Front Suspension Clunk or Rattle

Been chasing down a rattle in the front end since I've owned this car (10 months or so). Happens over speed bumps or driveways on vertical motion. Didn't seem to be related to steering, so I got a pair of drop links and put them on the car this morning. The clunk had been fixed. Took about an hour possibly less. One of the old drop links was bad. I could easily feel play on both ends and one of it's boots was torn badly. Didn't realize I didn't have an 18mm socket! Would have taken a little less time if I had one. Box/open end wrench wasn't ideal. Between this and a bad wheel bearing I had replaced yesterday, the car is way more solid feeling now. Todd 99 coupe

How did you feel the "play?" Was the wheel in a certain position? The play vertical or horizontal?

I was able to feel the play in the drop link after I pulled it. The joints had a decent amount of wiggle to them. Especially the one with the destroyed boot. todd 99 coupe

yup, drop links will do that, replaced mine too...... (after paying to have it fixed.... I "fixed" it :rolleyes)

I have the same clunk too....did you use standard/stock droplinks or upgrade to something with a little more meat. The stock parts look pencil thin? I guess if they came from the factory that way they must do the job...right? I was looking for replacements this morning.

I got them from Pelican Parts. They are TRW parts. Pretty inexpensive at $38 ea. Worth putting on and at least eliminating as a cause before spending money for diagnosis at a shop. At least, that was my thought. They are thin but given their function, that's probably not relevant. todd 99 coupe

Do you have a part number for these drop links?

just bought the fronts and rears and it'll be my 4th July weekend project. With no adjustability I'm assumming just plug and play. That friggin 'clunk' has been driving me nuts!

They are simple plug and play. At least the fronts were. Don't know about the rears. Of course, now that that clunk is gone, others are bugging me, like the rattle in the front dash around the airbag. Todd 99 coupe

I noticed the same condition this morning! I am getting what feels like sway bar noise, rattling around under there, whenever I am moving. I can feel it in the steering too. Might this be drop links?

simple test... lift the car, remove the wheel, hit the sway bar up and down...(I mean HIT IT) should be silent...if not, new drop links needed

Would hitting the sway bar with a rubber hammer be a good enough test?

yup

And if the sway bar is solid as a rock, then we could be talking control arm replacement after 20k miles?

nah....its the drop link (or tie rod end )

Replacing the drop links requires an 18mm socket? And I wouldn't need an alignment after, or would I?

Quotes source post: 7748085

dont know about the socket size... but yes, no alignment needed.

18 and/or 16 - I forgot might as well get both yur gonna need em' the trick is to release a little weight off the suspension - there is a sweet spot between it hanging and it lifting where the big bolt slips out with no effort at all, just put the scissor jack or other jack under the lower control arm and search for it... then its cake!!... really only a few minutes/side job and no real "instructions" needed....nothing will fly off and knock you in the head or anything

Ah, so put it on stands in the front, then use the jack to take the pressure off and it's plug and play?

yup...you can even do one side at a time if you dont have enough equipment... its plug and play... no adjustments or whatever

just remember..... safety first.

ehh???

^^^^^ BAWAHAHAHAHAHAH

HAHA thats like a mobile second story window washing unit !!

and one for Andy... at least they got the brick right...

Yup. There's an 18mm nut there; the top nut. The lower nut is smaller. Like Ed says, slightly loading up the suspension is key getting to making it easy to remove/replace the bolts. Please report back on the rears. I may also do those. Todd 99 coupe

the rears are a 5 mintue job... nothing to them.

Those photos are a riot! I could have saved money on a jack by using my neighbor's fence posts! Who knew? I pulled up and down on the front bumper this morning, and can hear clunk-clunk every time the suspension moves up or down. Something's loose under there!

I brought the car to my mechanic, who found nothing. He said it could be a shock bushing, but it would take 2 hours of labor to remove the shock(s) to see if that's the cause. He basically said if it keeps doing it, bring it back. Love when they find nothing!

I have a '99 996 C4. The C4's have a two-piece upper strut mount due mostly to the geometry necessary to provide clearance for the front drive shafts. These vehicles are notorious to have the cheaper of the two parts, the ring bearing $30, fail and cause a clunking noise described in this post. Replacement of the bearing is a little tricky and is not for the inexperienced mech. Is anyone has this problem, feel free to PM me.

I have a front suspension clunking issue felt through the steering wheel. Emerges after a long series of bad road, or a particularly steep (close to scraping) driveway onto road. Sounds like the front suspension is going to fall off. So here's the funny thing... if I stand in the trunk and bounce the car up and down, I can't reproduce but the thing goes away for a couple of weeks. My speculation is that there is something loose and or worn that I am re-seating by bouncing the car. Any ideas what it might be>

I seem to have this issue now. It started about 3 weeks ago, initially only going over speed bumps. Today, driving on a particularly bumpy road, it was rattle city for the C4S, especially from the right front. I'll take the wheel off this weekend and check it out.

The C4's have a two-piece upper strut mount due mostly to the geometry necessary to provide clearance for the front drive shafts. These vehicles are notorious to have the cheaper of the two parts, the ring bearing $30, fail and cause a clunking noise described in this post. Replacement of the bearing is a little tricky and is not for the inexperienced mech. If anyone has this problem, feel free to PM me.

im having noise also, dont know from where at the moment

Over speed bumps was how it started for me too. Right after I bought the car. Then over road irregularities, expansion joints, driveway lips, etc. Pretty annoying Todd 99 coupe C2

Had the same issue. Just replaced the drop links and it seems better. Haven't had many opportunities to confirm but initial indications are good.