I had a post about a week ago about a mysterious suspension noise that some shops couldn't pinpoint.

Some people pointed out strut mounts and/or strut bearing, but I had a long-time mechanic friend (a repair mechanic, not a replace everything under the sun mechanic) who identified the problem as the right stablizer link almost immediately.

Got the part from nissan dealer for $27, (i got two new washers and bushings for it from the stealership too, tho not necessary, those were another $15.)

With his help it took about 15 minutes to change and this horrible popping from every turn dip and basically anytime my right tire wasnt going perfectly straight on a smooth road is eliminated.

Glad I didn't go the route of changing the whole front suspension!

Something to look at for some of those others who posted, and still have this problem.


As he put it, it's just a very small part ... but bolted directly onto the control arm it acts like hitting a tuning fork and magnifies the sound. Quite deceiving for a 2" piece of linkage.

 

Did you try to tighten it to spec first? There is a similar problem with my Pathfinder. All one has to do is torque it down to specs and a dreaded sound stops.

 

The link definitely had enough play to create a sound .. albeit a small movement, that is a lot to a minute part.

But no, since the part is relatively cheap and easy to change we just swapped it out.

 

The ball joint of the FSB endlink rusts out and then no longer functions. It is a cheap and easy fix. Got a pair at JRNissan for $18 a while ago. If your car is older, they are almost certainly shot. In many cases, the boot over the joint has been noticeably compromised.