Annoying front clatter / clunking

[Sman101]

Hi all, 

Need some advise please, recently started to notice an intermittent metalic clatter / clunking sound (happens in 2's, clunk clunk) over rough roads, small bumps / pot holes as slow ish speeds. Does not make noise over big bumps, or high speeds.  This is from front drivers side, and very noticeable from outside the car. 

Mechanic had a look on a lift and couldn't find any obvious issues.  

Its intermittent, seems to get more pronounced the longer I drive.  Definitely a metal on metal contact noise and Its very annoying as the car is generally super quiet. Ive changed the anti roll bar links and bushes out of curiosity... Which has had zero impact on this noise.  

Car does not pull to the left, but tracks very slightly to the left when braking if hands are not on steering wheel.  Maybe road camber, crap caliper or maybe a symptom of this noise? 

So before I go further in chucking parts at this issue has anyone experienced anything like this? Are there any areas of suspension weakness to look in to? 

Any advise appreciated. 

 

 

[Texas]

Anything advised on last MOT regarding running gear?

If it was anything obvious/serious then I would like to think mechanic should have spotted/found it when it was up in the air! But we all know there are mechanics and there are Mechanics🙄

[fourbanks]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:56 PM, Sman101 said:

Hi all, 

Need some advise please, recently started to notice an intermittent metalic clatter / clunking sound (happens in 2's, clunk clunk) over rough roads, small bumps / pot holes as slow ish speeds. Does not make noise over big bumps, or high speeds.  This is from front drivers side, and very noticeable from outside the car. 

Mechanic had a look on a lift and couldn't find any obvious issues.  

Its intermittent, seems to get more pronounced the longer I drive.  Definitely a metal on metal contact noise and Its very annoying as the car is generally super quiet. Ive changed the anti roll bar links and bushes out of curiosity... Which has had zero impact on this noise.  

Car does not pull to the left, but tracks very slightly to the left when braking if hands are not on steering wheel.  Maybe road camber, crap caliper or maybe a symptom of this noise? 

So before I go further in chucking parts at this issue has anyone experienced anything like this? Are there any areas of suspension weakness to look in to? 

Any advise appreciated. 

 

 

i had the same problem with my brand-new corolla and with regret the dealer and getting someone down from Derbyshire couden't fix it, so the car was sold on for my Lexus which i have now. Dealers today are just fitters of parts in general, and know nothing, so you have to be extra careful in what they tell you. The best advice will always come from forum members 

[Sman101]

Nothing showed up on MOT,  ive seen some posts from America describing similar symptoms to mine and they seem to think its the lower control arm bush (the big fluid filled one) this bushing on my car does have some small stress fractures but it just seems to be on the surface.  My next plan is to stick a gopro underneath and see if I can get a recording. 

[Spock66]

I had something similar (not on a Lexus), turned out to be the brake disc shield was loose (rusted through around the bolts).

[ahmed-abrar]

4 hours ago, Spock66 said:

I had something similar (not on a Lexus), turned out to be the brake disc shield was loose (rusted through around the bolts).

a bit of a hijack but i want to replace the shields on my car because they look scruffy against all the new components i have installed over time(and in the future) but 2 issues, the cost of the shields are extortionate and the work involved but you never know!

[Sman101]

I manged to get a go pro under the front lower control arm rear bush (there is a factory bracket right next to the rear bush which I used to bolt a rudimentary piece of aluminium bent to attach the camera with).

Looks like the small cracks on it get much larger at times. 

At 1:53 you can hear the sound I am complaining about. Clunk clunk. 

Looking at other videos of this bushing it seems the play/softness is normal.  What you think, could this be the cause?

[ahmed-abrar]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:07 PM, Spock66 said:

I had something similar (not on a Lexus), turned out to be the brake disc shield was loose (rusted through around the bolts).

a bit of a hijack but i want to replace the shields on my car because they look scruffy against all the new components i have installed over time(and in the future) but 2 issues, the cost of the shields are extortionate and the work involved but you never know!

[ahmed-abrar]

its the bush, change it for a HARDRACE version, very similar in price to original parts i think but performs and looks much nicer

[Texas]

That bush has deffo seen better days! But doesn’t account for the metal-on-metal sound if you ask me!

[Beamish]

Great video.

I had a similar issue some years ago on my previous IS250 and had great difficulty trying to locate the source.

Eventually I narrowed it down to the RH lower droplink mounting.  This was tight but just not tight enough and could move slightly the lower arm under severe suspension shocks.

The torque setting for this mounting is 84Nm which is indeed quite high.  Might be worth a look.

Dec.

[Sman101]

  

On 8/9/2022 at 1:03 PM, Texas said:

That bush has deffo seen better days! But doesn’t account for the metal-on-metal sound if you ask me!

Paul, I have unfortunately proven you right.  Just replaced the bush with a new blue print one, cant notice any difference in the drive and the noise is still there. 😞

8 hours ago, Beamish said:

Great video.

I had a similar issue some years ago on my previous IS250 and had great difficulty trying to locate the source.

Eventually I narrowed it down to the RH lower droplink mounting.  This was tight but just not tight enough and could move slightly the lower arm under severe suspension shocks.

The torque setting for this mounting is 84Nm which is indeed quite high.  Might be worth a look.

Dec.

I double checked and made sure I got all the torque specs correct when I replaced the drop links, I wish this was as simple as that.  Thanks for the input.

Should I bother changing the fluid bearing on the other side before I go for an alignment?  the plan was to change the drivers side, find how amazing the car feels and how the noise goes away then do the same to the other side and then finally have it all aligned.  

[steve2006]

Having looked at your video several times the point at which you hear the noise appears to coincide with driving through a pothole resulting in a long suspension compression.

Given that the suspension has previously been checked fault free and some parts replaced this and my previous comment may suggest a strut problem.

If the top mount or as Lexus call it insulator has worn out it would allow metal to metal contact, the fact that it also coincides with long suspension travel would get me looking in this area.

Unfortunately getting access to check means removing the strut but it should be fairly obvious on examination if this is the cause.

[Mr Vlad]

As Steve above stated. 

[Sman101]

6 hours ago, steve2006 said:

Having looked at your video several times the point at which you hear the noise appears to coincide with driving through a pothole resulting in a long suspension compression.

Given that the suspension has previously been checked fault free and some parts replaced this and my previous comment may suggest a strut problem.

If the top mount or as Lexus call it insulator has worn out it would allow metal to metal contact, the fact that it also coincides with long suspension travel would get me looking in this area.

Unfortunately getting access to check means removing the strut but it should be fairly obvious on examination if this is the cause.

I have bounced the car on the front corners with the top covers off and didn't notice anything strange on the top mounts.  anything else I can do before taking them off the car? If I take them out what would I be looking for?

[steve2006]

Bouncing the car may not be enough to initiate the problem, there’s a good travel of the strut in the video but bouncing the car won’t give the same amount of compression.

[Spark plug]

I had noise's on my front suspension when I got my Lexus last year. I removed all the disc shields as they were all very rusty. and one of the brake pad shims was loose on the front. She is now very quiet over bumps 

[Sman101]

On 8/13/2022 at 3:54 PM, Spark plug said:

I had noise's on my front suspension when I got my Lexus last year. I removed all the disc shields as they were all very rusty. and one of the brake pad shims was loose on the front. She is now very quiet over bumps 

the disc shields on mine are still nice and sturdy, can anyone recommend other diagnostic approaches that don't require require removal of shocks etc?  (is it worth sticking the go pro over the top mount? will this be able to show me anything useful?)

I've had a front alignment done now and I am tempted to just leave the problem until it becomes unbearable / gets easier to notice its source.  problem with this approach is I don't want other components wearing out because of this.

[rodlex]

the "P" bush that the nut sticks out of is very worn and the click sound is the nut hitting the subframe you can clearly see it at the 1.53 point

[Sman101]

4 minutes ago, rodlex said:

the "P" bush that the nut sticks out of is very worn and the click sound is the nut hitting the subframe you can clearly see it at the 1.53 point

That was what I noticed initially but I still have the noise even after replacing the bush...Ive replaced both sides aswell. 

[rodlex]

is that the new bush in the video ?

[Sman101]

Just now, rodlex said:

is that the new bush in the video ?

No, thats the old one. 

[rodlex]

Oh okay then that shot that out of the way I will watch again its surprising how much the suspension moves isnt it 

[Sman101]

This is my first lexus/jap car and I was also shocked at how things were moving down there.  The space between that nut you are referring to and the subframe is minimal but when I took the nut off and inspected it I couldn't see any evidence (scratch, marks, dents) suggesting it was in contact with the subframe.  The search continues...

[rodlex]

Good luck its a matter of trial and test I suppose