My front right suspension has been popping ever since I swapped in SE spindles and I have no idea why. The ball joints aren't in great shape and I've got new ones on the way, but I've retorqued everything, which isn't much. It's so damn simple and yet I can't find it. It pops whenever it hits a slight bump or when the pavement falls away, like expansion joints. Just a single loud pop with no drama through the steering. Any idea what's up?

 

did you cut the springs? this is possibily a shock absorber issue so check those.... are they new or original?

 

sounds like a shock issue to me also, they tend to do that when they go out. The shock is botting out so to speak. I don't know if that's it but I would look at the shock.

 

The front strut cartridges are Tockico Illuminas that have about 10k miles on 'em. When I swapped the SE spindles into the car, I reused the strut cartridges. The originals were full of oil, to fill the space between the cartridge and spindle, but these fit so friggin tight that I couldn't use oil when I replaced them. That sounds like a likely culprit, but I wouldn't know how to do anything different.

 

bearings

 

You didn't fill it back up with oil? I know it seems like you cant fit hardly any, but you need to put some, even if its just a few cap fulls of oil.

 

the strut mounts (the bearing that lets the strut turn) on my ford probe are shot, and they make kind of a poping sound when I hit certain bumps and when the pavement falls away, like you described.

There no real way to check them I dont think.

 

Well, I'm gonna replace the ball joints and tie rod ends - might as well go all out and get my front end to some known standard. I hate wondering what the last guy had done to it. Where's a good place to go for strut assy bearings and wheel bearings?

 

napa has wheel bearings for cheap

 

My SE does the same as described under the left side. Handling is not affected and I barely notice it other then the sound. I was thinking ball joint or strut top. My 83 omni does the same but real bad and you can see the play in the mount when its jacked up and push up on the wheel.

 

thats what I thought of right away while I was reading the original thread. The race car does this all the time when we let it down off jack stands. The end of the spring doesn't seat correctly in place until you sit on that corner, then it pops into place.

 

A couple of things to try - number one, as several posters have stated, your springs have a tendency to sit in one place on the perch (on the strut housing and spinde unit). When you turn the wheels, they will tend to 'walk' higher and higher up the perch, until you turn a corner (usually left, due to spring twist direction), which causes them to realign with the peen-stop on the perch, this is often accompanied by a bang or pop since the peened end of the spring is whacking up against the stop on the perch.

The other thing that can cause this would be worn out strut tower mounts. These mounts locate the top of the shock strut in the body of the car, and when they get worn, they allow the upper spring seat and strut assembly to wiggle back and forth and up and down, which, during certain combinations of steering and turning, can result in banging and popping as the suspension slams into the body of the car, or the top of the strut mount.

This last case, if left long enough, will result in the shock rod forcing it's way out the top of the mount, effectively bottoming out the upper spring seat against the body, dropping the rideheight by about 1-1/2", and also result in your hood being banged repeatedly by the top of the shock rod. Ever wonder why those little round plastic caps cover up the shock rod nut? I learned that in addition to keeping the nut clean, they keep the rod from punching a hole in your hood when your strut mounts go out! ($40 each at VB...)

P.S. nobody else mentioned it, but have you changed your Idler Arm Bushings in awhile??? simple, cheap, and effective fix for poor alignment and suspension banging...

 

The thing is, it makes this noise over slight bumps but not necessarily under turning or braking. If there's a bump, there's a pop, so I'm thinking bearings. Just gotta get the wheels off and get to work, I suppose.

 

yeah same prob here just jack it up and see mine was simple but i just replaced my ball joints and the struts!
Bingo no more popping!