Front end clunking

Hey all,

My front end is making god awful clunking/poping noises and I'm having trouble figuring it out. About a year ago, I put new sway bar end links on there and it did nothing. New ball joints, tie rod ends and cv shafts went on too within the past 6 months and the clunking persisted. I eventually replaced the control arm bushings and the new ones are polyurithane. It was a night and day difference as the suspension got tight and quiet. However, this only lasted about 10 days before it got loud and clunky again. I got up under the car and noticed the 3 of the 4 control arm bushing bolts had loosened back up. I re-tightened them and it got quiet once more. This only lasted for about more 2 weeks and then it was loud and clunky again. I got up under the car again but all 4 bushing bolts were still very tight as I had left them the last time. Any idea what is going on here? It's starting to really wear out my last nerve.

Are you tightening the CA bolts with the suspension loaded?

What about the strut mounts? They might be making the noises you are describing.

look at your strut bearings.

So, it's been awhile. I resolved the issue, so I figured I'd fill you guys in. In July after I posted this, I took the car in for a state inspection and it failed. The mechanic said both outer tie rod ends and one ball joint failed. They all were only a year old. These were Driveworks brand parts from Advance Auto. The mechanic said they suck and I agreed. I tried another brand of tie rod ends and ball joints. All installed myself. All noises went away and the vehicle passed.

Back in December, I noticed the noise again. I brought the car in to a different mechaninc. He physically showed me where one ball joint and one tie rod end were beginning to fail again at the ripe ole age of 5 months. He also pointed out my struts were bad.

I got fed up and overhauled the suspension with everything Moog. New complete strut assemblys, new ball joints and outer tie rod ends. I've used Moog on other vehicles before with amazing results and initially didn't want to pony up the money for this car. I have now and the results are great so far. Hopefully this will be the final time I have to do this for a very, very long time.

Thank you guys for your help.