Author Topic: Clunking noises after front suspension redo (Read 5354 times)

bryan@cedainc.net · « **on:** February 27, 2011, 08:50:01 PM »

Replaced front struts, mounts, sway bar links, tie rods & boots but now I get alot of clunking & bumping when driving in normal fashion. Seems even worse after front end alignment. Tightened the crap out of all nuts n' bolts and checked all new parts for rubbing/marking.I made ceratin the springs (kept oldies) were reseated correctly. Thoughts?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #1 on:** February 27, 2011, 09:33:45 PM »

What did the upper strut "hat" bearings look like? I haven't seen a lot of them fail, but that might be something to check.

beta14ok · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2011, 10:28:22 AM »

How much of a drop did you do? If you swapped out the drop hats and dropped lower than 1.5in, then the sound may be contact with the strut towers.

bryan@cedainc.net · « **Reply #3 on:** March 02, 2011, 03:42:55 PM »

No drop; reinstalled original springs. "Hat" looked the same & was installed like original.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #4 on:** March 02, 2011, 03:55:53 PM »

Once I installed a brand new arm that had a bad ball joint. It took me quite a while to chase that down.

You could temporarily disconnect the sway bar to eliminate that as a cause. It'd be tough to disconnect anything else though...

bryan@cedainc.net · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2011, 08:35:00 AM »

Worh a try. Thanks

B318M42W · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2011, 05:47:36 AM »

i had a clunking when going over bumps at low speeds... turned out to be that the sway bar wasn't tight enough, even if i thought i torqued it to the # required. Tighter as hell and no more clunking since

bryan@cedainc.net · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2011, 06:25:59 AM »

I'll check while I replace the sway bar bushings. Thanks

woof132 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 18, 2011, 08:59:25 PM »

does it clunk when you turn, or when you're going in a straight line? if it happens while you're turning, then in my experience it is the upper strut mount bearings or the spring did not seat properly on its upper perch. if it happens when you're going in a straight line, then bushings, ball joints, or a bad shock. make sure the collar nut holding the strut to its casing is tight.

rac3r · « **Reply #9 on:** May 21, 2011, 12:39:58 PM »

I had a problem with clunking over bumps. It turned out it was the collars on my Bilsteins had loosened up, since I didn't have the Bilstein tool to properly torque it. Redoubling my efforts using my improvised torquing method and using a bit of blue Loctite solved the problem.

I also had a separate clunking problem with the muffler hitting the rear valence on bumps because the exhaust hangers were shot.

sqlpython · « **Reply #10 on:** May 30, 2011, 11:11:29 PM »

Yep...
Didn't want to post something so obvious but I had the same issue on a previous vehicle and while I thought things were tight it just came down to PROPER torque applied..
One corrected, clunking solved!