Clunk Nightmare! (RESOLVED)

[jpjm132003]

Hi everyone,

I've got a front end clunk in my 05 Altima that is very frustrating.
It was time to replace my front struts, so I ordered 2 quick-struts from Strutmasters.com. I thought I would give them a try.
After putting in the struts I noticed that the front of the car sat slightly higher than before.

Shortly after putting in the struts, the ride quality was amazingly improved. However a rare clunk could be heard when going over little bumps in parking lots.
The clunk began to be more frequent so I looked into it.

My sway bar end links were both toast, so I replaced both of them. This made it WORSE!
The next day I replaced the Sway bar bushings which were also both toast. This also made it WORSE!
Now it seems to clunk on all road types.

I do not feel it in the steering. It seems to be more provoked by sway in the car left to right.

The outer tie rod ends are brand new
I replaced ALL engine mounts

I am suspecting maybe the added height from the new struts might be causing the sway bar to be hitting something when it moves up and down.

I cannot seem to isolate where it is coming from.

Any advice will be much appreciated as I am out of ideas and very frustrated!
Thanks,
jake

[elwesso]

Can you recreate the issue if you bounce a corner?

Struts should not change the ride height.. Ride height is controlled by the springs, remember they are "dampers", in that they dampen the springs so the car doesn't bounce all over the place.. Right after you take car off a lift it might sit a little higher than normal, but it will settle after a little while (maybe an hour)..

My best guess is the control arm probably needs replaced...

[jpjm132003]

SOLUTION

After replacing everything in the front suspension (except the sway bar), I took my Altima to a local mechanic (Fair Auto Huntington Beach: very great guys). He let me throw it up on the lift and we started checking torque on everything I had replaced.

A couple of bolts were not to the torque spec including
• 1 sway bar endlink bolt
• 1 strut bolt
• 2-3 engine mount bolts

After checking all the bolts torque we spent a half an hour inspecting everything, and could find nothing. No sign of wear or anything loose that could be making the noise. So we dropped it and took it for a test drive and NO MORE NOISE! If I had to guess I would say that the engine mount bolts were the ones causing the noise as they were the loosest.

I could only get so much on the bolts with the car on jack-stand's in the driveway. (I'm 6'7" so space is tight) But with Fair Auto's help we got the proper torque on everything and no more front end clunk.

Although, (this may help someone else)
I was getting a Soft Clunk on the front right Strut a couple weeks later. After a lot of researching I did this:
• With the car on the ground, loosen the center strut bolt 3-4 turns

• I bounced the car up and down a little and turned the wheel slightly back and forth (the shock will move around in the strut mount and bearing a little)
• Retorque it to factory spec
• Solved that clunk issue