There're a lot of threads and complaints about front end clunks, pops, squeaks an so on. I hope to summarize possible culprits ans steps to exterminate them. Steps are somewhat arranged in order you should attempt to fix the issue.
I have 141 K km on my car which is 90% city use on quite rough roads as well as 6 summers of autocrossing and track days. As of 2 hours ago it is 100% clunk free.

1) Worn out sway bar end link. Replacement cost $30-$40, usually DYI, unless it is seized and it must be cut off. How to troubleshoot:
-lift BOTH sides of the car and place it on jack stands. Or, if you have drive on ramps, drive on top of them
-remove end-link to control arm nut and push end link out. Do one at a time to pinpoint the bad one
-tape it to the sway bar
-go for a drive. It is perfectly safe.
-if clunk is gone, then there's bad end link. If not, then there's something else.

2) Compression rod bushings-this problems starts as early as 50K km.
- Option 1-get replacement compression rods. Cost-about $150-$180 each + 1.5 hours of shop labour. Problem WILL come back again.
- Option 2-get Energy Suspension compression rod bushings. Entire front end kit is $90-$100, you may want to get full kit-read on. Installation is within 1 hr of shop time

3) Worn out lower ball joints. They do knock more when wheels are turned and they knock during weight shift, like coming to full stop. There's no way to identify failed ball joint unless you have special tools. They gonna feel tight no matter what. Leaking boot is some indicator. Parts-$60 per pair, labour-2-2.5 hours. Not DYI job, although I've seen DYI how-to.

4) Worn, or rather completely destroyed inner bushings in front control arm. They come in kit mentioned in #2. Labour-1hr. Why not do outer bushings(shock mount) as well-included in kit too? That's another 30 minutes.

5) Worn out ball joint in front upper control arm(fork or "A"-shaped arm). Here's video how to check for it.
Replacement if fairly easy, just be ready to remove shock and have grinder on hand-old ball joint will have to be cut off. There's conical seat which will be PIA to remove(it must be transferred to new arm)-do not event try to pry it out- cut it off the old arm, place cone on top of vise(do not tighten-just set on top with narrow side up) and punch remains of old bolt out. If you have coilovers, there's no need to remove shock-lower the spring perch all the way down to get spring out of the way.
Cost-$80 each aftermarket(cast aluminum) or $130 Nissan OEM replacement. There's a wide range of aftermarket adjustable arms as well. I went with $80 ones-car is likely to fall apart in 3-4 years(or rather-I will kill it!) and they should last this time.
Replacing at the shop-1.5 hours for both.

6) Worn out shock mount. I never dealt with this issue, because I went with coilovers which have pillow ball upper mount. However, clunks didn't go away.
It helped some members, so I do not rule it out. I do not know the cost of the part, but labour time is about 1hr. It is DYI job, but you need to rent coil spring compressor.


I also noticed that replacing one of the components with stronger part makes something on the brink of failure to fail quicker.After I replaced compression rod bushings I enjoyed clunk free ride for few weeks. After 3 autocrosses ball joint started to knock like crazy. Right now it is quiet again.
Since I have replaced everything, but tie rod ends I expect them to start making noise in near future. I'll put some Tein's in

 

Thanks a lot about this write up, it really helps! I'm kind of in the process of eliminating front and back suspension noises and figured it's probably best to just replace as much as I can at this point..

Question - the aftermarket lower ball joints that are being sold on ebay for $60 - are they pretty good quality, is there any experience with them? I don't feel like buying the whole knuckle... Also, is replacing tie rods just in case a good idea?

Thanks!

 

Good info...thx.

 

really good info. I replace my compression rod about 3 yrs ago and I havent had any clunking sound. But as of late ive been getting clunking sound in the front passenger side. So im going to change out the end links and see if there are anymore sound. It just gets annoying when i'm driving slow on uneven roads i can hear it. Now i get this weird feel when i go over speed bumps.... lol cant explain it

 

Great write-up OP. What lower ball joints did you use?

I haven't noticed any more front end noises since I installed the ES front kit and BC coils, but my lower ball joints were very loose. I'm guessing they are next to go.

 

Haha nice guide and title

 

I got ball joints from ebay. They are not OEM. Replacing entire knuckle seems ridiculous.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-FRO...#ht_1296wt_939
Not sure about ball joint quality and I am not very excited about buying obscure parts. They didn't fall off yesterday on the track-I did about 100km of hot laps hitting 165-170 km/h. Maybe next time they disintegrate?

Worn out tie rod ends should be easy to identify-just move front wheel with your hands left/right. It will move together with steering wheel just a bit, but it should not feel like there's any extra play or clicking. I would leave replacing tie rod ends until all else is done. They are not expensive to replace, but alignment is a must right away.

 

I got a new knock!Whohoo!

It is upper control arm (A-arm ball joint). I ordered replacement arms since this ball joint is not serviceable.
I decided not to get any of the adjustable camber arms, but I will replace bushings with leftovers from my ES kit.
Stay posted for updates...

 

LOL! My problems don't show up as knocks, so much as just not feeling solid going down the road. I ordered up some lower ball joints last night, but I'm not sure yet that they are the problem. Mine kind of feels like a loose wheel bearing, but it could very well just be my crappy front tires need replacing. I'll agree with you that doing the bushings may cause the next weak link to show up sooner.

 

if your lowered, your endlinks will usually go out and cause that clunking noise. I would change out your endlinks to some adjustable ones if your pretty low. Great upgrade as far as handling too if paired up with aftermarket sways


good info op!

 

Updated with video of bad upper control arm and troubleshooting for end links

 

Great write up OP. THx

 

By process of elimination, I am now convinced that the ball joint of the front of my passenger side compression rod must be bad. So far I've:

Installed Energy Systems bushing set
Replaced lower knuckle ball joint
Inspected, shaken, levered, etc every other suspension component without finding anything

I DO notice, however, that I can see a fore/aft movement in the knuckle when the car creeps forward and the brakes are 'touched' which also reproduces my 'suspension clunk' (In a very trusting moment, I allowed my wife to pull the car into the driveway while I 'rode along' on a creeper by the passenger front wheel!)

Okay...this is where I am asking for your help. I have ordered a whole compression rod, and will install it. It kills me to install the compression rod when I'm pretty sure that the ball joint of the rod is the culprit (after all...how much could really go wrong with a cast chunk of aluminum?) What I want to do is section an old compression rod to pull out the ball joint and see if I can identify an aftermarket ball joint by dimension. Since this will be somewhat trial and error (hopefully not too many errors), I will need some scrap compression rods. Anyone have an old one that they have replaced that they can contribute? I will post my findings here when I have anything to report. Maybe then this ball joint can be installed with the Energy Suspension bushing on the back joint to salvage old compression rods.

Thoughts?


Rick

 

As werid as it sounds i had a clunk in the front end because of lowering springs. G35 stechs to be exact after they were removed for coilovers the noise stopped and they were installed correctly

 

Mine is 2003 2wd sedan...stock height. I've been driving it this way for about 6 months. I have a real aversion to paying the dealer $1000 to change out the compression rod. I don't mind doing it, but it got me thinking about ways to recover all of the CRs that have been replaced due to bushings or ball joints.