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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHclunkity-clunk in front end - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Reported or suspected cause
loose bolt
Reported cause
No successful repair reported for this finding.
1
Identified cause
0
Suspected cause
0
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Discussions that report identifying a cause
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Reported cause · Original poster
Turned out to be a loose bolt on the drop link on the pass.
clunkity-clunk in front end - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'loose bolt' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'loose bolt' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Check strut bushings' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that report identifying a cause
1
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Reported cause · Original poster
It was the lower one that connects to the sway bar.
clunkity-clunk in front end - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Check strut bushings
Suggestion or failed attempt
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0
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Unsuccessful attempts
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Discussions that contain suggestions
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clunkity-clunk in front end - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace control arm bushings
Suggestion or failed attempt
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Suggestion · Original poster
Is there a diy for replacing the control arm bushings?
clunkity-clunk in front end - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace drop links first
Suggestion or failed attempt
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
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Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
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Suggestion
I'd try replacing the drop links first and then the sway bar bushings, both relatively cheap and easy to install.
clunkity-clunk in front end - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Coverage and how to read this overview
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
5 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
986Forum: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.
Generation: 20261026T222516Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
It's been slightly doing it since I bought the car 2 years ago. This weekend I really noticed it. I have a '00S with approx. 40k miles now. I don't know much about front suspensions. What it's doing is making a loosey-goosey, clunkity sound coming from the pass. front wheel. I haven't hit anything. It feels like worn out bushings, maybe?? Is there a diy for replacing the control arm bushings? I have a bentley manual but it's a little vague to me. I did a search on this forum and discovered that the control arm bushings are a common wear item with these cars. Could mine be shot at only 40k?
thanks
sean
Been experiencing the same thing for the last 5k miles in my '02 S (now 80k mi). Based on info found here, I replaced the drop links and that made no difference. The clunking is getting REALLY annoying.
So now I'm doing everything else: sway bar bushings, lower control arms (new TRW parts from Pelican), and remanufactured control arm links w/poly bushings (****************************************.com). While poking around I noticed one tie rod boot leaking and a little looseness, so I'm replacing inner & outer tie rods and boots. The only thing I will not have touched are the struts and related parts. All of this seems - at this point - to be relatively easy DIY.
Your car's now 10 yrs old with very low mileage so you could easily have deterioration from lack of use. I'd try replacing the drop links first and then the sway bar bushings, both relatively cheap and easy to install. Let us know how it goes.
Thanks for the replies! There's so many different elements that could be causing the clunk noise in the front end that I don't know where to start. I probably could do almost any diy myself. I've got a great garage and enough tools to get into pretty serious trouble! It still seems to be coming from the pass. side front. It's a kind of loose-rattle'y sound that comes from up-and-down motion as opposed to turns or corners etc. I guess I could wait until it gets bad enough that it shows itself more obviously?? At this point I don't have a clue as to where it's coming from... I'll try to do some exploratory surgery this weekend by following up with some of you guys' ideas...
sean
Update: Put the Boxster up on jack-stands this weekend. Took the front wheels off and started shaking and wiggling everything in the front end. It was my lucky day! Turned out to be a loose bolt on the drop link on the pass. side. It was the lower one that connects to the sway bar. It was literally finger-loose. I tightened it up and YAY! No more clunking noise. Thanks for your replies.
sean
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