Well I had my sway bar bushings replaced and clunk/wobbling noise is still there. Guess the next thing to check out is the lower control arm bushings.. Anyone have any idea how much it would be to have them pressed out and replaced? I might be crazy but I may be hearing it from the passenger side now, figure I should so both anyway.

 

did u replace the endlinks or? for the pressing i heard it can be like 40 bucks to 80 but i could be wrong.

 

Yes endlinks and bushings were the first things I replaced.

 

Another thing to check, especially for those that are lowered is the top shock nut and also the top shock hat. When I've gotten suspension clunking on previous cars as well as friend's cars, the culprit was sometimes a loose top shock nut or and/or the rubber bushings in the shock hat had worn to the point that the upper part of the shock had a little play during smaller bumps which caused thumping and clunking. If you're car has over 100K miles, it's likely that the shock hats are approaching the end of thier service life.

IMO, this is far more likely cause than lower control arm bushings. Control arm bushings are readily observable and it's usually eash to see detoriation and check for movement.

 

I'll see if I can tighten the center nut on the shock. I've read the LCA bushings are a common failure on the G/Zs. But to me it does seems like the clunk/wobble/popping noise has been coming from the strut area the entire time. Driving over potholes, cracks, rough surfaces, I can hear it. Train track crossings amplify the noise even more. This only occurs at lower speeds (30MPH and under). And some roads and bumps are handled normally with no noise which stumps the hell out of me.

 

Interesting. So is the fix for that just a new shock hat, or new mounts? Certainly worth trying before doing the bushing replacement.

 

if u need a new shock end mount i have mine for sale, didnt end up using it because i found the problem. i can do 28 dollars shipped to you. in ebay they sell for like 40 shipped.

 

I'm not saying this is the fix, but it's worth some inspection. I know that on Maximas, this was a fairly common wear and tear issue. The culprit is tearing or deformation of the rubber isolator in the hat itself. This isolator surrounds the top shock nut and is observable when you pop the hood. If the isolator gets severely worn/torn, the shock will be able to move around (up and down a bit). On bigger rounded bumps and dips, there's a lot of compression so there's rarely much noise. But on slow speed pavement cuts, RR tracks, rutted surfaces, etc where the suspension is doing a lot of minor, quick up and down motions is when the noise is most prevalent. It's usually a soft clunking and not a metallic clank/ping or harsh clunk. At least that's been my experience. The G35's upper hat ("mounting insulator") is no different than most any other coilover setup. An easy inspection would be to jack the entire front end up (both sides so that the sway bar isn't preloading the suspension) and see how the isolator looks with the suspension completely extended. If there are tears or the rubber looks brittle and weathered, it may be the problem.

Another culprit is a loose top shock nut. This problem is usually the result of a bad spring swap where the installer failed to adequately torque the nut or did not completely seat the shock in hat before torquing or did not correctly seat the spring in the upper spring insulator seat. Another possibility is that lower spring covers (they wrap around the bottom 1.5 coil) weren't reinstalled or are worn through allowing the compressed coils (almost touching at static ride height) to tap each other on smaller impacts. This is also a very common culprit of suspension clunking especially with aftermarket progressive rate springs.

 

i at first thought it was the shock nut, because thats how it sounded, but they were as tight as could be. so couldnt be that.

 

Bingo. This is exactly my symptoms. I made another interesing observation last night .... I can hear a small "thud" when I pulsate the brakes while slowly rolling.. Something is for sure loose.

Is this mounting insulator part of or aka the strut mount?

It could also be a loose top nut, I attempted using a ratchet but it just turns the piston and doesnt tighten the nut. I think I need an air gun.

 

u need like a wrench to hold the inside of the strut pole thingy, that way it wont spin.

 

I know what you mean, its just difficult to get a wrench in there on the nut without rounding it. Do you know if they make a special socket or is this an air tool only job?

 

What I have used with great success is an offset (gooseneck?) 17mm closed end socket wrench to hold the nut and a pair of vise grips to hold the flat part of the spindle. Set the shock on the ground sideways and then rotate the wrench counter clockwise while pushing the vice grips clockwise to break the nut free. Works great every time and I can do it myself. Sometimes I would have to stand on the wrench initially to have enough force to break the nut free.


Reverse the process to tighten the nut back on.

 

well I finally got fed up and brought it to the dealer to diagnose it.

Drivers side compression rod is bad....figures. I had them check the right side, but its still okay. This will be the 3rd compression rod on my car, at 74K miles. Sucks not having a warranty anymore

 

I just put in coilovers two days ago and during the install I noticed the lower control arm bushings were really worn out (65% gone) =\. This morning I started hearing the clunking noise from the front driver side at low speeds so I'm guessing one of the bushings failed. It sounds jus like you explained yours to be.