ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

Hi guys, i did do a search and was reading on all the past threads, but I don't think any of them pertains to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated here is the situation:

Car was stock with stock suspension, last month put them Tom's coilovers on with RCA's for the front.

This is the problem, and i checked Everything...even the guy at the alignment shop said he didnt see anything loose under the car or suspension or worn out.

Everytime, I would drive normally..at any speed..on the road and would hit a small bump, pothole, etc..the driver side makes a "thug" sound and the steering wheel or column vibrates to with the "thug". When the road is perfect..NO problems whatsoever..drives like a dream. Its only when i hit bumps or abnormalities in the pavement. Doesn't make noise when i go up a driveway or anything..its just bumps on the road..and makes a "thug thug" noise. Its only coming from the driver side.

I'm currently on 19"s with coilovers, RCA's and I just changed my Lower Ball joints at the same time (thinking it was that) but the noise is still there..any ideas????? thanks in advance.

esolo98

iTrader: (5)

mine makes a similar noise, but from driver and pass side.
The only conclusion I could come up with it is the the front bushings, I will be ordering mine tomorrow, and hope it fixes the problem

Rick James

I have the same noise on both sides of my gs400. I replaced the upper control arms and ball joints, and still have this problem. It feels like my front end is going to fall off on uneven pavement. Any help is appreciated as I want to get this fixed ASAP!!

GS300ToM

iTrader: (32)

another one of these lol i got the same thing on my driver side, i gave up lookin for it...... haha

ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

hey guys, so i guess i sort of fixed the problem, I installed a 15mm spacer in the front, and the noise..got less and went away, but was still a little quieter and there when i went on bumps.

But, when i was installing it, i jacked up the front tire, and shook the tire and rim up and down, the sound, sounded like it was coming either from the upper mount, or upper arm. But when I looked at the Caster arm, where it bolts to the body, the bushing looked like it was bent..or something..so not sure on that Ill have to take a look at it another time with a flashlight. Im thinking its coming from 3 of those areas.

Nosferatu2

iTrader: (1)

your caster arm will look like the bushing is bent , that's how it should be ( i know i installed it new arms the other day)

have same noise , so far installed new caster arms ball joints and control arms and clicking noise still there .....

5t341th

iTrader: (16)

maybe the topnut for the coilover is loose. try that out. its a common problem i see for 240sx owners with their coilovers

ssimmons

I'm experiencing the exact same problem and it's the only thing that bothers me about the car right now. I have an 04 GS430. About 2 years ago I put on 20" rims (8.5" fronts, 10" rears) and Eibach springs on the stock struts all on the same day. This was at 25k miles. Got an alignment before the car was driven one mile with the mods. Camber looks fine. The car sits right and handles very well. At first I had an extremely noticeable rattle when driving over abrupt bumps, potholes, and especially cobblestone (brick) streets. My mechanic couldn't figure it out but was confident that the springs were installed correctly. I took the car into Lexus and they discovered that the brake heat shields were loose. They tightened them up and that corrected the big rattle. Now I am just left with the noise you guys are talking about. It sounds like a dull, quick, slightly muffled metal on metal thud, rattle or scraping noise that I hear mostly when traveling over small bumps, humps in the road, or uneven pavement at low speeds. Between 15 and 40 mph. Sounds like it's coming from the driver's side. I can hit a major obstruction like a really big speed bump or take a really hard turn where the suspension really flexes and travels and it's completley quiet and solid. It seems to happen when "floating" slowly over small stuff in the road. So every time I go to the dealership for service I insist that they thoroughly check out the front end. The ball joints, upper and lower control arms, control arm bushings, sway bars and bushings, steering rack bushing, caster arms, wheel bearings... everything. I can't stand it. I love the car... I just want this **** fixed. The last time I took it in they told me that I had a bad bearing in the top hat or upper perch of the driver's side strut. They told me it would be $350 to replace it. I have the platinum extended service contract and after making my case and urging my service advisor to call the service company (which he did in front of me) they agreed to cover it and replaced the bearing under warranty. The car is an 04 but I only have about 35k miles on it. Got the car back and it didn't fix anything. Still makes the noise. The car rides nice but it makes me wanna buy coilovers or even bags just to get away from noises like this. I would love for a second generation gs front suspension pro to diagnose and fix my car or for one of you guys having the same problem to find a fix and share. Hope this helps. At least to describe the problem in detail. Sorry for the long post. Please help if you know. I've been reading GS "noise" posts for years. Many thanks

yemgi

iTrader: (1)

make sure the droplinks to the sway bars are tightened properly. It was what caused that noise on my IS One of the nut was stuck on the thread but not fully locking the droplink

e-man

Wow, wow, wow. This describes my exact situation perfectly. It's only over slightly uneven pavement and only when driving slowly. Big bumps are not a problem at all. Here's another wrinkle. It seems as if I only hear the noise when I have my stock 17s on the car. I don't hear it in the winter with the stock 16s. Suspension shop checked the car and everything looks fine. I don't get it.

Oh, by the way, 99 GS4 with 136,000 miles.

ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

Yup noise still there...^Same situation as me...i dont know...only thing i can think of is sway bar end links, or the upper mount bushing on the coilover. Never had a problem on stock suspension or stock wheels.

Rick James

As I noted above i have this same problem on the drive and passenger side of my car. I went to a shop that specializes in used toyota's and after telling him i replaced the upper control arms, ball joints and tie rods. He said the next thing to replace are the strut mounts. i just ordered them Wednesday and i will be installing them on Sat. Apparently the rubber bushing that separates the spring from the actual metal mount gets so brittle that we get this noise.

One more thing. The noise sounds like its comming from the floor board, but the guy said with that noise the sounds tends to "throw" itself so it sounds like it comming from the bottom.

Do a search on "strut mounts" in the suspension sub forum and the regular 2gs forum. After the guy mentiond this to me I did a search and came up with a lot of good info that backs up his claim.