Today I have a question about my 03 LE with 210,000 miles. About a month ago, I developed a clunk noise in the front when I go over bumps that seems to be getting louder/worse. I slid under the car the other day and everything appears to be tight - meaning no bolts are loose and nothing appears to be obviously broken.
The sound seems to be worse when I'm going slow over a bumpy road or speed bump. The clunk is deep and almost sounds like something is loose. The faster I go, the sound goes away. Either it goes away, or road/wind noise makes it less noticeable. My wife said she can feel the clunk in her feet when she sits in the passenger seat.
I installed new KYB struts and lowering springs 100,000 miles ago. I'm sure they're probably due for a change. I can't tell if the shocks are shot or not because the stiffer springs could be masking it. I've done a little research and saw the cause could be strut mounts. I've also seen that the struts could be bad and I'm hitting the stops. I'm ok changing the struts and strut mounts, but before I spend the money to replace them and get an alignment, I'm wondering if this sounds like struts or something else. Tie rod ends, ball joints, sway bar, etc?
As a side note, I did open the hood and make sure the strut mount at the top was secure and I opened the rubber cover and verified the center bolt was tight as well.
Thank you for any help or suggestions you may have to offer.
Have a great day and thank you!
Mike - York, PA
PS - I should mention that some days seem worse than others. Today wasn't bad. Yesterday it was clunking all over the place.
You've hit the three other common ones - swaybar, tierods, and lower ball joint are common sources for that heavy, clunking noise. Could also be the spring isolators (rubber cushions that fit over the springs). Trying to diagnose these statically can be tough, as any slop will only show when you actuate the suspension. Lowering springs will definitely mask bad struts - cars are so light, that the bounce test doesn't work either.
I had the same problem, except on a '01 GM car.
It ended up being the front wheel bearing hub assemblies.
If the front wheel hubs are the original units, they could use to be replaced at 210k miles.
If the front wheel hubs are the original units, they could use to be replaced at 210k miles.
Interesting. When I first got the car, it had a string of bearing issues. I thought they were fixed. Maybe it's coming back. Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately, all the possibilities are relatively expensive to fix. :-) At least I am now braced for the repair costs when the shop calls me next week.
Thanks for the responses!
Mike
Sounds a bit like my '93 sounded when it had a loose jam nut on a tie rod. Clunks when going over bumpy ground at low parking-lot speeds.
149 posts
It would be nice if he posted the outcome of the repair. Then we could all learn something.
It would be nice if he posted the outcome of the repair. Then we could all learn something.
Actually I haven't had it repaired yet, which is why I haven't posted anything. I was on vacation last week and let my mechanic have the car while I was away. He said that everything in the front suspension is tight and in good shape. His guess was the front struts bottoming out.
I've priced some KYB's and they are going for about $370 for all 4 with bump stops and boots. My last set lasted 80,000 miles, so I'll go that route again. I'm debating on getting replacement front strut mounts along with it, since I've hear those can be the source of my noise as well. Does anyone know what a bad strut mount looks like? I'll hold off buying them up front in case I can reuse my existing ones. But, if I don't know what a bad mount looks like, I don't want to put a bad part back in the car.
Thanks!
Mike
Hi all - so I finally bought the struts, shocks and mounts and installed them this weekend. My first road test around the neighborhood was perfect. No clunking or anything. However, later that day I took it out and the clunking returned. However, it was much quieter and only happened once in a while. So, it's better, but not gone. When I was taking everything apart, everything appeared tight and fine.
The good news is that the sound is better and the car definitely needed new shocks/struts. Bad news, the sound is still sort of there.
Hi all - sorry it took so long to get back to this. I wanted to post what the fix was. I finally gave in, and 2 weeks ago and gave it to the shop. He thought he found the issue and replaced the upper control arm. It's been 2 weeks and no clunking.
Thanks,
Mike
149 posts
Learn something new every day !! I didn't know a Corolla had an upper control arm .....
Learn something new every day !! I didn't know a Corolla had an upper control arm .....
Well, I'm probably calling it the wrong thing. The part that connects the sway bar to the wheel. He called it an upper something, I thought it was a control arm. It's been a couple weeks, I can look at the invoice and get the exact name of the part. I can tell by your confusion I probably got it wrong.
Learn something new every day !! I didn't know a Corolla had an upper control arm .....
Well, I'm probably calling it the wrong thing. The part that connects the sway bar to the wheel. He called it an upper something, I thought it was a control arm. It's been a couple weeks, I can look at the invoice and get the exact name of the part. I can tell by your confusion I probably got it wrong.
So what was the part exactly? I'm having a very similar sounding problem.
He may have meant the front stabilizer bar (sway bar) end links... Also check your sway bar to frame mount bushings for excess wear and free-play, and your control arms' (lower only) rear bushing which may be ripped or unbonded.
