and the clunking went away?

 

Most coilovers don't utilize the stock shock mount (shock insulator)

yes, it is that part

 

Understood but if someone has had coils on for 20K or 30K miles their top mount might be going bad like the stocker. Plus there's the whole debate of pillowball or not for the best make up of the top coil mount.

 

yeah, thats entirely possible. Back when I replaced my shock mounts the dealer I bought the parts from told me that it was a pretty commonly replaced item.

 

ima have to check into that.. i should ask the dealer lol.. from what it "feels" like is the strut..

i remember when jairen did my springs in the front and he was putting the bolt back on and it was sorta loose and we tested to see if it was by pushing on the fender.. it would bang/clunk until we tighten it all the way then it was nice and firm...

 

Yes after i replaced it the clunking went away. car is perfect now.

 

it could be your strut mount, compression rod bushing, control arm bushings, camber arm bushings, it could be a bad strut i mean if you recorded the noise and we got a pretty good sound bit im sure some of us can see what the noise has to do with

 

i have been dealing with a metallic clunk noise on the drivers side for about a month now too. Its been really cold here, but I've checked and everything appears normal.. Sounds like the strut is about to puncture through the hood of the car!! My car has been lowered on Z springs on stock sport srtuts/shocks for about 2 years and I have about 72K miles. I also have Stillen sway bars so I guess it could be the endlinks. I know I'm due for new struts/shocks at least. The noise ONLY occurs at low speeds and over certain types of bumps in the road. Its not the compression rods, those make an entirely different noise.

 

yup same here, only at low speeds.. seems like the strut is like loose.. ima end up getting that mount to see if its that. but first ima re-inspect everything, ima remove the tire and lift the car to check all around.

 

it finally warmed up here, so after I posted yesterday, I went out to the car took the wheel off and inspected every bushing and everything appeared normal, no cracks, hardness or tears. Bushing pic in this thread is centered and appeared normal on my car. I even took off the passenger wheel to compare the two sides.

I made a thread a while ago in the suspension section and some are saying my endlinks are shot since I have aftermarket sways. These are inexpensive iirc and easy to replace so I figure I'll give that a shot first.

 

It could be your endlinks - but it very well could be the shock mount as well.
Both are cheap -enlinks are easier to replace as you don't need a spring compressor tool.

Visually you won't know that the shock mounts are bad. At least I couldn't tell a difference but when I installed new ones my clunks went away.

 

yeah my endlinks have to be worn. Regardless if they are causing the noise or not they should be replaced. The clunk is amplified while turning and riding over potholes/bumps, so I'm pretty convinced its the endlinks. They are like $50 for the pair and seem super easy to replace. If I'm going to changing strut mounts I'm going to change my struts too.

 

how would a endlink make that sound though?

 

before i was told by an infiniti service rep that worn out endlinks can make noise... not sure if it would be a cracking noise or not... if anything this noise doesnt happen when "turning" which i would assume if it was the endlink it was clunk because at this point the sway would make the endlinks flex.. but nope. only happens in small bumps.

 

i sure hope one of us can figure this out so the rest of us know.