When going over bumps, a very loud knock is heard from the front passenger side wheel. I can feel it in the floor of the vehicle, and its very loud and happens only over small or deep bumps, almost as if something is bouncing left and right and hitting some metal.
Otherwise, the Maxima drives fine. Is there something I should suspect? Did a strut or something somehow break?
I'll take a video later today.
A LOUD knocking, but not from the engine
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MinisterofDOOM
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Re: A LOUD knocking, but not from the engine (Jesda)
Man, that could be a lot of things...
Spring damping and travel feel normal?
I was thinking maybe a bad bushing, but that's pretty loud--maybe too loud for that. (?) Maybe the transverse link bushing, or a bad upper strut mount isolator... It'd almost have to be something directly connected to the chassis for you to feel it like that.
Is it affected by steering at all? A couple years ago, my car went through a period where it would clunk VERY loudly over even small bumps, and also during tight, low speed turns (it was particularly noticable when pulling into or out of the driveway...the small bump at the lip made the car clank like something had broken). The knock was pretty violent--almost felt like someone was pounding on the suspension with a sledgehammer. Turned out the car was severely out of alignment (for no explicable reason, either--it just suddenly got bad). This was also from the front passenger wheel well (felt like the strut tower to me). Once properly aligned, the clunking went away. I guess it was just metal components binding or something.
Probably the best thing would be to get it up on a jack and see what you can see, if you haven't already.
Spring damping and travel feel normal?
I was thinking maybe a bad bushing, but that's pretty loud--maybe too loud for that. (?) Maybe the transverse link bushing, or a bad upper strut mount isolator... It'd almost have to be something directly connected to the chassis for you to feel it like that.
Is it affected by steering at all? A couple years ago, my car went through a period where it would clunk VERY loudly over even small bumps, and also during tight, low speed turns (it was particularly noticable when pulling into or out of the driveway...the small bump at the lip made the car clank like something had broken). The knock was pretty violent--almost felt like someone was pounding on the suspension with a sledgehammer. Turned out the car was severely out of alignment (for no explicable reason, either--it just suddenly got bad). This was also from the front passenger wheel well (felt like the strut tower to me). Once properly aligned, the clunking went away. I guess it was just metal components binding or something.
Probably the best thing would be to get it up on a jack and see what you can see, if you haven't already.
Re: A LOUD knocking, but not from the engine (Jesda)
I had a noise similar to that on my 89 max. Make sure that noise is not travaling from the rear. I had a the dealer replace my fuel filler neck and fender well parts on recall. when I got it back, I hand the same type of noise from the rear. Come to find out the bolt for the rear trailing rod was loose. A bad bushing could make the same bumping noise. Hope this helps
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