hey guys,

i know that the common cause of the clunky noise are the sway bar link or the control arm bushing. i used to have this problem so i got tired of the sound and used to have lot of money in the bank so i went and get the ott links, zzp control arms, pedders, tc strut and shocks, rack spacer and axles, but now i still have have the dam clunking noise most of the time when i get a bump stop or hit some hole in the road. also some times when i stop it sounds are when i start to accelerate from stop, and sometimes when i turn the steering wheel to the right it makes the clucking noise.

i dont know what can be that noise since almost all the suspension it is new. do i have to adjust the links longer or something?
anything that can help would be more than welcome

thanks in advance,

Gabi

 

bump

 

I have the same issue right now. I had a Pit Stop place I go to take a quick look because I was on my way to work and they said busings or lower A-arm. I am getting a second opinion Monday morning from the shop I go to for major issues like that. I will let you know what they say about the situation.

 

well try this take your foot and shove up on the intermediate shaft while coast when its making the noise if it goes away then its your lower bearing in the column i have replaced about 12 of them in cobalts malibus and equinox unfortunatly you have to replce the column to fix it but yeah the lower control arm bushings hit the cradle if there not hitting the cradle then most likly its the column

 

im starting to think that its something with the springs, since it sound most of the time that sound it is when i hit a hole, bump stop or when i stop or start to accelerate.

i will let you know what i found today

 

what about the sway bar bushings?

 

I get the same type of noise lol at first i thought it was cause i scraped the **** outta my exhaust and moved it when i pulled into my buddies house but now idk. Like you said I only really hear it if I take dips in the road and **** "fast" is annoying.

 

this was they only thing that i didnt change

well i will got to take a look to the front springs and let you know

 

ok guy i got back from working on the car
the problem isnt the pedders, nor the control arms
to be honest i dont know what the hell it is
my friend and i are starting to think that can be the axles, we put the passenger stock axles and atleast for now i only have the sound in the left side
we didnt put the driver side couse the stock axle pop out the boot so we have to fix it

 

has anyone checked to see if their heat shield directly under the cat is cracked and making the noise. they are quite common to crack into 2 pieces and will cause all sorts of noises.

 

nop, i have no cat, my car is a lsj with a turbo conversion

 

ahh ok. just a suggestion. had a squeek from my clutch, thats what it turned out to be after all lol. anyways i don't know what else it could be. i know that the tiniest bumps when lowered and all that do sound alot worse then they actually are in the car.

 

no problem bro, any idea will be great since we are almost out of ideas

i will try to record the sound so you can heard it

 

I've had this problem since I got the car last September. I replaced cab's, struts, strut mounts, sway bar links, sway bar bushings and none of them fixed it completely. Intermediate shaft is pretty much the only thing I haven't changed yet but I've pretty much just given up and deal with it now and chalk it up to junk GM front end components.

 

I just fixed my exhaust that was hitting my rear beam!! Im really happy now. I shook the crap out of the exhaust and couldn't find it, but the exhaust shop shook it and I saw it hit and the shiny spot where it keeps hitting. I still hear it over huge bumps but no longer on every little crack.

 

I've been dealing with the exact same noise on our 05 Monte for the past about 2 years.
The dealer never can find a issue.
They did replace the intermediate shaft once. But the some of the clunking was still there.
But now it's back to being loud.

 

trust me try this people

 

ya, I've got new control arms, new springs/shocks and new sway bar links. Dealership said the sway bar bushings are worn so I'll do those next. Dealer also said the right strut mount is done too.

If I fix that and I still have noise I probably wont do anything. I dont want to pay for the i-shaft and the column. Ill just live with it.

I still have the noise in the rear seat, the noise in the glove box and the noise in the cowl so I can live with a front end noise. lol.

is it just me or did my cavalier have way less noise. mind you the water pump blew up around 140k so if the cobalt has a solid engine and transmission I can live with noise.

 

Try nasty rubbing noise in an 80km/h + right hand turn but no rubbing marks anywhere

 

I have an update about my noise for you. I got my sway bar links replaced and I have no more noise.

 

OP says he has new end links.

 

yeah i replace almost all front suspension except the sway bar and intermediate shaft


after take all out and replacing one of the axles with the stoker the noise have been very minimum compare with how it was. now it sound very very low and not always but i still got the noise that i thought that were the endlinks.

i have to start to think that it is the intermediate shaft, but since i dont have much time to check again, i have keep it that way

 

I have a noise similar but only in reverse and when taking off right after a reverse. I was thinking axle or cv joint because it comes only from the passenger side in those situations. But I also get the clunk/grind when going over bumps but only the same side

 

Well maybe instead of spending all the money on the parts you didn't need you could have bought the column

 

yeah i have this issue also. Where exactly is the intermediate shaft located?