Identifying Steering Clunk

[Highbeamz]

Outer tie rods are now both changed and greased. Unfortunately, the noise is still there. The new ends did tighten the steering slightly as the passenger end was very bad. The clunk noise is still evident from within the car, the wheel still has very slight play and if you try the 3 and 9 shake with the tire, if you really reef on it, you can hear a "thud" from the center of the car.

Is it normal for the inner tie rods to spin? I noticed this when I was removing the outer tie rods...it's a ball joint at the end, so it should spin, right?

[Highbeamz]

Here's some videos, maybe this might help out. If there's no luck here, I guess I'll have to spring for a front end inspection. I don't want to fix what's not broken.

Sorry for the crashing noises when I move the camera, the mic is VERY sensitive.


This is the amount of steering play I have (sound does not show up while testing this, this is just the play)

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...t=MOV00219.flv



This is the noise within the interior, engine off. @ wheel, above wheel, near driver floor, near passenger floor. Ignore the cracking noises, that's the interior, it's the deeper sounding clunk.

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...t=MOV00220.flv



Noise while turning the steering wheel, driver's side

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...t=MOV00221.flv



Same, at passenger side

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...t=MOV00222.flv



Noise with wheel jacked up, while I turn 3 and 9 oclock, sounds to be coming from steering, not bearings...

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...t=MOV00225.flv



Same as video above, but underneath the car

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...t=MOV00226.flv

[Highbeamz]

I took it in and they say the most likely cause of my trouble is my shot driver's side wheel bearing. They say any play in my wheel is not enough to even bother with and by the way it drove on the test drive they pretty much ruled out anything steering related. Upper strut mounts were ok too.

I guess I'll just price out some front bearings and be done with it...I'm too OCD and I tend to think I can make an old car new. I guess I'll just learn to live with it, it's really not THAT bad.

[BNaylor]

The bottom line is how is it in realworld driving. The 18" inch wheels will exacerbate things. When I weighed mine with the tires versus stock I saw approximately 3-4 lbs more per wheel. Also, I installed a camber kit since the camber was slightly out of specs. But I have no vibrations or wheel shimmy even up to high speeds.

Can't tell by your videos but when you did the 3 and 9 test on the front end was either wheel jacked up or were the wheels on the ground?

BTW - Both of my front hubs were replaced way before I ever did the wheel/tire upgrade.

[Highbeamz]

The wheel as off the ground. I actually found out the "thump" was because I had the steering locked, and it was thumping on the lock. I jacked up the tire with the bad bearing today and turned the wheel...with the wheel off the ground it still has the free play and makes the clunk...when you feel the ISS while doing this you can feel it in the shaft. Since the problem is so minute though I don't think I'm really going to bother with it...the clunk sound is fairly quiet and the slop in the steering is so little it's not really causing any difficulty with drivability. I think I'll just live with it...hell maybe it's kinda normal...but it's still driving me nuts anyway.

If I were to explain it, I would say it sounds like the clunk is when the steering "catches" after the point of free play. The free play is not in the upper steering or the upper portion of the ISS, if anything it's the lower U-joint, rack and pinion or inner tie rod ends.

I keep hearing about idler arms and such, we don't have those on rack an pinion, do we?

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by Highbeamz

I keep hearing about idler arms and such, we don't have those on rack an pinion, do we?

Nope not on a rack and pinion system. There is a pre-load adjustment that can be done but I don't think it is applicable to your situation.

[Highbeamz]

Meh, well I'll definately be changing at least one of the bad wheel bearings, if not just doing both sides...

Maybe when I take the car in for an alignment (which had better be soon, the wheel is a little off center since I changed the outer tie rods, lol) they can maybe find something else with the steering.