Front end suspension clunk

[Koobs]

So I've owned my car for about a year now and I've noticed the suspension is very loud particularly going over bumps and imperfections in the road. Here in Ohio we have shit roads, and if there is potholes from the plows the noise can happen down the whole road from the suspension loading and unloading. I know there are multiple threads about the front end clunk and people bringing it to the dealers but there is not a fix for it, it seems. Is it the shock, the springs, or a bearing? No one knows, so I just wanted to create a thread to see if people are still having this issue and what they have done to mitigate it. Does upgrading suspension fix it? I really don't know. I'd bring it into the dealer but the common consensus is the dealer doesn't find any issues, so it seems like a waste of time.

[video=youtube;GS4v3QZf6XM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS4v3QZf6XM[/video]

There is this video that shows the sound happening from a user over at fiestast.org. If you notice at about 31 seconds in there is a big clunk. This is the noise me and others have heard. So if you have this noise please comment when it happens and what you have tried to fix it! I would also like to hear from people who upgraded their struts!

 

[BooSTedsloth]

our ride is stiff so its gonna sound loud when you go over bumps, this is normal. Especially for our shit ohio roads.

 

[ridinVINTAGE]

My suspension was clunking very similar to that when my strut blew out. Look and see if there is dirt and oil covering the front struts.


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[robbie_d]

Sometimes things in door pockets or glove boxes can rattle around sounding like suspension clunks. It obviously rattles when you hit the bump so the timing makes it easy to mix up.

I once thought I had a blown door speaker. It turned out to be a penny rattling around when the bass hit... easy fix!

 

[Maxpowa]

Same here, Koobs. I have a 2015 with 21k on it, but it's been making this sound for some time now. My front suspension (all stock, all the way down to the wheels and tires), particularly the left, makes a pretty loud "thunk" over medium to larger bumps. It seems that when the suspension unloads and recoils, that's when the sound is most violent. The bump need not be sudden for it to make this noise. Sometimes a gradual road imperfection with no jagged edges or anything can sound like I just hit a pot hole. Manhole covers that are MAYBE 1/4 to 1/2 an inch recessed can produce a jarring "thunk." Inspected the suspension and I don't see anything out of place. Shocks are dry, bushings look good. Tire wear seems normal with just SOME outer edge wear for the fronts, but I've heard that's typical for the ST. Alignment is spot on. Strange. I'll run it by the dealer the next time it's in for service, but i doubt they'll replicate it. You know how it goes.

 

[Zeille]

I need to reopen this thread because I'm having a clunking issue.
I replaced my 160k mile shocks/struts with 30k mile ones & they looked + acted good initially (when I did the job wrong the first time, since RockAuto gave me the wrong bump stops and dust boots for the front struts).
When I re-did my front struts with the correct dust boot (that has the dumb isolator up top) & reused my old bump stop, I went and got my alignment.
Fast forward about a week, I'm now getting a metallic clunk from the front left & it often happens when driving over something (minor imperfections in the road, larger sharp bumps, small gaps, etc).
It doesn't happen all the time, but it does still occur.
I've gone back into my engine bay & gotten the car in the air (did my oil change yesterday & inspected everything on both the driver and passenger side). I re-tightened the three bolts holding the mount to the body (which they were all fine). I checked the lug nuts, they were all torqued to spec. I checked play in the wheels - no negative play to be found. I actually looked at the control arms, ball joints, tie rod ends, and sway bar end links. They were all in place, no play, and the boots were not torn.
I haven't checked the lower bolts from the strut holding it to the knuckle & I didn't check the main nut that holds the strut to the mount. However, I did tighten everything correcly + torque to spec when I reinstalled this suspension (I used a Milwaukee 1/2in impact and BUZZED that main nut on).
I don't have a chance to take a video, but I can do so later today.
Has anyone had a similar issue?

 

[Zeille]

Glad you reopened this. Although we drive the Transit Connects we had and still have a small amount of clunking. This increase soon after hitting something in the road around a work zone in Suffolk Va. Some say it was a latter but I believe differently. Anyway.. ever since hit that whatever, the front passenger side has a very distinct cluck, but only when driving over potholes.. I was able to correct other squeaks and clunks when we upgraded the entire front end of the vna costing us 4K. With each repair or replacement we imlinated one clunk or one squeak. Turns out that the whiteline end links were too short. This kept the sway bar in an upright or near upright position.. more like +20°. What one was hearing is that the sway being upand without any more up travel was hitting the subframe or pinch seam long the engine bay and wheel well. Systematically we got rid of each squeak and clunk and with one solid clunk left.. it would seem that what's left to replace is the barings. The shop tells me that if it was the baring, the wheel speed sensor would go off.. but we've not had any of this.

You can read about what it took and how much it cost to isolate these squeaks and clunks.

https://medium.com/@FlordPerformanc...he-van-s-entire-front-suspension-c8d46d9d1c03

Even with replacing nearly everything on the front end of the van, we're left with the wheel bearings.. and there will come a day when we replace them. So till then and note to others:

• Check the angle of your sway bar
• Check for marks on the sway bar
• Check the sway bar bushings
• Check misaligned control arms. if the control arms were installed while the car was on a standard lift, this would allow the the arms to droop and then the shop would tighten them down. This is NOT how the arms are to be installed. You need a full alignment lift to fit to correctly set the control arms in a level position.
• Check for marks on the inner wheel well as the end links could be hitting in that area as shown in my blog. which means the stand off of the links if pushing the ball joint out away from the strut. then hitting the inner wheel well. The only way to correct this is to find shallower links with less of a stand off or spacer milled into the ball joint stud/treads.

View: https://youtu.be/68q7-s-CJ0Q?feature=shared

Is it possible it could be due to a bad transmission mount?

 

[Fiestig]

I have run the same gauntlet changing everything under the sun and ended up being a sway bar bushings

 

[Zeille]

I have run the same gauntlet changing everything under the sun and ended up being a sway bar bushings

The actual bushings where the sway bar mounts to the subframe? Not the sway bar links?

 

[Fiestig]

correct. the rubber bushing wears down and allows the sway bar to hit the subframe

 

[Zeille]

correct. the rubber bushing wears down and allows the sway bar to hit the subframe

thank you.
I suspect it's something other than a bushing - i thought it might be an improperly torqued bolt or something. I didn't replace any nuts/bolts besides the three holding the strut to the strut tower (since the old ones with the old mount/bearing didn't fit the new one). is the lower bolt TTY? i thought the camber bolt was a shear and not a stretch as well.
i'm taking my car back to the alignment shop to have them check the bolts and the actual clunk.

 

[Fiestig]

thank you. I suspect it's something other than a bushing

Fair warning, I have done this exact same dance. I would politely suggest just spending the $25 or so and 30min to install new sway bar bushings. Worst case scenario, you have new sway bar bushings and one less thing to worry about in the future. If you find something else, surely let us know as the mystery sounds are always wonderful to have resolutions to.