Driving over any little bumps on the road.. at any speed, there is a dull knock/clunk coming from the right side... especially heard/felt when sitting in as a passanger. It is like dribbling a basketball only more dull.. I also feel that my steering response is not as good as it was..


1. What could it be?
2. how do I single out the problem?



So far, I came up with ball joints, tie rod ends, control arm bushings? perhaps upper strut mounts?


but how do I know which one it is?



thanks a lot.

 

upper strut mounts, replace them on both sides. They hold the struts to the body of the car and bounce around more freely when worn, thus causing your suspension knock.

 

thanks.. are you sure?


can they be changed without removing the strut and spring assembly?



also.. we are talking about the things you see when opening the hood, holding the top of the strut on each side with 3 bolts, right?



thanks

 

Mine clunked like that on both sides for about a day. Turned out that the main strut tower bolts weren't tightened all the way.

 

yeah, i had that happen before I've checked for that.. definitely not the problem.. but that is the exact clunking noise that i am hearing right now..

 

I also had that same problem, but only because a locking washer snapped in half, causing the tower bolt to become loose.

I'd take a look at that nut first, at least it's a fix that will cost you $0, and you can do it yourself.

 

It cant be the strut tower mounts because I installed new ones with me lowering, and it makes it still. It must be something thats in the lower portion of the suspension because thats all that was reused in my install.

 

i hear that clunking in the rear once in a while.. can't seem to figure where it's coming from....

 

Yea, in the right rear also sometimes..

 

i used to have a clunking noise going over bumps, especially when turning right... i replaced like every single part in the suspension but i still had it

it turns out the bottom of the spring was hitting against the metal spring seat on the strut...where it curves upward to hold the spring in place... i just had to bend back the spring seat a little bit

 

hmm, that sounds like a good idea.. Do you have a picture of the bend?

 

bc

 

strut mounts are 50$ a piece here damn..

this better be the problem. lol

 

I've got this problem, too. Clunking in right rear especially when I have people sitting in the back seat, read few threads here that say that could be a strut going bad... what do you guys think it is...

Thanks.

 

will i be able to see if they are busted once i remove the strut?

 

Well from what I see from your symptoms, your noise is definately probably the strut assembly. The easiest to find out is if you still have the rubber insulator the sits between the top of the spring and the strut mount, and the bottom of the spring and the perch that the spring sit on the strut. If you don't have anything, what you can do is put some 3/4 wire loom around the first 1 or 2 winds on each side. That may solve it. The other thing to check is to make sure you have the top hat/space piece that sit between strut mount and the car itself. It comes up thought the center hole and positions it self around the top portion of the strut mount. Often people leave this out or they converted thier struts from electronic adjust that didn't have it and it causes noise. The last thing that is probably causing it is the main nut that holds the strut to the mount is loose. Those are the normal suspects.

S

 

courtesy has a good deal on those strut mounts, .orgy discount

 

Open ypur hood and turn your steering wheel left to right while paying attention to both center bolts for the struts. If either one moves around while the steering wheel is being turned than it's the upper strut mount. Good idea to replace in pairs.

 

Are all of your bolts torqued tight enough? Are your strut bearings new aswell?