Hey guys.

I've got a knocking sounds over bumps. Usually only happens or is noticed at low speed. I've replaced most of the front suspension, minus struts, mounts and springs.

I've replaced: ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar end links and bushings and inner and outer tie rod ends.

What else moves up there? Are we thinking strut mounts? Also, to be clear, all of these parts were original or close on my 96 and needed replacement.

 

Is it in the rear or front? if its the fronts then yea your strut mounts are going bad and allowing movement so it clunks over bumps. The rears usually dont go bad but if you are super low then they could. ALot of people forget to install the rear strut rubber bushing when installing aftermarket struts/springs and that will clunk bad if you make that mistake

 

I replaced the rear struts and mounts when I got the car last year. The noise is in the front. Thought for sure it was the tie rods. I was really just changing these parts because they're old as hell, thinking the noise would go away as a pleasant side effect. Now i'm on a mission.

I'm not lowered. It's allllll stock stuff

 

Everything you replaced sadly wouldn't clunk or make noise but it is certainly good maintenance! Its certainly your mounts then. I would go to the local pull-a-part and pull a few just to have some extras.

 

Lol why have extras?

 

You have the stabilizer bar bushings and the rack and pinion bushings also. Did you inspect these?

 

I did the links with bushings and the bar bushings. Didn't really look over the rack bushings though

 

For the next time it breaks and the pull-a-part is out. Always good to have extras. Every time I go to the pull-a-part I always get 2 of what I went there for. If you are going to lower your car then your mounts will go bad consistently. They simply were not designed for the added stress nor were the axels or other suspension components. OEM lasts a very long time but even they fail so its nice to have 2 or 10 of mine. Ask me how man coil plugs I have lol. My spare parts game is no joke

 

Well, no plans to lower this car. Gonna see how many more miles I can get out of it. Now here's a question: can you get the mounts out by just unscrewing the three nuts at the top? Or do I need to remove the whole strut/spring assembly?

 

No the mount is attached to the whole assembly sadly. Heres a decent write-up http://web.archive.org/web/200805072...ca/mvp.php/703

Its fairly simple and you only need basic tools mainly deep sockets(14, 17 and 19mm's), biggest sockets you need are the 17mm and 19mm IIRC for the lower strut bolts holding it to the wheel assembly and a spring compressor from the auto store you can rent for cheap and some jack stands from wally world will suffice($30 for 2). Basically, you will jack up the car and support with jack stands to free up the jack so you can compress the spring. Remove the wheels. Remove the brake line from its lock on the strut(kinda difficult to get it back in so remember its orientation).Then loosen the top 3 bolts but don't remove completely so it still holds it up and in place. Then you will remove the 2 lower bolts and take them out. Now you can take 3 top bolts out and the strut assembly is free, simple right? Next to take the mount off the top of the strut you will need to remove the nut(14mm I believe) on top of the coil spring assembly. FIRST YOU MUST COMPRESS THE SPRING SO IT DOESNT FLY OFF AND KILL YOU!!! to do this, compress the spring with the compressor to remove its tension in the strut assembly. If you can move the spring up and down within the assembly then you know you have compressed it enough. Now for the nut, if you try without holding the strut cylinder stationary it will just spin and the nut will not remove. Best thing to do is get vice grips and clamp it down and rotate so its flush against a spring coil so when you try to turn the nut the vice grip wont turn because the coil is keeping it from rotating around, or just hold it with your other hand both will work. Once the nut is off you can take the whole mount off as a whole and re-install. There is a correct orientation for the mount, the side labeled "front" must be facing the front of the car or it wont fit into the 3 holes on the strut tower nor will it work properly. Its hard to get it in and hold it there long enough to screw the nuts on from the engine bay side without the strut mount assembly falling apart, 2 pair of hands is better but it is possible with 1. The strut mount that is inside the wheel well, the large black metal plate, has a notch on the outside rim of it. Once you reinstall the coil spring assembly you will need to rotate the plate so the notch is facing the wheel. Otherwise, when you turn it will knock and make noise. This is all. For you first time, I would allow about 4hrs for both front struts. ITs really not hard especially if you print out these and the website I posted's instructions

 

Well I've changed struts before, I just wasn't sure if you could separate the mount from the strut without taking it off the hub as well. Thanks fir the writeup! I've got everything I need. Getting an alignment tomorrow. We'll see if they see anything I missed. Then it's mount time.

 

Really there is nothing to align. Only the toe which doesn't get very far out of alignment. After I lowered my car I didn't even need one. Toe was only slightly off. I would save you money, it can not be that bad to warrant what they charge

 

My toe is way off. Just changed the tie rod ends.

 

true forgot that. Dont let them up-sell you lol! Say you know it only has toe adjustment and you should get a deal over cars that have caster and camber as addition to toe. I think $50 is reasonable at least around me. I go to a specialist suspension place though so I don't know

 

sounds like worn strut mounts and or strut bearings.

 

yea its prolly the struts and mounts man

 

last time that happened to me going over bumps one wheel at a time...it was the sway bar end links bolts loosen.

 

check your exhaust too

 

UPDATE:

This sound recently developed a bit more. I've been in school so haven't had time to take a look at it until recently.

It started knocking much more loudly than before, then also started doing the same thing when initially accelerating and initially decelerating. I thought for a bit it might be the trans mount, but I found that it was actually the inner joint on the driver's side CV shaft. I've only ever heard the outer joints fail, so this one eluded me for some time.

Just an FYI.