My 91 LS400 (160K) makes a small clunking noise under moderate braking, especially when turning left at the same time. The noise seems to come from the front suspension on the passenger side.

Anyone experienced similar thing and has a clue how serious the problem is?

Thanks,
tvd51

 

could be your swaybar bushings, or control arm bushings... theres a bushing in the suspension somewhere that is producing that sound. I would start with your sway bar bushings.

 

I'll have my car checked at Lexus dealer next week. Hope it's the sway bar. The upper control arms are expensive.

tvd51

 

May be the coilover springs... if they arent seated perfectly, they can come slightly out of place. I had it happen several times.

 

My guess is that you need to replace the strut bar cushions.
I chased after the clunking on my 1990 LS400 front end, and these were the culprit.

 

Yes, that reminds me... the clunking sound came from my front left... the technician told me there were "plastic sleeves" between the spring and the strut hat on all the others but the clunky one.

Its gone now, but where do i get these strub bar cusions, or sleeves, or whatever they are? Whats the part description? They called a lexus dealer and they werent able to find a part.

 

could be, strut mount, boots/insulators, or bumpers/bump stops

 

Your Lexus dealer couldn't find these? I ordered mine from Carson Toyota in LA (888) 747-4777. Gordon knows exactly what they are. This is the terminology out of the factory service manual. I'm just a little surprised that your dealer did not know what these were nor could he find them listed. you will need one for each strut bar (total of two).

 

I did have new sway bar bushings installed, these cost like $5 each, and were very small... we're not talking about these right?

I think their a plastic boot that goes over the struts "hat" and would keep the spring from making a clunking noise (i guess)

Its not the spring insulator... I had all 4 of them installed when i changed the struts a while back, those are also known as "shock boots"

 

I have the exact same thing - clunking noise during moderate braking when turning left at the same time. Had it diagnosed the last time I was at the dealer service center, and was told there was nothing wrong - something about the free-floating brake pads shifting or something like that.

Let us know how your dealer diagnosed yours.

 

I had a test drive with a Lexus mechanics and he also heard the noise, but after spending more than 15 minutes checking the car he couldn't find anything wrong with the suspension. It's probably not serious but it's annoying.

tvd51