Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

Front Suspension Clunk

chevyaddict

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 12, 2002
Messages
894
Location
Tucson, AZ USA
Corvette
1990 Convertible
This is such a cool place to get advice on car troubles! I am thoroughly loving this. Anyway, our 84 vette has this mysterious "clunk" on the right side. I suspect it is the A-arm but I cannot get it to do this when the car is up in the air or anything and everything looks normal. You really hear it when you go over speed bumps. Has anyone else experienced this? I hate to just go replacing everything up front without knowing precisely what is causing it. Its one of those things that is just plain embarrassing if someone hears it.
 
Have you checked the shock mounts?
 
How about an engine mount? My Dad had a similar problem with his black 84 and thats what it turned out being. (At the time he had only 50 000KM's on it).
 
Press the right top side of the fender near the door hinge. Now press the left side at the same area. Who has more movement? Sometimes the opposite wheel tends to load the chassis and what you hear on the right side is caused be the left. When you go over that bump in the road, look at the hood points (right side\left side) and see if there is excessive movement? I know you hear something from the right side, begin there and work your way to the left side.
Rattle the exhaust system (cold to the touch) and see if it is moving too much? You might hit a chassis/body area that might give that same "clunk" sound.
Lift the hood. Now have someone help you press down on the right side and start to "pogo-stick" the front suspension. If the front end travels enough by doing this, you may hear (4 ears) where the sound is coming from.
 
Front Suspension clunk

It could also be a ball joint. If it is it will probably not show up as a clunk when the car is sitting still. I don't think you can bounce it around and make it clunk without it moving. One other way to check the ball joints is to see if you can fit a grease gun onto the grease fittings. If you can't then the ball joints need replacing. But even if you can that still does not rule them out.

A good indicator for ball joints is the mileage. Ball joints hopefully will last for over 100K miles. But not always.
I have also gotten an almost identical clunk out of a loose shock mount, as one other person mentioned. That is probably the most likely source.


Hope this helps...............
 
Sounds like a bad sway bar bushing. It is clunking, bumping around in the mount. Sway bar bushings are cheap and easy to replace. You can get a visual on them. If you see any movement in the bushing area, then they are bad.
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom