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SEE UPDATE
TL;DR
Originally had growl which went away when turning right. Thumps when slowly going over bumps. Feeling bumps through foot pedals/steering wheel. Steering was sloppy/pulled.
Replaced:
Shop Visit 1: BOTH front bearings, no hub
Shop Visit 2 (1 week later): BOTH Full Control Arm Assemblies (bushings were bad), pass bearing… free under warranty (odd to go bad in a week?)
Shop Visit 3 (1 week later): Tire B/R & Alignment
Myself (4 weeks later, this past weekend): BOTH Sway Bar End-Links
After Shop Visit 1: Growl over 35 gone. Thump still present.
After Shop Visit 2: Thump still present. No other changes. SOMEWHAT less feeling of the bumps through pedals/steering wheel.
After Shop Visit 3: Steering tight/No pull for a month or so.
After Myself End-Links: Thump seemingly gone.Current Issues: Steering getting looser/pull coming back. Have a “shimmy” sound coming from driver-side, doesn’t sound like it did before if it’s still a bearing or hub. NEW noise since end-links, random/intermittent creak/flex/click (hesitant to call it a click) when coming to low-speed stop (especially downhill) AND giving it gas (ESPECIALLY if coming off a stop uphill) and to ellaborate on the hesitation for calling it a click… I’m hesitant about it because it’s definitely nothing like click, click, click, click, click, click, click, STOP… at all. More like > > > > creak > creak > FULLSTOP.
Realistically the only things that I can gather that haven’t been replaced that would cause noise on both sides is axles, struts, rack and pinion. I’d like to rule out all three (obvious reasons. :P) but as struts go, bounce returns within 2, no other noise regardless of how much I shake the shit out of it.
In-depth:
Alright so I’ve made some posts before and to keep it simple here’s what’s been replaced from original complaints of thumps over bumps/feeling of every bump through the pedals & steering wheel and loud growling above 35mph, which went away when turning the wheel right:
BOTH front bearings, passenger side twice, ONLY the bearings, no hub – Original complaint was growling noise above 35mph sound coming from driver-side. shop replaced driver, said it wasn’t that, did passenger for free, growl was gone for 2 weeks – SEE Control Arm replacement.
BOTH Control Arms – 1 week after bearings… entire CA assembly, balljoint and all… Pass Control Arm bushing replaced last year, noticed was ripped when diagnosing the growl. Shop said both bushings were bad, just told them to do both CA Assemblies, also stated Passenger bearing was bad… told them feel free to fix it, under warranty from 2 weeks ago cost nothing.
Tire B/R & Alignment – 1 week after CA/Second Pass Bearing… when I got it back from the CA replacement, steering was sloppy as hell, real loose so knew I needed an alignment. Took it in for the balance/rotate/alignment and they said camber was out and I needed a kit. Told them no way I was paying $300 for 4 bolts and just do the alignment. Printout showed pass front was -0.6 (driver was 0.4) and pass rear was -1.2 (driver was 0.2) the after printout was pass front being -0.4 (driver 0.3) and pass rear being -1.1 (drive 0.1). I get alignments every year and I’m somewhat surprised I never had these camber issues but all of a sudden, any chance related to the other problems or just somehow everything going at the same time? Steering was nice and tight afterwards but still had pull left/right for the most part, not bad but present still.
So, at this point the growl seemed to be gone for a week or two, steering was tight, the thump was never fixed and 4 different mechanics all said “at this point it’s throwing parts at the clunk, everything checks out”.
So, about 2-3 weeks after the bearings and control arms were replaced, the growl (although not technically the same sound as before) was back. This time, doesn’t seem to go away when turning the wheel right (like originally) or left seems to be consistent across all directions of travel. Turning back to the thump sounded more pressing so I just did the sway bar end-links (Moog) last weekend, thumps now gone and while they are as tight as you can get them with no air/impact tools, the bushings are “squished” but if I put a ratchet on the nut and try turning without a wrench on the bolt head the bolt does spin, yet there’s no way to humanly get it tighter??? Either way, the thump hasn’t been heard since BUT the very first drive upon coming to a stop (low speed) heard a quick flex/creak/click (very hesitant to call it a click, a la CV). Was like “son of a bitch… please just be the link bushings settling into place”. Didn’t seem to have the flex/creak/click (again very hesitant to call it a click) noise for like 2 or 3 days. Starting Tuesday I can now almost force it to flex/creak/click when coming to a low-speed stop, especially if there’s inertia behind me (coming down hill, etc) AND by giving it a little too much gas from stop, especially if I’m stopped going UP a hill. Now, it’s not all the time in either case but still. No noises when turning the wheel either way, so HOPING it’s not CV YET, but I jack the car up today, took a good look at everything again, and notice the driver-side outter CV boot, while still completely in tact, has pulled away from the metal clamp-ring on the shaft end. No grease all over or anything like that, but without having any clicking noise when turning the wheel or anything…
In closing, I seemingly fixed the thumps over bumps (end-links) I still have the growl (more a shimmy at this point) and direction of wheel doesn’t matter. After doing the end-links I now have a flex/creak/click SOMETIMES and ONLY when coming to a stop or giving it a little too much gas from a stop but definitely no flex/creak/click noises when turning either direction.
Just in case you actually got this far, when I do say click, I’m hesitant about it because it’s definitely nothing like click, click, click, click, click, click, click, STOP… at all. More like > > > > creak > creak > FULLSTOP.
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Update: I sprayed some WD-40 on the end-links and as soon as I got in the car I heard the creak. So updated symptoms: creaking is now when steering is turned full left (in park obviously since rarely do you full left while driving :P) and/or you are getting in AND out of the car. Almost definitely rules out axle/steering rack I’m guessing. It sounds like it does come from both sides when getting in/out of the car though. Hopefully the rain stops soon and I can throw a tarp on the ground and spray some WD-40 on the actual sway bar bushings themselves. Would be insanely happy if that’s all this was now… especially considering I had ZERO creaks before doing those end-links, hoping it just stiffened up the sway bar at the frame bushings… :/
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