su_maverick

Ok, this is driving me mad. I have this clunking/popping sound that I am getting from the front end upon acceleration. It is most noticeable during a corner. It only happens during acceleration and only when the car is moving. If I sit and rev the car I get nothing. It sounds like two pieces of metal popping against each other. I have no changes in feeling in the steering or shifter while this noise is happening. It will get worse if I hit a rough patch of road or go around a corner but the second I let off the gas it goes away.



- Checked mounts and appear to be ok
- Checked tie rod ends and seem to be fine with good movement
- Don’t see the exhaust hitting anywhere

It seems to be most prevalent when there is weight transfer and it doesnt happen al the time. It comes and it goes.

AreExSevenProject

iTrader: (1)

sounds like motor mounts.
my brothers car had the same problem. pulled them out and replace and the problem was fixed....

su_maverick

Wouldnt I notice motor mounts with the car reving at a stand still? The car didnt make this sound on the dyno last month though it was making it on the street.

extreme_rotary

sounds like a shock mount to me. why don't you try pushing on the top of the fender while it's parked. If no luck, you may have to pull them out and inspect them. I've found some cars where the ride height is off on one side by almost an inch because the spring wore thru the rubber mount at the top

su_maverick

JIC FLT-A2 coilovers on the car. Maybe 5k miles on them. I will go check to see if there is any travel though.

extreme_rotary

it's not whether they have travel or not, but if you have those, i can't imagine it being that. check your lower control arms where the sway bar links bolt in. if they get bent, you will see them hitting on the lower control arm (you know how the link goes thrut he center of the control arm)

su_maverick

I just went out and did a quick set of figure 8s in the parking lot to see if I could diagnose it more. It is starting when I am nose diving for the right turn and continues through the turn. It lets up as soon as weight is transferred off of the front driver side wheel.

Could this be a brake issue in any way?

su_maverick

I will check that when I go home. I had the wheel off this weekend and I didnt notice anything out of the ordinary.

su_maverick

I was able to do some checks myself this weekend on some of the things people have listed so I could give a good idea of what is going on. Here is a list of things that are going on without any assumptions being made. Please look at the list in its entirety because some things people are listing do not take these into account.

1.) Sound happens when any weight is transferred onto the driver side of the car during driving. You do not hear it when weight is transferred onto passenger side.
2.) The sound only occurs when there is throttle usage. It will go away the second you take your foot off of the throttle and has never occurred during a point when the throttle was not being used
3.) The sound cannot be recreated with the car sitting still or on a dyno.
4.) There are no marks on the inside of the wheel or on the calipers
5.) The sway bar mounts and end links are in good condition. No signs of stress or any type of fracture
6.) All bolts are secured on the suspension
7.) There is some evidence of rubbing on the inner fender liner but it has been secured more thoroughly and the sound is still prevalent.
8.) There is no give to the front shock spring assembly
9.) There is no sign of oil leakage from front shock assembly
10.) The spring on the front coilover is secure
11.) There are no marks on the swaybar or tie rod to indicate any impact has occurred

Right now there is nobody available that can help me look at the other things so I am kind of at a stand still. I also have no experience determining the health of bushings so I cannot be of any assistance there.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Maybe the front left wheel bearing going /gone bad? Also i had a noise on a customers car similar to that. The mounts were starting to go bad and the engine would jump up and hit the strut bar with the hard IC pipes he had on the car.. took a while to find that.


I don't think it is related to brakes as you maintain the noise as long as the wheel is loaded and under throttle..correct?

I'll keep brainstorming somemore.
Dave

DaveW

Can you tell which side the noise comes from?

Even though you say the swaybar stuff is in good shape, one of its joints could be dry or loose. That could cause what you hear. I would disconnect one side and feel for play or notchiness in the motion.

You could also have a dry ball joint that causes this noise.

Also the springs could be shifting and creaking in their seats (happens with metal-metal contact and no spring pads) as the front lifts/dives.

Dave

su_maverick

There doesnt seem to be any play in the front wheel when I had that corner lifted that would indicate a bad wheel bearing.

I dont feel any jump or vibration through the shifter assembly while this is happening that would indicate an issue with the motor mounts and I currently am not running a front strut tower bar.

By all accounts it is comming from the driver side of the car. The sound is most noticable when I load the driver side suspension on a right hand corner.

I didnt see any scraping or rubbing on the upper and lower spring seats that would indicate any shifting has occured.



As for dry ball joints and/or bushings, I have no experience with judging these and it sounds like I would need someone's help on that one.