Pop/Click From Front End After Rebuild

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PedroV

New member
I am getting a popping/clicking type of sound from the front end, when backing out of my driveway with the wheel turned to the left, and when hitting bumps that take the suspension down, before coming back up. Like a cross gutter in the road, doesn't happen over a speed bump. The following work was done, prior to it making this noise.

Front Shocks (Bilstein 5100)
Front upper control arms and bushings
Front Lower control arm bushings
Front ball joints
Front Steering stabilizer grommets

I have gone through and checked all of the nuts and bolts, everything is tight. With the front wheels off the ground, no movement side to side of the wheels. All seems to be good, but this noise is making me concerned that something ain't right.

Any ideas what might be causing this problem?
 
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PedroV said:
I am getting a popping/clicking type of sound from the front end, when backing out of my driveway with the wheel turned to the left, and when hitting bumps that take the suspension down, before coming back up. Like a cross gutter in the road, doesn't happen over a speed bump. The following work was done, prior to it making this noise.

Front Shocks (Bilstein 5100)
Front upper control arms and bushings
Front Lower control arm bushings
Front ball joints
Front Steering stabilizer grommets

I have gone through and checked all of the nuts and bolts, everything is tight. With the front wheels off the ground, no movement side to side of the wheels. All seems to be good, but this noise is making me concerned that something ain't right.

Any ideas what might be causing this problem?
Click to expand...

Mine been doing for years. I kept replacing so many suspension components that it is practically whole new front end. All oem parts. Still pops like a metallic sound. Can’t find any scratch marks anywhere. Even a sway bar drop didn’t do anything. Pops whenever I’m going a bit too fast for any bumps or dips.
 
is your springs installed correctly? if you are anal about it, there is a certain way the springs have to be facing. mine makes a slight noise since I have some coil rub from these Moog springs. also check out the rubber isolator at the top hat. I think if those are worn, they cause some noise during hard bumps.
 
I also replaced Shocks, Struts, Calipers, Pads, rotors, sway bar bushings and I too now have this pop/click when I reverse out of my driveway with the wheel cranked to the right.

Scares me to hear it thinking that I may have screwed something up and the front end will fall off at highway speeds.
 
riceandpho said:
is your springs installed correctly? if you are anal about it, there is a certain way the springs have to be facing. mine makes a slight noise since I have some coil rub from these Moog springs. also check out the rubber isolator at the top hat. I think if those are worn, they cause some noise during hard bumps.
Click to expand...

Yep. I have the springs pointing like stock. I even placed nylon washers between the skid plate and mounting surface. Sat and stare for days. Nothing jumped out on me. LOL
 
I'd like to say I have a similar noise coming from somewhere but can't confirm 100%. I've done so much work to various parts that its hard to say when it started or where its coming from.

Did you lift the car any when replacing with the bilsteins? could it be that the inner OD of the replacement shock is just a bit larger than what was on there before allowing it to slightly shift while decompressing first before going into compression? Sounds unlikely so probably just ignore my input lol.

From time to time my rear link bolts need to be tightened slightly ever since I built custom links with heims and it seem like they'll pop back and forth a little. My heims also seem to want to rotate time to time and also make a slight clunk so I can't ever tell if its from the frontend all the time or also from the year.

My issue could also be coming from one of the skid plate bolts in the rear falling out and me being too lazy to replace it...

Eventually I got over my fear that something is loose so I'm just letting it be.
 
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aemravan said:
I'd like to say I have a similar noise coming from somewhere but can't confirm 100%. I've done so much work to various parts that its hard to say when it started or where its coming from.

Did you lift the car any when replacing with the bilsteins? could it be that the inner OD of the replacement shock is just a bit larger than what was on there before allowing it to slightly shift while decompressing first before going into compression? Sounds unlikely so probably just ignore my input lol.

From time to time my rear link bolts need to be tightened slightly ever since I built custom links with heims and it seem like they'll pop back and forth a little. My heims also seem to want to rotate time to time and also make a slight clunk so I can't ever tell if its from the frontend all the time or also from the year.

My issue could also be coming from one of the skid plate bolts in the rear falling out and me being too lazy to replace it...

Eventually I got over my fear that something is loose so I'm just letting it be.
Click to expand...

I just drive faster over bumps or dips and say to myself, f@ck IT! LOL.
 
Depending on how high you lifted after putting the new bilsteins on, you CV axles could be binding. That would make sense. Also Sway bar links could be worn out and now with the additional lift making it more noticeable because of new angles created from the lift. With it being more noticable when turning it could easily be either of those scenarios.
 
MDobb79 said:
Depending on how high you lifted after putting the new bilsteins on, you CV axles could be binding. That would make sense. Also Sway bar links could be worn out and now with the additional lift making it more noticeable because of new angles created from the lift. With it being more noticable when turning it could easily be either of those scenarios.
Click to expand...

I was going to say nobody is mentioning cv axles? Im with MDobb, especially the clicking when turning. I know that sound all too well.
 
MDobb79 said:
Depending on how high you lifted after putting the new bilsteins on, you CV axles could be binding. That would make sense. Also Sway bar links could be worn out and now with the additional lift making it more noticeable because of new angles created from the lift. With it being more noticable when turning it could easily be either of those scenarios.
Click to expand...

CV's binding?? I would think it would have to be a MAJOR lift to bind the CV's. From stock to the 1.75 setting on Bilsteins, my CV's went from just slightly pointing up at the outer end, to essentially flat, if not just barely pointing down (at outer end). IOW, the change in position should remain WELL within the normal articulation range of the CV joints.
 
Clicking when turning is a classic indication of worn CV joints, but nobody is reporting failed CVs. Nonetheless, I'd check the CV boots first, even though other have gone well beyond this.
 
The popping noise you hear on hard turns is the upper ball joint being lifted too high. This happened to me when I installed stock bilsteins and a puck spacer. The lift was way too high and binding the ball joint.

What is the measurement from the center of your front wheel hub to the beginning of the fender? It should be in the 21-22" range for a 2-3" lift. Any higher and the upper control arm is upset. This was my issue even with aftermarket JBA UCAs.
 
Just dropping back in to update my issue.

I was able to determine that one of my JBA UCA's wasn't fully tight on the nut that secures the balljoint shank to the spindle. Because I have gussets welded on it was a very easy nut to overlook while previously checking.

I was able to tighten it almost 1 full turn so it must have had enough space to physically pull the conical shank up and out of the spindle and then reset itself.


With regards to the balljoint popping due to reaching its limit I don't know if I can agree 100%.. I'm on JBA's and do not have the pop anymore, and I'm at 3" of lift on Icon's. Not to mention the popping wasn't happening at extreme droops, but rather under light load up/down, like when turning the wheel and going in/out of the driveway or coming to a stop/compressing the suspension and then turning and decompressing it.



**EDIT**
well... my victory was short lived lol. Last night while dumping some stuff at the dumpster I decided to do a flex test and see where all my bumpstops are at. After doing this, my popping is back louder than before and only happens when I have the steering wheel cranked to left or right and go to take off from a stop, or by turning heavily left/right while moving. Does not happen under heavy accel/decel. I have gone over all my bolt and i THINK everything is tight, maybe i'm missing something. My current though process is that it could possibly be the JBA upper balljoints starting to go out a year after installation. The boots are torn to hell, and though it has some grease in there I think theres a high chance i have moisture and debris infiltration. I have 2 replacement balljoints on the way for next week and will swap them out and see what happpens.. hopefully it solve the issue, if not then i'll have to do some more investigating.
 
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