Does anyone else's hhr make a scraping/creaking noise (sounds like it sin the rear) in cold weather? I live in NYS so it generally doesn't happen until it gets below 25 degrees. I can't say if it happened before I got new shocks put it in or not because I got th car in May 2014, and got new shocks put in that winter with my winter tires. It's never caused any problems, it's just a noise.

 

Shock, broken spring, missing or deteriorated spring isolater, sticking rear axle bushings. Could be any of those.
Until you get up under there and give it a "hands on" look, it's hard to say which one is the culprit.

 

My thoughts are did the shock bolts get torqued correctly??
Top bolts 66 ft/lbs
Bottom bolts 92 ft/lbs

Not just zipped in with an air impact gun!

A little anti cease might help, there are also threads about replacing the OEM threaded bolts with shouldered bolts.

 

Glad you mentioned that, JPak88! --mine seems to have a scrapey-type sound when it's cold too! Just replaced the shocks, but nothing else in back. Another item for the To Do List... (will be monitoring this thread, just in case you DO have time to dig into it until solved)

 

Here is one idea related to oldblue's point: If you overtighten the bolts you chance binding the swivel points.

I did that on a Toyota pickup and bent the shaft when I hit a bump.