Clunk from the Front
- Thread starter dnale
- Start date
I found my problem doing a shake down. with the veh on a lift and the suspension at full droop I was able to lift the tire in a manner that felt like the upper strut nut was loose, but it wasnt. It could hardly be seen with the naked eye and barley felt but it was magnafied ten fold driving down the road. I chased this problem for years before it was located It sounded like it could be from anywhere. a motormount a crossmember loose I mean it was very noticeable when it hit bumps if I were a betting man I'd bet the farm that its those upper strutmounts especially since you look dropped and if you've ever bottomed out the struts thats real hard on the strut mounts and with that mileage thats gotta be the problem.good news is if Im right certainly someone here has a set on the cheap and theyre as easy to swap as a set of springs.
I have the clunk although it is limited to occuring on hard bumps like driveway aprons and potholes. Expansion joints, too on crappy highways, and speedbumps maybe; I never go that fast over them. The dealership siad it was probably the swaybar bushings, but I haven't looked to confirm.
This may be obvious to some, but what is the best way to test upper strut mounts? Does the car need to be off the ground?
This may be obvious to some, but what is the best way to test upper strut mounts? Does the car need to be off the ground?
I'll take a look in the classified for those mounts. I'm not dropped but that photo looks like it. I might go for a little drop if I replace struts anyhow. I'll be in there and needing an alignment, might as well go all out. I don't want to drop so much that I loose my winter driveability though. I love the P5 with my snow tires on. Although I can't wait for the better weather to put the toyo's back on and corner like mad.
nvp5 your description is dead on for the sounds you might hear and when. you probably wouldnt hear/feal it if you crept over speed bumps. All you have to do is jack the front of the car up support it on stands securely and try to move the front tire in/out up/down front/back this is a typical shakedown you should feel no movement also this doesn't mean that the struts are bad its the bearings in the upper strut mount that usually wear out. Mine didnt start going until 200,000 and I didnt find the problem until 240,000 remember it doesnt have to have very much play to be very noticeable.
No idea, never looked into it. I know I had a squeak over low-speed bumps and a clunk at a high-speed bump and that is what it was. It was about 2 years ago and still under warranty, so I didnt look for parts or anything, just took it in. IIRC that is what they changed, and it stopped the problem.Kansei said:
My clunk went away! I replaced the top strut mounts and the endlinks. I'm 90% sure it was the endlinks. Particularly the end on the sway bar. The link popped right off the ball on end and lots of "dust" came out of the boot. New ones on and it seems to have made the sounds go away. I did one side first and drove it and then I really noticed the other side making the same noise. I love air tools now!
aMaff said:yep, that'd be the end links. Good job
Thanks. I now know why everyone hated changing them out, but I think now after doing it it wouldn't be so bad. Mine, like most others, were rusted on the bottom and I couldn't get my impact wrench on it. I busted out the metabo and 5 minutes later it was out. The tops came off like a champ with the impact wrench.
Kickin' MP5
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- 02 Mazda Protege5
You might also want to check your ball joints. They can get axial play in them causing the clunking noise you hear when you hit a bump or even brake hard. Just do the shake test and look at the ball joints, if there is any side to side movement, that is your problem.
