopro and a proper mount you could probably find it fairly quickly.

I'm with Moto. It's probably your struts/shocks making the noise.
My former Mazda had a creaking noise that I could not figure out for a long time. It was a similar noise and it occurred over potholes and speed bumps. It came from the rear and near the top of the strut mount in the trunk.
Took it to a local mechanic who could not see anything wrong with it.
Sometime later, I took it to the dealership and it turned out that a rear shock was leaking oil therefore creaked. Replaced both rear shocks and the noise was gone.

You can check to see if there are any obvious signs of oil leakage by looking into the wheel well and at the shock above the wheel. See if you have any oil leaking down the shock tube. You may need to pull up the boot to get a good look.

Suspension creaking noises get worse in colder weather because the cold affects the viscosity of the oil in the shock.

In fact, my car's rear is starting to creak too. I'm going to remove everything in my trunk and go for a test drive after I post this. If the noise persists, I'm going to take it in for a warranty claim. Now, about finding a decent Suzuki dealer near me...

There is also a Technical Service Bulletin on a strut issue with the Kizashi. It was posted on this site rather recently. It was regarding a strut bumper that caused corrosion and premature strut failure. It could apply to your car.

Ok, so I drove my car and it's definitely making the noise without my gear in the trunk. I think my right rear shock is faulty. Going to take it to the dealership soon.

I checked the Technical Service Bulletin and it applies for only the rear shocks. However, you said your car is at 40,600k. I assume it's still under warranty then so you should get them checked out again or at another Suzuki dealer.

I had my front strut replaced and it made the exact same noise for about a week. They said it would go away and it did but id say its definitely strut related for that reason.

Hey guys. Thank you all for the prompt replies. It is great to see such enthusiasm for such a misunderstood, over engineered machine. I love the car dearly. I have brought it to two different Suzuki dealerships and both cannot find anything. My feeling is that the issue is strut related. It is a difficult task to have anything done with the dealers up here in Canada because of the little support they receive from Suzuki. I would push down on the car when cold but I'm too scrawnny to be able to make an impact, lol.

Holy crap! My Kizashi makes the same noise! There are a series of speed bumps in the parking garage at my workplace, and it makes that creaking noise every time I go over them! And it's always the front wheels, never the rear. The thought did cross my mind at one point that maybe it's an issue, but afterwards I figured that it's probably normal. Does anyone else have the same noise up in the front? Maybe I should take my car in for this after all, although my guess is that the dealer will just tell me it's normal.

Sounds alot like the poly bushings in the spring eyes of my Samurai's after market leaf packs. Noisey as hell off-road. Does your car have an after market front sway bar? (w/ aftermarket bushings that are most likely poly)

@Ronzuki Nothing aftermarket has been done to the suspension as of yet.
@smsmart The issue is definitely not normal. I have had the car since new and this is something that has developed within the last few months. Again after I have driven the car for some time, the noise is really not obvious but very faint.