I had my catalytic converters replaced last week at 28k miles (15 R) under US Federal warranty. Things were fine for the first 20 miles or so, then I noticed that the car makes a heavy creaking noise when transferring weight away from the front-right corner.

Does anyone know what they might have done to cause this? It sounds very similar to the time that one of the under-hood braces came slightly loose but after some inspection, those appear to be tight. My biggest fear is that they disturbed some panel adhesive while lifting it but perhaps there's a subframe brace loose that had to come off to replace the catalysts? Seems like this car wants to spend more time at the dealer (cats took almost a month to replace)

 

Make sure they put the wheel nuts back on tight. I had the creaking after a service, it ended up the nuts were barely finger tight. I then got creaking again and it was a bearing gone which I suspect was a result of the first issue.

 

Unfortunately, that was my first thought as well and they were on full German (gütentight!). It sounds like something is binding. I can induce it my turning right while stopped then unwinding the wheel as I pull forward.

 

It may be a bushing. My guess is that the car was lifted at the pinch points and the suspension was "fully extended", so to speak.

 

They should not need to remove wheels to change Cats/ downpipe, so would not think wheels were disturbed. The front cross member support gets removed and may not have been tightened properly, heat shields could have been removed/altered, and the midpipe section hovers right over a small support piece and if the pipes move down even 1/8 inch, it can rub.

Take a look at the pics in my DIY, and maybe will get some ideas? Link here

Good luck,,
DC

 

Check that the front crossmember support and the top of the shock mounts are tight, that was my creaking noise when turning right and it slowly progressed to a clunk as it got looser over time, until my independent shop found it.

 

Just went through something familiar. 2 of 4 front strut bolts were loose on one side. All well after they were tightened.