snaphappy

Note: This is a 997.2 C4S with 70k miles

I have a subtle clunking/clicking sound from the front of my car - both sides - started on driver's side - but now it's both sides. The sound can only be heard at low speeds on small bumps. At higher speeds I never hear it - but I assume it's still happening - just the road noise is probably canceling the sound out. I also never hear it on big bumps.

At first I thought it was lower control arms. But based on this thread (https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...n-clunk-2.html) it looks like it could be:

1) Lower control arms
2) Sway bar links
3) Both of those
4) Upper strut mounts
5) Loose tie rod

Where should I start? Is it possible something is loose and I could just tighten it? I'm gonna DIY

BF951

If you are running stock upper shock mounts it should be easy to tell of the hard rubber is torn and suspect. Spherical bearing shock mounts will often make a tic sound when worn.
Everything you mention including the ball joints and inner control arm bushings could be a factor.
Check out this thread, some great tips on diagnosing this issue.
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...ed-advice.html

Good luck!

Wayne Smith

Due to space the AWD front struts are mounted at a different angle. This causes the upper mounts to wear out faster. That's a good place to begin.

snaphappy

Upper mount is 13 right?

snaphappy

Well, can't see much from the top. Rubber that I can see looks good right? Gonna see if I can find a YouTube video on this subject.

BF951

Yes, the upper strut is #13 in the diagram.
Find a bump where you can control which wheel moves over it. Both sides of the sway bar are active no matter which wheel goes over the bump. If only one shock is reacting to the bump but you hear/feel it on both sides check the sway bar drop links.
Of course this is no guarantee but it's a potentially useful data point.
Check the drop links #17
Check the sway bar mounts and bushings #15 & #16. Two each. The sway bar should be tight in the bushing, no play, and nearly impossible to move. Make sure the bolts and brackets in #16 are tight and not broken.
With the car off the ground and the wheel on, grab the wheel at 12 & 6 o'clock and wiggle it. If there is play it could be a loose ball joint or lower control arm bushing.
If you grab the wheel at 9 & 3 o'clock and it moves it could be the tie-rod. Everything comes into play to some extent when checking for movement but how you apply the force focuses on a particular part.

If you really want to get to know your car and have another drive then there are some great threads on R&R of the various parts. Gather a few drinks, allow lots of time and have the right torque specs to put it all back together.
I have an 06 and started replacing some bits right after 70K. None of the work was terrible.
Cheers!

pbxtr!!

I had the same symptoms on driver side front suspension and it was the lower control arm. My mechanic drove it with me and quickly identified the culprit.

Petza914

Someone has done work on that front suspension before. Was it while you owned the car or before you purchased it? I can tell because of the threads on the top of the lowest strut mount stud where the nut screws on and because they circled / scribed the mounting nut positions so they could put it back together without changing the alignment settings.

RacerWannabe

Interesting problem here. Not trying to threadjack but I am having nearly the same issue - mine is currently only on driver's side and interestingly only starts after having driven for about 20 min or so. My car is with my indy today so I will report what I find out - please do the same!
E

TheTorch

I was told by @bschurr that clicking noise at low speed during sharp turns is a sign of CV joint failure.

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...l#post16373802

snaphappy

Now that I think of it, I don't think I hear mine until the engine warms up either. Will have to test to verify. I'm guessing it's lower control arms. Hopefully I'm wrong since they're $500 each, haha

snaphappy

It's not during turns in my case, but I'll remember this for future reference, thanks!

RacerWannabe

Mine is also not during turns. Annoyingly mine was with my indy a few months ago when this started and he couldn't seem to reproduce it. Now it's more pronounced, and really gets noisy after driving for awhile. Hopefully I'll get a call tomorrow giving me the news. Will report here.

snaphappy

At 9 & 3 I can shake both front wheels, a lot. I have a video I can share of me doing it, want me to post the video? 12 & 6 = zero shake

Front strut mounts don't looked cracked or anything. Hopefully it's not the front strut mounts, looks like a big job to remove the struts.

RacerWannabe

Any update here? My indy got back to me and informed me that the driver's front strut was bad and that the lack of damping looks as it had deformed the top shock mount. So, I got new mounts and, of course, as: 1) B16s are not available individually 2) Bilstein no longer rebuilds these damptronic struts, from what I understand, but there is a company - deltavee.net - that I understand does, but who knows what turnaround time is and 3) this is my only car and paying for a rental sucks...I got a new set of B16s.

Should have the car back tomorrow - will report back then. Hope that yours isn't this dramatic - from your diagnostics so far it sounds as though it isn't.