Like most here, the front suspension of my car (primarily the driver-side) was making a clunking noise while traveling over rough/broken pavement at lower speeds. After reading various posts, I reasoned that the strut mount/bearing was my issue. So I disassembled the driver-side strut only to find the bearing intact, and no evidence of degradation of the mount itself. I changed the mount and bearing anyway to see if anything would change. Drove the car, and the noise was still present. I did notice that both front strut boots were torn quite badly, but didn't think of anything.

A few weeks back, I was reading a few posts on here where somebody mentioned the strut boot/bumpstop was giving them issues. So I ordered a pair of the 2-piece KYB boots. Upon disassembly of the struts, the driver side bump stop portion of the boot appeared worn quite badly (most if not all of the clunking was coming from this side) while the passenger-side appeared in much better shape. I replaced the boots/bump stops, took the car for a ride, and voila. Clunking gone.

Cliffs: If you've got front end clunking, try replacing your strut boots/bump stops first. Its cheap and easy, and may just work.

 

u have pics or part number of this part u replaced? this is something i plan on having replaced real soon as i do not feel like being stuck on the side of the road because of 'lack of money', safety = No. 1

 

Is it that easy? I thought you have to compress the spring to get the boot on and off??

 

Manufacturer: KYB
Part no. SB104

A few reviews of the part claim that the boots do not fit due to the small diameter hole that the strut rod has to fit through. Those people are idiots...there is a reason for this. This prevents movement of the rod.

The easiest way I found to get around this was to assemble the strut, spring, and upper coil mount (with boot on strut), thread the strut rod nut onto the rod, grab it with a pair of vise grips and pull the strut rod through the mount until the large diameter portion of the rod pokes through the reduced diameter portion of the mount. From there, remove the nut, install the upper mount/bearing, install the nut, and you're golden.

 

Of course you do. Coil spring compressors can be rented/borrowed from most auto parts stores.

By "cheap and easy" I meant that the boots only cost $15 each, and no re-alignment of the front end is necessary. There is still a little bit of grunt work necessary.

Don't forget to torque all bolts to spec once finished.

 

Hmm...when I did mine, the boot/bump stop (though they were the Gabriel brand that I grabbed from AutoZone) wouldn't fit over the strut rod, so I just cut/trimmed the top of the bump stop with a box cutter until there was enough diameter for the rod to go through. Was I wrong in doing that? You're saying I should've forced it?

 

check your engine mounts as well....

 

Beg to differ. I would definitely have it re-aligned after removing/replacing the strut assembly.

 

Why's that?

The only parameter replacement of the strut could alter is camber, and this is due to the slop in the bolting of the strut. On my car this was neglidgible. There is no reason toe or caster would chage at all.

 

It seems like you want as much restriction on the movement of the strut rod as possible, so forcing it through seemed like the best option.

 

Negligible, but still affected. You're telling me that you can eyeball your camber?

 

nope, but the 0.05 degrees it might change won't bother me.

I'd notice a difference in handling far before visually observing a change. Since the tracking characteristics of my car did not change after strut replacement, I'm not going to worry.

These, of course, are my own opinions. Maybe my annual alignment check will prove me wrong...I doubt it though.

 

Arent the bumb stops inside the boots? How could one wear more than the other.

BTW I have these clunks and it annoys me like nothing. I have almost fixed every darn thing in my suspension and then there is a clunk. When I ordered my boots from Nissan, I just put them in as is, but then the strut was not OEM. That may explain if the strut is bottoming out more than the OEM to wear the bumb stop.

Are non-OEM struts made to exact stds of OEM in terms of weight held by each one of them?

 

I had that same noise. Just yesterday i changed my front control arm bushings and stab bar bushings and the noise is gone. Before changing this i changed struts, strut mounts and all. I cant tell u if it was the control arm bushing or the stab bushing that was making the clunk clunk but u better off changing the bushings before changing the struts.... trust me on this one. I spent to much money figuring this out.

 

I've had this noise for the last couple of years. Every time I'm about to fix it the house/family/everything else always gets the money first. I'm to the point now though where I can't stand hearing it anymore. I really wish I'd replaced the strut boots/bump stops back when I replaced the struts. I thought this noise might be coming from the stab bar bushings though because it seems to happen the most when there is a lighter load on the front end. I wish they made a microphone you could place right by the part you think is bad while you're driving the car so it could take out the guesswork!

 

I basically narrowed down the source of the problem based on the characteristics of each part failing. Unless the stabilizer bar bushings are completely disintegrated, it is unlikely that the "clicking" noise will come from there, as there will still be rubber cushioning the bar.

Any clunking from control arm bushings will generally occurr at higher impact loads. Failure of these bushings is generally due to the corrosion of the inner sleeve of the bushing, which given sufficient force, will "slip" and cause a knock. There will generally be visual indicators that these bushings have failed though (obvious seeping of rust).

Roll bar links were verified to be free of play...this was pretty easy.

This left me the upper strut bearing (which I verified to be in good condition), the bump stop/boot (which was ripped), and the ball joint (most expensive to replace, therefore last to replace).

 

Good job to the OP for finding his fix. I've been battling a light, hollow "thud" or "thump" on my wife's '00 I30 for 6 months now. I've replaced front struts (w/mounts bearing & boots), sway bar bushings and end links, and both drive-axles. All of the above needed replacement when we bought the car 6 months ago, which is why they all got done. However, the thud/thump was still there. I've checked ball joints, bearings, and every fastener under the front end without finding anything out of the ordinary (I've owned my '97 Maxima for 8 1/2 years, and am familiar with the setup. I also use it for comparisons of everything). All fasteners are torqued with a torque wrench, and nothing seems to have any play. The noise is unpredicatble, and very hard to replicate. We can't exactly pinpoint it, other than the front of the car. It happens even on very light bumps. Oddly, larger bumps don't seem to do it as much.

Anyways, I've found two things that may help someone. First is the hood. Grab the center of the hood near the hood latch, and pull it up and down. Mine had some slack, and made the type of sound we were hearing. The rubber hood bumpers on the radiator support were squished pretty good from age, so I replaced them. Unfortunately, this didn't cure the noise, but did remove the slack of the hood. The other area that I've found is the styrofoam impact absorber under the front bumper cover. Ours was extremely loose (clips failed), so it was just sitting in the cover, free to bounce up and down. This made the same exact sound we'd been hearing. We had a bodyshop that replaced our front bumper cover recently repair it. They said they replaced some clips, and used a black adhesive to hold it to the metal part of the bumper under the cover. I have since verified the styrofoam no longer moves at all. I haven't driven the car since the repair, but the wife has. She says the noise is completely gone. Time will tell. Definitely worth looking in to if you have this noise. It's one of those simple, little things that seems so stupid that it can easily get overlooked.

kbohip, they do make microphones mechanics use to pinpoint noises. Ones I've seen are multi-channel (8+) with very long leads you can clip/tape to various parts of the car (suspension, undercarriage, interior). I'd like to get one eventually (it'd be a really cool tool), but haven't found any cheap enough to justify the cost.

Sorry for the length. Just trying to give people some ideas.

Dave

 

check your stablilizer bushings

 

Most of the time it is your front sway bar banging off of stuff under your car. If replacing your dust boots/bump stops doesn't fix your clunking issue, I highly recommend replacing your sway bar end links. You can usually tell if they're bad by grabbing your front sway bar and trying to wiggle it, if it moves at all, they are probably bad.

 

or checking your strut bolts...

 

As in loose conection to the knuckle? Haven't checked that yet.
I too have this problem and have had the front end in the air a couple of times but cannot simulate the clunking noise. I was able to get a click out of a sway bar link, so I replaced both. No dice.
Most prevelant when the wheel drops off a bump; such as new pavement over old like at the end of my street at low speed. The sound is a heavy rattle, (almost sounds like a loose wheel-it's not and is on the right side.)
Car has 71K on it, struts aren't leaking but boots are torn.
Any thoughts? Don't want to replace the struts just because "it could be".
I realise I'm flogging a dead horse, but thought I'd throw it out anyway.

 

Have someone drive your car slowly over a speed bump (or doing whatever that causes this sound), **listen** and observe.

Have the person driving your car drive back and forth (preferably slowly) over the speed bump until you have a better, more specific idea of what part is causing the noise.

My Maxima was making some minor clunking noises when I went over speed bumps so I had my Front struts replaced (my decision totally). But the noise remained even after the strut replacement.

I told the mechanic this, he took my car for a short test drive and then had me drive slowly over a speed bump several times forward and reverse. After listening and observing he said he was almost sure the problem was with a worn control arm bushing.

 

To me it sounds like a worn bump stop, in the suspension assemble, clunking when turning into a parking lot or hitting small or large uneven parts of the pavement, I would check the bump stop sounds like it needs replacing

 

Good advice; thanks. Hope the neighbours don't put the word out on me when I'm squatted down at the end of the street with the wife or a buddy driving my car back and forth.
Was your prob. the control arm bushing or have you persued it yet? I'm almost leaning to this being my issue because of the "weight" of the sound.

 

If the sound is coming from towards the right front strut and you've checked all your suspension components, I'll look at that passenger side engine mt and all the rest!

 

I don't know yet because I haven't gotten new control arms put in but the mechanic definitely knew his stuff..... I didn't even know what a control arm was until he explained it to me.

After I drove back and forth over the speed bumps he pointed said "its your control arm bushings" and i was like "you mean the CV joints?" (because I knew what CV joints were and they were in the general vicinity of where he was pointing).

And he was like "no, your control arm bushings" and he pointed it out to me and explained to me a little about what bushings are.

But I'm pretty sure its the control arms causing the noise because the noise is coming from that exact spot (at least when I hear it from inside the car). Plus my car has 104k miles on it and I'm almost sure the control arms and bushings have never been replaced..... normal wear and tear.

Plus by installing a new control arm I'm installing a new control arm bushing and new ball joint, 2 very likely sources for the noise (because a new control arm comes with new bushings and new ball joint).

 

Normal wear and tear I guess. But my Monte Carlo has over 140k on it with the original suspension and it goes over the same bump with no complaint. Mind you, it has other issues, but the front end isn't one of them.
I'm new to the Japanese motor industry and so far I'm guessing that the ride remains tight, (very unlike GM), the engine is great and doesn't leak oil, (unlike GM), handles well and is nimble but the suspension system is a little fragile.

 

I have this issue too.. I need to get my car aligned and i noticed that my boots are completely torn so i need to replace them. now, when i buy the boots they have the bump stops inside? and where can i buy these at? for the cheapest please!!

 

boots come with the bump stops. in canada, the boots cost me under $40 with shipping, so this should translate to ~$25 since we get screwed on parts.

Just do a google search.

 

You are right most of the times people spend all of that money on suspension parts and come to find out later it was a motor mount, and that front passenger side one is a big culprit in that noise. Been through that noise, got new mounts problem solved.

 

thats what i meant to say

 

aight! i'll see what i can find.. btw is there any write up on how to change these boots? on a scale from 1 to 10 how hard is it? i am no expert in mechanics but i learn quick..

thanks!

 

I totally agree with you! All the 5th gen Maximas I've owned have always made a clunking noise going over some sort of bump. I went through all of this with my 03 Maxima, replacing all the suspension parts. I finally norrowed the clunking noise down to the rear motor mount. Once replaced, it fixed all my problems associated with the clunking noise from the suspension. Cheaper, and easier, all you have to do is remove the crossmember underneath the engine, and replace both the front and rear motor mounts. Fairly cheap mounts can be attained from ebay for about $50 shipped for both front and rear motor mounts.

 

i have this same problem and have been looking for a solution! Thanks man! I will pursue the clunking!

 

i'd give the job about a 3 in difficulty.

removing the struts is easy. to disassemble, you need a strut spring compressor kit. re-assembly is reverse of disassembly. see my notes above about pulling the strut rod through the bump stop. be sure to use a torque wrench when re-assembling.

 

here is a how-to i found.. hopefully it will help anyone else doing this.

http://www.shiftice.com/strut_install.html

EDIT: but do i need to remove the whole thing like in this how-to?

 

As I have already replaced my passenger side control arm and the "clunk" is still there (most noticeable btw when I pull into my driveway) I will take a look at the rear engine mount. Is there a way to tell if it's bad by a visual inspection? I'm also curious about replacing the front and rear mounts. I'd always assumed that if I took the crossmember out the engine would be coming out right afterwards! Are you saying that it's possible to pull the crossmember without having the engine drop out?

 

hi i have a 02 max,had the same problem did the struts,stabalizer bar links,long story short its the ball joints changed um sat ,tighter steering and no noise

 

Thanks to CMax03's and other members input on this and other threads, I got a used aftermarket passenger side mount a few months ago (picture on right). I had been putting up with the right end clunking noise for a while, which sounded like a strut bottoming out. Even after replacing all struts, strut mounts, boots, boot stops and end links, the noise was still there. I didn't replaced the mount until this weekend and, boy, what a difference; the right end clunking is completely gone, the car feel more solid, low rpm vinbration is also gone. I can't explain what the relation might be, if any, but even an annoying engine whine that was heard from inside the cabin is gone. The car feels a lot quieter overall.
I had taken the original mount out before (picture on left), for other work, but didn't see any sign of deterioration. This time I decided to replace it and I'm glad I did.

 

The passenger side motor mount looks like a nightmare to get out though. How long did it take you to do yours? After reading a few motor mount threads I'm now contemplating eventually doing the front and rear motor mounts and maybe even replacing them with the stiffer Energy Suspension mounts.