At slow speeds I have a creaking when turning left or right. It's a bit like an old rusty door opening. I tried jacking, first the LH wheel off the ground and then both wheels, to see if no weight on them made any difference. It didn't.
I have a new upper control arm on the left side.
There has been a couple of threads on this back in 2010 but no clear answers.
Any one else experience this?

2002 A4 3.0. 178Kmiles

 

I had the same issue. I just had the power steering fluid drained. Had some new fluid added and it was gone. make sure you get it drained because it tends to turn dark.

got an 2003 A4 3.0 Quattro. 160K miles i had this issue last month.

 

Thanks. That would be nice if that was the problem. To me, it sounds almost like rusty joints, but I'm not familiar with the noise air in the system would make.

I just did an engine swap, so the P/S fluid lines were all disconnected and then I refilled with the Pentosin 11S, (I think it was). I didn't do any kind of flush (not exactly sure how, and with what fluid that would be accomplished)

I see there have been posts that talk about checking the hose clamps on the P/S lines to avoid air being sucked in. The clamps around my pump are all new. Maybe I should give the bleeding procedure a try. I can't recall if I ever did that.

 

You need sway bar end links... cheap and easy.. make sure you install them while you are at ride height...

 

Sway bar end links? You sound pretty certain.
Last night I jacked up the front end so both wheels were off the ground. Without the engine on, I tried turning the steering. The creaking/groaning was still obvious, so I don't think its to do with the pump. crouching in the wheel well, grabbing a wheel and twisting it by hand, there was various creaking, like all the rubber joints, so I sprayed them with silicon lubricant, but there's a louder groaning when I turn the steering wheel.
I guess I'll try the sway bar links as they look relatively easy to swap out.

 

While replacing the torque converter I spend considerable time under the car and eventually removed the subframe for ease of access. While doing this I noticed that the rubber joint on the lower control arm (I think that's what its called - goes from the lower joint to the subframe and has the shock attached) anyway this rubber joint where it connected to the subframe was totally trashed. I replaced it and the creaking went away.

 

Did you just replace the rubber or did you have to replace the whole control arm. I have the same issue but also noticed that when I hit bumps I get a squeak as well like an old bed spring.

 

I replaced the whole arm. I think you would need a press to push out the rubber part and I'm not even sure it's possible. The arms aren't that expensive.
Mark

 

Epic thread revival, just wanted to add my knowledge on this issue so that it is there on the 'Net for everyone to see.

My B7 with 180,000kms had creaky steering, had been getting worse over time.
I replaced the upper bushes on the two links, it got better, and I thought I had solved it.. but I still had creaking.
I removed a wheel, and tie-rod, and was able to turn the steering and could clearly hear the creaking coming from the sway bar links.

If you have creaky steering on a B6/B7, I would replace the sway bar links first, because they are really easy to change, and then beyond that be looking at doing the upper links. (My upper links were really gone.. so glad I went to the effort).