Cracking from the steering column after standing still.

Car?

 

Could be the clock spring, see if this sounds like your issue

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/faint-clicking-steering-wheel.661766/#post-148615479

 

I'm not familiar with the newer cars; what does a "clock spring" do?

 

Makes electrical contact for the moving steering wheel components that need power.

 

And another question is how do they work. I think clock springs have been around for "centuries", but I'm sure they've changed over the years. They used to be like the mechanism you would see in a pop-up headlight motor with concentric sliprings and spring-loaded contacts. However, if you assigned all the functions of a modern Ferrari steering wheel to individual sliprings there would be dozens of them, so I guess they would have had to have changed the technology. The more modern type of clockspring appears to be just a coil of flat ribbon cable you would find in a computer (?). Note that cars like the F430 and later do have databus wiring running through the clockspring, so you can digitise various signals and send them through on two wires. Even so, there is still a 12 pin plug going to the steering wheel on an F430.

Here's a picture of a modern clockspring

https://carpart.com.au/blog/signs-of-a-bad-clock-spring

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I see something which looks like spring-loaded contacts, but no corresponding sliprings.

So what makes the crackling noises on a modern clock spring? This might answer the question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/31fqo3/this_clockspring_was_a_mess/

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You would have to ask the question, though, wouldn't you see other symptoms if it was bad enough to cause noises?

 

Thanks, the photos are very helpful.