Front suspension banging noise when...

[00NORCAL V8]

I first drive my car in the morning. I am getting this suttle banging noise from the front end of my car but its more noticable when the car is cold. It sounds like it goes from left to right and visa versa when driving on semi bumpy roads. Can this be bushings? Of course I took the mechanic for a ride in the heat of the afternoon and wouldn't you know it - no noise. Has anyone experienced this or have any ideas? TIA.

 

[DLS8K]

I first drive my car in the morning. I am getting this suttle banging noise from the front end of my car but its more noticable when the car is cold. It sounds like it goes from left to right and visa versa when driving on semi bumpy roads. Can this be bushings? Of course I took the mechanic for a ride in the heat of the afternoon and wouldn't you know it - no noise. Has anyone experienced this or have any ideas? TIA.

I would check your ball joints for travel (just put your car up in the front end and see if there is any upward travel). If these are fine, I would suspect either strut mounts/struts (push down on your car in the front and if there is a noise, I would suspect strut mounts), stabilizer bar bushings which is hard to check for, or stabilizer links (which is done my disconnecting them from your stabilizer bar and tying your bar up and driving down a straight road). I had this problem on my car and replaced my stabilizer bar because FLM told me they had made a revised stabilizer bar. During this process, my stabilizer links needed torched off, so I replaced those as well. Then I figured while I was down there, I might as well replace my struts/shocks as my car had 100,000 miles on it. The rear shocks were hard to do so I had help with those (having to line them up in the trunk is impossible without someone up there guiding you). My noise is gone now.

Im just going by what I've known around cars and shops. Most people will tell you, "well, it could be this so we'll replace it but if it doesn't fix the problem, it could be other things." Hope everything works out for you.

 

[00NORCAL V8]

I had the struts replaced, both lower ball joints and passenger tie rod end.

 

[lsbit]

I had the struts replaced, both lower ball joints and passenger tie rod end.

I would suspect the sway bar bushings then. Very common, very cheap, but a PITA to replace. If you do a search here, you will see where I posted about this a couple of times.

Good luck!