so you guys might remember how a while ago I mentioned that my car would make a clunk noise right when I started off.

well it started making the noise more and more often and just now on my way back from work it was clunking like hell I thought my wheel was gonna fall off. The noise is comming from the drivers side front wheel. Its a clunking noise, sounds like metal to metal and its rotational, like everytime the wheel goes round, it clunks. Whats weird is that if I brake, or gas it, the noise goes away. Its just when im driving slow <25 mph or right when I left off the gas and coast, i hear clunk clunk clunk clunk

I thought somethign was stuck in my brake pad or rotor, but I checked it out and it seems ok from what I can see. Havnet had time at all to jack up the car cause ive just been swamped with work and midterms. My friend said maybe its the cv joint? or control arm? anyone got any suggestions on what I should check out?

if it helps I noticed that the noise started after I had my rear wheels up on jackstands for ~4 hours when I was derusting my rotors, maybe I put some unwanted stress on something in the front?

 

Could it be your cv joints? They get kind of wierd and unpredictable. Sometimes the symptoms make you think its one thing and its really the cv joints. Worth a check into.

 

how can I check if its going bad? what should I look for?

 

Look at the CV boot and see if you see grease around it or on the axles, and look for tears. If it's torn, it'll need replaced.

 

if its ur cv boots u might as well replace the whole axel with a remanufactured one.

 

I used to have the same problem.. Never did figure out what it was... It sounded more like a thump noise to me.. Only when I took off too.. My guess would have been the cv shaft itself? Let us know what you find out..

 

could be front bearings. alls you can do about that is replace the hub. check the drive shaft for movement. not side to side cause its going to move but grab the shaft :giggle: and pull it from front to back like front bumper to rear bumper. remember not left to right.
if theres alot of movement then theyre prolly shot. to check your bearing if its bad enough jack up one wheel and move it top to bottom one hand at 12'o clock and one at 6 and pull back and fourth if there is any movement then check your upper and lower ball joints for movement if they arent moving then its prolly your bearing

 

yeah i'm going to say wheel bearings, or cv axle like everyone else says

if it was only when you went over bumps or something i'd say ball joint..

get the wheel off and pound around hit stuff see if you acn tell wher ethe noise is coming from

 

Are your lug nuts tight?

 

Id guess your bearing too

 

Ive had that happen and it goes sound like what ur explaining.

 

I had a bad bearing on mine - it didn't make a clunk metal to metal sound though but it was rotational as you described. Mine sounded more like wumpa wumpa wumpa. The Acura dealer diagnosed it as the passenger side bearing and I had it replaced by them for a few hundred bucks.

 

Klepto, did you ever look into the ball joint/control arm recall? Just a thought, sounds more like a bearing though.

 

My car makes a similar noise, but isnt too bad yet. A shop said that they thought it was where my axel meets the tranny, or wherever it does. They said that when motion changed (accelerating and decelerating) it caused the axel to clank within that joint a little. Maybe get that checked out. Otherwise I would have to say wheel bearing as well.

 

thanks guys, I will check on the lugs when I get back from class, thats about all I can do right now. gotta wait till the weekend before I can examine anything else a bit closer. Hopefully my car will even make it back home this weekend 80 mile highway drive

 

The way we would test a cv joint on a old bimmer is

Get under the car and try and push the rod in and out, it should only move mabee a half inch each way.

Then try to turn the shaft , if it is loose (it moves and the tire and tranny dont) at all, it is on it's way out.

 

my passanger side did the same noise, best friend was in auto tech school took my car in and did a free wheel hub replace and fixed the problem

 

My CV Axle Boots are cracked and leaking in the front. I was just told this yesterday. Im not hearing any noise from them, but i was told it was about $~250 to replace them

 

 

ok well i just found out the problem. my lugs were just loose no idea how that happened, I swear I tightened them when I put my wheels back on, I guess you just never know. im just glad that it wasnt anything crazy serious. Two were 3-4 full turns loose on the front drivers side and one was REALLY loose, like 5-6 turns loose on the passenger side. Quite scary. Thanks for all the help guys

 

That is good to hear, at least it was something easy.

My g/f had that shit happen to her, only her wheel FELL OFF.
Her brother in law had put her brakes on, and only tightened 3 of the 20 lugs all the way. Her wheel fell off driving down the road, luckily she was able to pull over, cuz she had my dog and her neice (his daughter) in the car at the time, but yeah I always check the lugs on both our whips now.

 

yea, im just glad I caught it now, not later tomorrow night when im driving back home. Ive never had a problem with loose lugs before and ive taken my wheel on/off plenty of times...weird

 

I'd be stopping constantly on that 80 mile ride back home to make sure my wheel wasn't about to fall off! Ouch!

 

i heard those noises then my wheel fell off.


i got the ball joint "repacked" with grease. 2 times before it fell off at the dealership, cheap bastards risking me crashing my car instead of just simply replacing the ball joints under a effin recall.

 

god damn justin! kick yourself lol

 

your inner and outer boots for that side must be cracked and the grease inside them ust be gone and it is hitting metal on metal, time to replace the axle, i am almost at that point but im getting a new car soon hopefully

i would check the boots first take it to a reapir shop or lift it up and check to see if they are greased up or the boot is cracked or missing

 

Did you even read the posts?

 

good fix mang

 

sup alex, still waiting on that intake, fedex says it should be here tomorrow was hoping it would come a day early so I could head home tonight, but I guess i'll have to stay up here another day

 

shit like this happen when winter comes along. check ur CV Boot, if its rip, replace the whole axle with a rebuilt one for like $80 each. if its ur bearing going out....u'll hear like metal to metal rubbing while u're driving.

 

Im so upset with fedex. 13 of my other products i sell through ebay my webspace havent arrive in over 3 weeks !!! The only Usps is 66 miles away to be honest i dont know what im going to do at this point. thats over 100 dollars in already purshased murchandise that i wont know shipped till it arrives. Its like fedex is blowing off my packages or nor packaging them on time. I pay them to package the item after i wrap things with bubble. Some times i get lucky and they do a great job. Other times ive had issues with packages being frankenstiened ( although the product was fine thank goodness

 

hey klep, (don't mean to hijack, but..) how do you derust your rotors?
Mine rust like apples, and I've got a system -- [jack, remove wheel, squirt pink crap, wait, wipe] -- but it's a pain in the ass...just curious how you go 'bout it.
tia.

 

Paint the parts that dont have any friction with high temp paint. The faces of the rotors that rub on the pads should clean themselfes by the use of the brakes. They usually rust over a short period of time if you do not use your car.

 

Well, even though you got your problem solved, I just wanted to say that i had the EXACT same problem, Klepto!

I was out with my buddies late one night, and i started hearing that exact same clunking sound from the drivers side front wheel. I was freakin out, and as I was makin my way to my friend's house the noise got more and more noticeable. It was also when i was only going slow, through neighborhoods, much like when you heard the clunk. We finally made it to my friends place, and it was SOO loud by then. I left his house later that night, feelin soo nervous. I got about half a mile through his neighborhood when I finally called it quits, in fear of my wheel fallin off, or axle snapping, and pulled into the parking lot of one of his neighborhood pools. I parked it there for the night, and my friend picked me up. I ended up having to get a tow truck the next day, and I had it towed to the Acura dealer. They diagnosed the problem and it was also loose lugnuts.

The difference in my story is that I totally snapped something in the suspension, and it was grinding against my wheel, and my wheel was starting to wobble more and more, the further I drove. The mechanic said I was damn lucky that I chose to pull it over because my wheel could have easily fallen off on my way home!! I was thanking God that I made that decision after he told me that.

Anyway...I'd advise you to definitely check out everything connected to the wheel! You can never be too cautious and I definitely wouldnt mess around with anything like suspension!

 

good thing...