TheBlizzard

Just as the title says; whenever I hit a hard (straight up and down) bump I hear a clunk/pop from the front right. The inner and outer tie rods were loose to I replaced those thinking that was the issue and it was NOT.

Now I am thinking the only thing it could be is the strut/mounts?

Also on a side note, the passenger rear is slightly clunking a little bit here and there. Are strut mounts really common to go out in these cars?

Its an 08 with 70k miles.

RedHotG8

iTrader: (1)

It could be a bad strut, strut mount or swaybar link. It could also be a broken swaybar.

TheBlizzard

I will have to get it on the hoist and check it out again I guess. What is the most common failures of this nature on these cars? I have read the most about sway bar links and strut mounts.

TheBlizzard

Ok, so a little update. Both inner and outer tie rods were replaced becaues they had place in them, the clunk was still there, the stabilizer link was replaced, the clunk was still there. So I pulled the strut out and the strut mount was all cracked and trashed, so I thought 'finally' I found the problem.

NOPE!

The clunk is still there, the only thing left is the strut itself, right? It is not leaking and doesn't feel like there is any play in it. I don't want to buy a god damn Bilstein Strut and have it not be the problem.

Any advise?

Also for the Bilstein stock replacements do our cars have the HD or Comfort style?

The car is an 08 GXP.

Hawkins04

iTrader: (4)

From all the things I have read the comforts are about 5% firmer than stock and the hd's are about 10% to 15% firmer. If you want just a stock replacement go with the conforts

RedHotG8

iTrader: (1)

Check the swaybar and links, the links are known to fail on the Grand Prixs.

TheBlizzard

They were replaced, they are part of the stabilizer bar, still clunks. Basically everything has been replaced except the strut, I just find it hard to believe that the strut is bad at 70k miles.

Wonder if they can be rebuilt?

RedHotG8

iTrader: (1)

If your struts have 75K it's time to replace them and that's probably the source of the clunk. I have 40K on my struts and I need to replace them in the spring. Struts and shocks don't last forever and take a beating on the crappy streets.

NewYork Art

Think about this....not everything or part of these cars is tack welded by a machine.....I also have some clunk tick sometimes when I hit the gas quick or a bump....I think it's a design flaw in the bolts that hold it together somewhere. I like the car car cause my wife says it's sexy. So I keep it.

Weaslespit

If you have checked everything else and not found the source of the clunk you might look at replacing the steering gear. The rack bar can create a clunk sound if it hits the piston rod guide (PRG) in hydraulic steering gears when going over bumps. There is supposed to be a plastic bushing on the ID of the PRG but if it is missing (or loose) after xx,xxx miles the pressure applied to the rack bar from the adjusting screw decreases slightly due to wear over time allowing for some slight movement of the rack bar.

TheBlizzard

Hmmm thats interesting. It is odd because the noise is not there over moderate bumps like normal struts going out do, it is just like when I pull into my driveway and hit a sharp bump it clunks from the fight side.

I will have to look into this and see how hard it is to check out and replace it if it is a cheap part. I have replaced everything on that side trying to narrow this problem down and have had no luck, I thought that all was left was the strut.

On a side note the rear end of the car is now making a popping noise in parking lots while going slow over unever bumps, I am almost positive that is sway bar links though.