2006 GS 300 RWD, 101K miles, makes a clunking sound (DS) on any slightly uneven surface. Haven't been up under the car yet to see if anything's obviously out of spec.

Is there a common bushing or set of bushings that wear out?

I'm about to have to do a brake job, so I'd like to tackle this while I have it up in the air.

Thanks in advance-

 

Could be a number of things wrong best thing to do take it to a shop and have them look underneath it.

Could be a bad strut, top bearing, ball joint, tie rod, loose bolts all those things will make cluncking sounds

 

Hmm weird I have a 2006 GS300 and it is making the same noise. The noise can be described as a repeated clunking at the same intervals.. BUT it only happens when I am backing up and turning the steering wheel almost all the way to either direction. It doesn't happen when the vehicle is moving really really slow though. IS this similar to the symptoms you are having at all?

 

Nope, nothing in common there.

I jacked up the DS last night & saw that the front strut boot was torn in 1/2 (top 1/2 completely separated from bottom 1/2), don't know if that's a purely cosmetic boot or a functional boot like on a CV joint.

I'll be doing the brakes tomorrow morning, if it's any warmer, and I'll get a closer inspection then.

Should I ONLY use dealer/factory replacements for struts?

 

Only front wheel car have CV joints. I thought the GS 3rd Gen should have less suspension issues comparing it to the 2nd Gen.

 

AWD you have CV's in the front, its either CV's or a straight truck axle lmaoo.,, Considering how jacked up the fronts of AWD I would be surprised if they put a straight axle

 

Oop, was thinking just about the RWD model only. Yes the AWD has a lot more moving parts involved.

 

From the images in another thread, apparently from the dealer service manual, it's plain to see that I have blown struts. There's oil seeping down the strut, it's been sprayed all around the wheel well, I'm going with that as the culprit.

Everything else under there looks fine- all bushings look good as new.