E36M3

iTrader: (1)

My front end has clunking for a while. I jacked up both front wheels and checked for play and found nothing. I removed both wheels and found both upper control arm ball joints and tie rod ends feel sloppy. Can this be the culprit?

I did some searching but it's not clear what the real problem is. I don't wanna bring the car to the stealer and pay for diagnose if I can avoid it.

johnnyg66

Most likely the uppers and lower ball joints. Did that solved my noise issue. Since yours is a 94 bet its all original down there.

Joshcar

Try doing the wiggle test, jack the car off the ground, hold the wheel at 12 and 6 o clock. Push at 12 and pull from 6. If its bad you should be able to affect the movement. Also if you take off the wheel check for any tears on the rubber of the ball joint. If it's torn it's likely it's finished.

E36M3

iTrader: (1)

Most likely. Hey thanks.


Hey thanks but I did all that to check for ball joint and tie rod play. There is no play for the ball joint and very, very slight play for the tie rod. My theory was the upper strut mounts or the strut rod. However, there isn't any clunking upon sudden braking to represent strut rod symptom... I'm stumped.