Immediately after having Bilstein front struts and mounts placed on my Bertone, the front end elevated one inch higher and a creaking/clunking noise became noticable when I turned the wheels while driving very slowly. My mechanic had no explanation other than possibly the need to place new coil springs (he surmised that the bilsteins were so stiff they elevated the car in the front end...something I still find hard to believe)-back to the creaking noise: He assured me that the struts were completely seated in the strut mounts. I proceeded to have him place lowering springs to address the front end elevation (which worked well) but I am still having that same low pitch creaking noise heard only when I turn the wheels at rest or while driving slowly. A note that the noise is hardly audible when the car has not been driven for awhile but once driven several miles it becomes very loud. A friend suggested that the strut bearings may be bad and so after posing this question to my mechanic he considered that this could be possible and would look at it again. My questions are these: What are the symptoms of bad strut bearings? If they are bad, why would this problem appear immediately after the Bilsteins were placed? and wouldn't it be pretty obvious to the mechanic to consider evaluating the bearings early after this problem began? I apologize for the long winded history but I would be greatful to hear anyones wisdom on this matter. Thank you in advance. Sergio