front end rattle, that cant be good...

[novtechere]

I have noticed since i bought the car, any time im on uneven ground. Like a dirt road, there is a bunch of rattling and squeaking in the front end, mostly on the drivers side. Possible cause? NOTE: I have been CONSIDERING a lowering kit... my car just seems too high off the ground, but i do live in the mountains, our roads are not always in perfect condition, and there are speed bumps here and there, along with the occasional uneven turn. Should i just forget about the rattling and squeaking and buy a lowering kit with hopes that it will fix the problem? Or given my terrain should i stick with stock replacements. I should also mention that when cornering at (semi)high speeds i experience a significant amount of body roll, sorta seems primarily in the front end... but definitely throughout the rest of the car as well...
I plan to post pictures of my car tomorrow.
THANK YOU in advance

[illinois_erik]

off the top of my head, upper ball joint's bad. jack the car up in the front in the middle on the crossbar, then grasp the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock and push up and down, then side to side, if you feel any play have a professional take a look or pull your wheels and really inspect. if any boots on upper lower or tie rod balljoints are messed up so is that joint it toast. could also be a dead strut, see if the boots intact or theres any liquid coming out of the piston seal

[H311RA151N]

If someone left the brake pad clips out you will hear rattling when your not on the brakes when the roads bumpy.

The body roll could be caused by worn sway bar end links. These are commonly in pretty bad shape as most people who own the CB before us don’t replace them. When replacing them it’s also a good idea to do the sway bar to frame bushings. To do this I recommend end using these.

Sway bar end links. http://www.ebay.com/itm/PROTHANE-SWA...9656be&vxp=mtr

Sway bar to frame bushings. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prothane-8-1...898893&vxp=mtr

A bad strut or the combination of bad struts can cause excessive body roll. If the car bounces a few times after a bump that’s a good indication of a bad struts. As is just handling poorly.

Squeaking can be caused by a bushing in the lower control arm where the bolt is squeaking on the bushing sleeve that it goes through. I pulled the bolts out in the front and put grease on them and reinstalled them and my squeaking went away.

Squeaking can also be caused by a strut or any bushing.

Try to replicate these sounds when the car is parked or going slow. Push down on the front of the car and listen for the noise and where it could be coming from. Also drive the car slowly and stick your head out the window. Or have a friend standing outside the car while you drive and see if they can tell where it sounds like its coming from.

You can also take the wheels off an inspect all the part to see if you can see any worn parts. With the wheel on and off the ground and lugs nuts tight jiggle the wheel and see if there is any play.


Those are all some things that are possibly causing you the issues are feeling.

As far as going lower I would highly suggest getting quality struts like Koni Yellows as anything else I think you would destroy in your environment. If you want to go just a little bit lower and have improved handling I would also suggest a spring like Tein H techs. They are not extremely stiff and they will give more than some. They also will only lower your car about 1" so you wouldn’t have ground clearance problems and it wouldn’t turn into a snow plow in the winter. That combination would improve the handling of the car over all a lot.

[novtechere]

If someone left the brake pad clips out you will hear rattling when your not on the brakes when the roads bumpy.

The body roll could be caused by worn sway bar end links. These are commonly in pretty bad shape as most people who own the CB before us don’t replace them. When replacing them it’s also a good idea to do the sway bar to frame bushings. To do this I recommend end using these.

Sway bar end links. http://www.ebay.com/itm/PROTHANE-SWA...9656be&vxp=mtr

Sway bar to frame bushings. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prothane-8-1...898893&vxp=mtr

A bad strut or the combination of bad struts can cause excessive body roll. If the car bounces a few times after a bump that’s a good indication of a bad struts. As is just handling poorly.

Squeaking can be caused by a bushing in the lower control arm where the bolt is squeaking on the bushing sleeve that it goes through. I pulled the bolts out in the front and put grease on them and reinstalled them and my squeaking went away.

Squeaking can also be caused by a strut or any bushing.

Try to replicate these sounds when the car is parked or going slow. Push down on the front of the car and listen for the noise and where it could be coming from. Also drive the car slowly and stick your head out the window. Or have a friend standing outside the car while you drive and see if they can tell where it sounds like its coming from.

You can also take the wheels off an inspect all the part to see if you can see any worn parts. With the wheel on and off the ground and lugs nuts tight jiggle the wheel and see if there is any play.


Those are all some things that are possibly causing you the issues are feeling.

As far as going lower I would highly suggest getting quality struts like Koni Yellows as anything else I think you would destroy in your environment. If you want to go just a little bit lower and have improved handling I would also suggest a spring like Tein H techs. They are not extremely stiff and they will give more than some. They also will only lower your car about 1" so you wouldn’t have ground clearance problems and it wouldn’t turn into a snow plow in the winter. That combination would improve the handling of the car over all a lot.

Ill have to check into all that, i was just about to order a cheap set of lowering springs off of ebay... im on a pretty strict budget right now.