Front End Clunking.. help!

So I'm driving towards Long Island yesterday, and as I go through the toll on the bridge (to sit in traffic), I hear a nasty clanking from the front wheel area as I pull away. I pulled off to see if I could see if anything was lose or whatnot and everything seemed good. The sound is there though. Sometimes it's not so loud, other times it's very loud and can almost feel it under my feet.

 

I put Cusco F/R sways on a few months ago (kept stock endlinks) and haven't had any problems. I immediately thought the sways or endlinks were the source of the sound. When I got to where I was going, I undid the sway brackets and jerked the sway around to see if there was any noise but it all seemed pretty normal. I'm still thinking it's the endlinks.

 

Anyone have any ideas as to what else it could be? I wanna get a headstart on ideas before I can really start troubleshooting and ordering parts

I have a clunk on the right front when i come to a stop. It is not braking related...but rather...when the car deccelerates or comes to a stop. I replaced my end links thinking that was the problem 3 weeks ago. I then looked at the brakes too. Now I am after the rear lower control arm bushing (123 dollars from Subaru) - we know they go bad really early (the rubber) but I am thinking it now went very bad.

 

What you are describing it is almost similar to mine. Under my feet, a nasty clunk.

I used to have this clunk coming from the front of the car and one day I was working under my car when I noticed that atleast 5 of the bolts on my front crossmember were loose (as in I didn't need any torque to loosen them). I never loosened these bolts, never even messed with the front crossmember. I ended up retightening them and torquing them to the proper specs. I haven't had a clunk come from my front end since.

hmmm this opens up a lot of questions.

@f1, it def isn't the brakes. it happens under acceleration, braking, coasting... anything. low speeds high speeds, bumps, no bumps, in gear, out of gear.. there's absolutely no rhyme or reason to when it happens.

 

however i also thought it could be the control arm. i really, really hope it's not. if it is, i'd be willing to bet subaru wont fix it under warranty because of the sways. i guess i could put the stock sways back on.

 

@Shocker... that's an interesting thought. That could very well be a possibility since the front cross member had to be removed to do the front sway bar. I'm not gonna be home till Monday and when I do get home I'm gonna take the end links off to see if the noise goes away. I guess I'll have to trouble shoot things one at a time.

You guys should check the crossmember bolts first just to make sure. I also thought it was my brakes at first or my sway bar end links because the popping/clunking sound happened over night and for the longest time I just couldn't figure it out until I found those bolts loose.

Shocker, how loud was your clunking? Mine seems very loud to the point where it's a very scary noise. If I'm driving on a quiet street, you can hear it almost from a full block (maybe 3/4) away.

@nemo

My clunk is the type that 2 metals make hitting one another. Take a pair of pliers and drop it in your metal toolbox kind of noise. As I said, i went after the sway bar end-links (and bushings). That seems to have helped for a few days noise was...more subdued. Now it is fully back.

 

What is interesting, when it is wet, i do not hear it. - or not as loud. So I wonder what can be that water lubricates. That is why I am going after the bad bushings but if this does not solve it; I am taking her in. I asked around other folks; I asked the mechanic; we lifted the car; we lowered the car; we bounced the car we cursed the car. Nothing particularly out of order - and I have stock suspension too.

hmmm... that's almost what mine sounds like. metal on metal. so i don't think it's the bushings cause that'd be almost more of a rubbing than a metal clunking.

 

i'm just gonna focus on my sways. take everything off one by one to see if that eliminates the problem. if the problem is still there, i'll just put the stock sways back on and take it to the dealer. gonna be a pain in the ass but whatever.

Shocker, how loud was your clunking? Mine seems very loud to the point where it's a very scary noise. If I'm driving on a quiet street, you can hear it almost from a full block (maybe 3/4) away.

 

Well my girlfriend at the time was scared to ride in my car as the clunking could be heard over the radio. It was pretty loud when sitting in the car with the windows up. I don't know if it could be heard from a block away since I'm the only one that drives my car and I've never asked anyone to listen for it.

I found this thread when my Cusco front bar started to make some clunking sounds after I installed it last summer: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22443. The last page or two had a fix by putting a piece of rubber behind the bushings to force the bushings to hold on to the bar better and it worked for me. Although, after only a month or two the bushings started to wear out and squeek because they're cheap rubber. I replaced them with some polyurethane bushings and the bar has been problem-free ever since.

Hmm, thanks Dave (and everyone else).

 

I put the car up on the ramps today and messed around. I first disconnected the front driver end link and took the car for a drive and the sound was gone. However the end links seemed to be perfectly fine. So I just re-lubed the bushings and bolted everything back up and everything seems to be good. For now.

 

I was worried though because the noise was VERY loud. I thought it would be much worse, so we'll see if it comes back.

So effing frustrating. The noise went away for about a week, and then came back again. Put the car up on ramps and tightened the drivers end link again. Noise went away for all about an hour then came back. Probably gonna give it one last shot this weekend before ordering new endlinks. The stock ones seem perfectly fine, though.

 

It's weird, too. Because the noise is most common at low speeds... going straight. Higher speeds, or making turns -- the noise is non-existant or pretty rare... but as soon as I slow down and start to go straight... it's like every 25 seconds.

I you sure that your sway is aligned correctly? Whiteline had to add lateral locks to keep the bar from sliding sideway and making noise. And maybe every time you tighten the end link you re align the bar. The two times I had a clunk re-torquing the endlinks fixed the problem. hope that helps

Usually if it is sway bar related it will be loudest when one wheel hits a bump and the other is on a smooth surface. I have been amazed at how loud a sway bar clunk is just from the bar rattling inside the bushings. It can sound like metal on metal. Shimming the bushings is only a temp fix since the extra friction will wear the bushing fast. Take the bar right out and road test the car, if the noise is gone I'd start with some new bushings, maybe a different brand. Energy suspension sway bushing grease is good stuff to use. You want a bushing with grooved inside which will hold the grease. This is assuming your endlinks are in good shape.

Good luck.

hmmm. ill bet its the bushings. first time i fixed it i took everything off, re-lubed and re-tighened everything. the second time i just re torgued the front drivers end link.

 

right now im running the bushings that came with the cusco bar.

 

think its worth it to put the stockers on and try it?? whats the best AM bushings?

I went with these bushings from Energy Suspension: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97981. They are polyurethane rather than the cheap rubber ones supplied by Cusco so they should last much longer, and they have a standard fitting on the outside of the bracket for a grease gun so you can lube them up without having to remove anything. The one problem with those is that the brackets they come with are bigger than the stock ones so they need to be cut because of some parts of the car frame being in the way of installing them. Here's the thread I used as a reference to install: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97981.

What was the resolution on this? It describes my noise exactly... I have endlinks on order, I'd already replaced the swaybar bushings with poly ones... I'm guessing it's the endlinks, but I suspect the control arm ball joint as well.

Was the sway bar/endlinks. I didn't tighten down the endlinks to the sway bar enough. It seemed tight, but with enough stress from the car, the sway bar moved ever so slightly.

 

I just backed off the nuts and reseated them, tightened everything down and the sound was gone.