Didnt know if I should start a new topic, but this is completely different area than my a/c problem.

Just purchased my EG and noticed a pretty serious sounding clunk from the front end when going over certain types of bumps

I crawled under and couldnt really find anything that looked or felt really loose.
The car has 186K miles so the suspension rubber bushings are pretty worn and when grabbing and pushing/pulling the strut you can see movement in those bushings...but nothing that I would think could cause the clunking I'm hearing.

Checked the steering rack also.

Wheel bearings seem tight.

Balljoints dont seem horrible/same with tie rod ends

Is this a common thing that can happen with these suspensions?

Maybe I just need to start replacing everything piece by piece as everything under there seems original.

 

I've had clunking too. I have replaced some blown ball joint boots and that somewhat fixed the problem. I don't have the clunking anymore....it's just more of a rattle at lower speeds.

Check all around your ball joint boots. My upper boot was blown from the rear side, really hard to tell, and then while replacing it I finally noticed my lower boot was blown too.

I'm going to be greasing my bushings this weekend to see if that helps. I haven't really noticed any play.

 

sounds like I'll just go and start replacing stuff. It cant hurt and will eventually need to be done anyways.
I'll start with the balljoints

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blaze the chemi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've had clunking too. I have replaced some blown ball joint boots and that somewhat fixed the problem. I don't have the clunking anymore....it's just more of a rattle at lower speeds.

Check all around your ball joint boots. My upper boot was blown from the rear side, really hard to tell, and then while replacing it I finally noticed my lower boot was blown too.

I'm going to be greasing my bushings this weekend to see if that helps. I haven't really noticed any play.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You dont grease rubber bushings. Oil dissolves and attacks rubber.

You can use silicone spray, but it wont help any rattles.

My swaybar link was causing a clunk over certain bumps. Check that.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattbatson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Didnt know if I should start a new topic, but this is completely different area than my a/c problem.

Just purchased my EG and noticed a pretty serious sounding clunk from the front end when going over certain types of bumps

I crawled under and couldnt really find anything that looked or felt really loose.
The car has 186K miles so the suspension rubber bushings are pretty worn and when grabbing and pushing/pulling the strut you can see movement in those bushings...but nothing that I would think could cause the clunking I'm hearing.

Checked the steering rack also.

Wheel bearings seem tight.

Balljoints dont seem horrible/same with tie rod ends

Is this a common thing that can happen with these suspensions?

Maybe I just need to start replacing everything piece by piece as everything under there seems original. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ball joints dont seem horrible? They should have NO play. ANY play means they're done.

186k means that the bushings may be worn. Replace with OEM bushings. Polyurethane sucks, and aftermarket rubber is worse.

Bushings suck to do, so invent some new swear words prior. It makes it easier to blurt them out while the neighbors walk by. After hearing something like "bitch fu#%ing ball sack!!", they'll develop a new respect for you.

The strut is not a holding part of the suspension. The suspension design is double wishbone and multilink. You have to shake the UCA or LCA to gauge how loose the bushings are. The only chassis bushing the strut attatches to is the one bushing on the LCA. Either way, the strut is going to be pretty easy to move. The strut does, however have it's own bushing up in the top hat. If that's worn, the spring will clunk against the top hat.

Again, check swaybar links if you have a front bar.

 

preciate it.
I'll check all that you recommended.

Didnt even think to check sway bar links....