Hi All,

I've got a 2009 G37x, approximately 130,000 miles. There has been a consistent suspension clunk coming from the front since I purchased the vehicle about 5,000 miles ago. It's always there on bumps, but especially bad on rough roads.

I had it into a mechanic many months ago, and they were relatively certain that it's due to strut mounts. The rest of the front suspension was found to be quite solid, i.e. ball joints and sway bar links.

With the above in mind:

1. Has anyone had a front suspension clunk on this car, resolved by replacing the front strut mounts? I can't be the first, but am finding very little in my internet searches.
2. Has anyone replaced their front strut mounts, struts, and springs OEM/100% stock replacements? If so, what did you go with?
3. Has anyone replaced the front mounts, struts, and springs by using the spring + shock combos available online? This would make the job significantly easier if I choose to do it myself.

All input welcome and appreciated!

 

Clunks could also be from worn ball joints or really excessively worn bushings. You have to trust the mechanic or look yourself.

 

Yep. My front end clunking was due to worn compression rod bushings.

 

Anyone have thoughts on Sachs as replacement OEM struts?

 

As a followup, I did end up replacing the strut mounts, the struts, and the front sway bar links - all completed by one of the more highly rated mechanics in the San Francisco bay area. This was as expensive as it sounds. For the most part, the clunk / sounds of looseness remains. Very disappointing.

Interestingly, multiple mechanics have seen the vehicle since. They have each found all components of the front and rear suspension to be extremely solid and intact, i.e. nobody can find anything that might be causing the internal-sounding clunk over rough or uneven surfaces (mostly only noticeable at low speed).

Anyone with any other ideas?

 

Everything in the suspension can clunk if its bad, and on our cars it's very difficult to tell when something goes because of how beefy everything is and the fact that it's under load when the suspension is assembled. I had a similar low speed clunk neither I nor mechanics could find assembled, and it turned out to be my compression rod ball joint.

I found it myself when the suspension was entirely taken apart, as when it was all together it was fine except when the suspension was at a very specific point at its travel, which can't really be reproduced on a lift. At 130k miles, everything in my front suspension was worn to the point where I just replaced everything so I wouldn't have to worry about it ever again. Big bucks at a mechanic.

Either pay a mechanic to take everything apart and replace everything that looks worn, do it yourself, or ignore the noises until the problem becomes obvious when the suspension is assembled (could be a long time).