At 30,000 miles I went in to get new tires and with that I was going to have a front end alinement done also. The mechanic came to me and told me that he wasn't going to do the alinement as one of my control arm bushings were wore and the control arm was actually sitting on the frame, metal on metal and it was in need of replacement first. The shop wanted $300 bucks a side to do this, which I didn't have done, instead it was cheaper for me to actually buy a press and do it myself as I was able to buy a pair of bushings for $35 and a press for $100. I replaced the bushing thinking it was a fluke that one would go out at only 30k and left the other side alone to see how long it would last, it ended up only lasting 2 weeks and the other side dropped as well! At the parts store they commented on how many people come in for suspension parts for the PT cruiser and they constantly order them as they're inventory was quickly depleted. I've now seen the same issue on others and the owners had not really looked into the creaking issue, just kept driving their vehicles.