billr99
02-21-2016, 11:21 AM
I've got an extremely annoying situation that I've tried a number of things to sort and now, still with the problem, I've run out of ideas.
Last winter I put the left front tire into a fair size pothole at speed. By Spring it was clear that I had damaged something in that corner as evidenced by rattles and looseness, feeling like they were right under my feet. Because the front struts needed changed anyway I proceeded to replace the struts (with Monroe OESpectrum), the upper spring seats (with Boge), and strut mounts (with Lemforder). In the course of doing this work, I also ended up replacing the ball joint (it was pretty much gone - with Lemforder) and the wheel bearing. I run this car (the '02) with Eibach springs (lower than stock in the front by about 2 inches) and 235/60-16 tires on stock XC alloys.
As best I can recall now, everything was fine at first, but I soon developed a sound best described as a "crunch" when that left corner goes from extreme compression to rebound while turning right. The weird thing is that it only occurs at two particular corners. The first is a moderate right hander with a good slump right on the correct line for the left side for that corner, speed can be between about 65 km/hr and 85 km/hr. The other is a low speed (30-35 km/hr) extreme right hander turning from one city street onto another with a drainage grate (about 2 inches below grade) right where the left tire travels. In both cases, they are corners where the car takes a weird dynamic, dropping down into the depression then coming out of it fairly abruptly but not with an impact like you would get on a straight-walled pothole. The noise occurs not on compression but when it rebounds almost to the point where it begins to settle back down. Of course, this all occurs over the span of milliseconds. It rarely, nearly never, occurs anywhere else and if I take slightly different lines in either of the mentioned corners with much less dynamic change in the suspension, it doesn't do it or does it with less of a noise. It does not occur on any degree of left handers or when straight ahead. I've thought it might be the plastic skid plate hitting something, tire rub, all the usual stuff.
Pretty much throughout last summer and off and on until today, I've nosed around trying to figure out what's going on. Seeing absolutely no evidence of rubbing anywhere (my first thought being lowered and running 235s), I resorted to changing out any piece I thought might be part of it. So since the noise began, I've changed out front sway bar bushings (with poly), endlinks (using greasable Chrysler Concorde links) and both inner and outer tie rods (with Lemforder). I also replaced with no effect but due to some wear the short side halfshaft and lower steering shaft. The A-arm bushes were replaced about 50K kms ago but other than slight stress cracking, they appear to be OK. And for what its worth, the car went thru its bi-annual provincial safety check back in November where they do a fair check of the suspension bits with no problems. As part of trying to sort this I also swapped strut assemblies side-to-side, reinstalled a decent set of Lemforder endlinks and re-torqued every fastener I could think of that might be coming into play. Also the front sway bar shows no sign of shifting side to side in the poly bushings. All of this had absolutely no effect on the noise sound or intensity or when it occurs; so it's not like something is loosening up or ready to fall off.
So I'm stumped. The only thing not replaced are the A-arm bushes put I can't see them being a problem considering their condition. The ones I just replaced on my '05 were way worse and that car does not demonstrate the same problem. It also does not have a modified suspension either. Any ideas...other than going slower, taking a different route, or putting up with it. All these suggestions have already been mentioned by SWMBO and politely rejected by me.
Thanks in advance for any ideas, suggestions, etc.
Cheers,
Bill
Last winter I put the left front tire into a fair size pothole at speed. By Spring it was clear that I had damaged something in that corner as evidenced by rattles and looseness, feeling like they were right under my feet. Because the front struts needed changed anyway I proceeded to replace the struts (with Monroe OESpectrum), the upper spring seats (with Boge), and strut mounts (with Lemforder). In the course of doing this work, I also ended up replacing the ball joint (it was pretty much gone - with Lemforder) and the wheel bearing. I run this car (the '02) with Eibach springs (lower than stock in the front by about 2 inches) and 235/60-16 tires on stock XC alloys.
As best I can recall now, everything was fine at first, but I soon developed a sound best described as a "crunch" when that left corner goes from extreme compression to rebound while turning right. The weird thing is that it only occurs at two particular corners. The first is a moderate right hander with a good slump right on the correct line for the left side for that corner, speed can be between about 65 km/hr and 85 km/hr. The other is a low speed (30-35 km/hr) extreme right hander turning from one city street onto another with a drainage grate (about 2 inches below grade) right where the left tire travels. In both cases, they are corners where the car takes a weird dynamic, dropping down into the depression then coming out of it fairly abruptly but not with an impact like you would get on a straight-walled pothole. The noise occurs not on compression but when it rebounds almost to the point where it begins to settle back down. Of course, this all occurs over the span of milliseconds. It rarely, nearly never, occurs anywhere else and if I take slightly different lines in either of the mentioned corners with much less dynamic change in the suspension, it doesn't do it or does it with less of a noise. It does not occur on any degree of left handers or when straight ahead. I've thought it might be the plastic skid plate hitting something, tire rub, all the usual stuff.
Pretty much throughout last summer and off and on until today, I've nosed around trying to figure out what's going on. Seeing absolutely no evidence of rubbing anywhere (my first thought being lowered and running 235s), I resorted to changing out any piece I thought might be part of it. So since the noise began, I've changed out front sway bar bushings (with poly), endlinks (using greasable Chrysler Concorde links) and both inner and outer tie rods (with Lemforder). I also replaced with no effect but due to some wear the short side halfshaft and lower steering shaft. The A-arm bushes were replaced about 50K kms ago but other than slight stress cracking, they appear to be OK. And for what its worth, the car went thru its bi-annual provincial safety check back in November where they do a fair check of the suspension bits with no problems. As part of trying to sort this I also swapped strut assemblies side-to-side, reinstalled a decent set of Lemforder endlinks and re-torqued every fastener I could think of that might be coming into play. Also the front sway bar shows no sign of shifting side to side in the poly bushings. All of this had absolutely no effect on the noise sound or intensity or when it occurs; so it's not like something is loosening up or ready to fall off.
So I'm stumped. The only thing not replaced are the A-arm bushes put I can't see them being a problem considering their condition. The ones I just replaced on my '05 were way worse and that car does not demonstrate the same problem. It also does not have a modified suspension either. Any ideas...other than going slower, taking a different route, or putting up with it. All these suggestions have already been mentioned by SWMBO and politely rejected by me.
Thanks in advance for any ideas, suggestions, etc.
Cheers,
Bill