I have a deal on my 05 SE AWD. When I hit bumps, it get a fairly loud knock/bump sound. I had the struts replaced but it still does it. It seems to do it also when I'm on the brakes, I live on a dirt road so when I hit some ruts when slowing to turn in my driveway I notice it more. Any ideas? The steering wheel has a little shake in it as well. Tires are 6 months old. Looks like the rubber boot or whatever at the top of the shock/strut is torn/gone.
I have the same issue with my 07. I already replaced the sway bar linkages but the sound is still there. Struts were going ot be my next thing but maybe not.
Steering wheel shake is most likely out of balance tires, bad tie rod ends or warped brake rotors. One of these is dangerous. For the front end, why not have a shop take a look at it? There are lots of possibilities.
if you're a good mechanic, go through the font end yourself and look for anything loose. If not, have a front end shop (NOT a dealer) check it.
You can test for bad control arm bushings very easily.
Find a parking lot, get up to about 15 mph and hit the brakes fairly hard. If you hear a loud "Clunk" noise, it is the control arms bushings. One of or both of the front wheels by hitting the brakes, will cause the bushing to move very far and will make metal to metal contact for a moment, and hence the loud clunk noise. Same with some bumps or when on the brakes and hitting a bump.
The front wheel is torquing the control arm and moving the control arm really far backwards and the bushing really hard backwards. I tried this test with wife driving and my passenger front wheel literally could be seen to move back about an inch or more!
I am looking into fixing the same thing. My dada is an avid mechanic and got under down on the floor while I accelerated and pressed the brake suddenly. My question is, would the bushing be the only thing to be fixed since the control arms still look good or is it better to replace both the control arms at the same time? Autozone has the set of Duralast at about $270, but I've been seeing them on Amazon for about $160 for both , but the maker is Dorman. Does anyone know if Dorman control arms are good? For the price I would rather purchase new control arms but not for $270. Any comments are appreciated.
I purchased two complete arms on Ebay for about $180 or so free shipping. They have two bushings each as well as the integrated ball joint at the wheel spindle.
There are some less expensive versions on EBay currently as well.
Some of the listings also include the sway bar links which may be needed also.
I think mine were also Dorman. I found them to be of acceptable quality and immediately eliminated the sound I was hearing.
This is easy job for experienced mechanic and is doable for a novice mechanic. Would not recommend it as a first DIY project for someone.
Thank you. I think I will go for it and buy them through Amazon. Can't beat the price and the free two-day shipping. Not a DIY for me, my dad would be doing the work and looking at the YouTube video doesn't look like too much of a big deal to replace.
Check the tie-rods, both outer and inner. The outer rod-ties are normally the ones that go bad because they are subjected to much more movement than the inner.
Control arms from Rock Auto vary in price from about $52.00 to $84.00. I replaced my son's with Moog (about $72.00). Moog is probably the #1 brand used by professional mechanics.
Because of the design of the ball-joint attachment you will need a pickle fork to separate the ball-joint from the hub. If you do not have one you can rent from Auto-zone.
Check the tie-rods, both outer and inner. The outer rod-ties are normally the ones that go bad because they are subjected to much more movement than the inner.
Control arms from Rock Auto vary in price from about $52.00 to $84.00. I replaced my son's with Moog (about $72.00). Moog is probably the #1 brand used by professional mechanics.
Because of the design of the ball-joint attachment you will need a pickle fork to separate the ball-joint from the hub. If you do not have one you can rent from Auto-zone.
Kevin: As noted by others your knocking/banging noise is probably your lower control arm. I would bet it is the ball joint in lieu of the bushings. Large tires and Murano tires are 18” put a large amount of stress on the suspension components, ie. ball joints, wheel bearings, bushings and tie rods. To check the control arm bushings stand beside the tire, have someone put the vehicle in drive an move the vehicle forward about a foot and hit the brakes. If the bushing is bad the vehicle will jerk forward while the tire does not move. Then repeat the same procedure in reverse. Repeat the procedure several times on each side. Any movement or jerking of the vehicle means that one or both bushings are bad. To check the ball joints, jack the up the vehicle and grab the tire from the bottom and try to move the tire in/out. Do not jerk the vehicle off the jack but use some force in trying to tire to move. If there is any movement then the ball joint is bad. To check the tie rod, again with the vehicle jacked up grab the both sides of the tire and try to move in and out. Check for any movement where the tie rod attach’s to the steering knuckle. Again, any movement means that the tie rod is back. However; with only 85K on the vehicle your tie rod/s should not be bad. If you find the either you control arm bushings or ball joints are bad, be sure and replace both sides because if one side has failed the other is probably going to fail shortly. Good luck.
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