Diagnosing suspension clunk.

[ohno06gt]

I have a suspension sound that I can't seem to recreate all the time. It's a clunking/knocking sound, only seems to happen at low speeds when the wheel is turned. Usually pulling into a driveway or parking lot. It's got new end links, ball joints and control arms. My first thoughts were the front sway bar bushings, they look a little worn out but not terrible, I can take pictures of them when it stops raining.

 

I'm thinking it might be my top hats but not really sure, they are cracking on both sides. All the bolts are tight including the ones under the dust cover.

 

Anyone have ideas before I load up the parts cannon and start firing?

 

 

[Rittmeister]

It's probably the tophats. I had a similar issue and replaced many (MANY) things under the car, to no avail. New tophats cured it. Just get OEM, the KYB ones I tried went bad within a few months.

[Pleides]

You check your axles?

[ohno06gt]

Cv axles are brand new as well, maybe 600 miles on them.

[Scubaboo]

I replaced tophats that looked much better than that, zero cracks, all bolts tight, and spray lubed bearings. It cured a mild rattling I had.

 

I found that if I had someone bounce the car and I put my hand on the tophats, I could feel a very faint movement or play. So I took a chance and replaced the tophats.

 

With new tophats doing the same bouncing, they felt solid with no hint of play.

[lagwagon]

Under the conditions you have described, I would look at sway bar end links (if you hadn't already replaced them) and body bushings first, then tie rods (if it's coming from the front end) or control arm bushings (if it's coming from the rear end, especially the upper control arms as they can get very noisy while still looking ok). Sometimes you can isolate the noise by pushing the top of the tire in (alternate sides each couple of pushes).

 

Axle noises can usually be replicated by driving in circles at full lock in a parking lot, and happen regardless of bumps, so test that out as well as it's super easy to do.