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My car originally had the following front end symptoms:
- wandered a bit on the highway; seemed to have more play when cold
- rattled when going over bumps
- turning on smooth roads however didn't cause any noticeable sounds.
I decided to do some front end work. I found significant play in the driver's side ball joint, so I replaced both sides. Although this was necessary, it didn't seem to affect any of the symptoms. Next I replaced an inner tie rod (the boots needed replacing, and the tie rod didn't have the outer rubber disk that ZF rods should have). The old tie rod wasn't in bad shape, so this had no effect either. I also did a home toe-in adjustment, setting the distance between the rims at the front 1.5 mm less than the distance at the back.
When I did the ball joints, I found that the driver's rear control arm bushing was shot, so next I replaced the rear control arm bushings on both sides, doing the anti-roll bar link rod upper bushings at the same time. In re-assembling, I first torqued the stut anchor to strut tube bolts to spec. Then I tightened the control arm to rear bracket shaft bolt to spec before lowering the car onto its wheels. I did so before bolting the rear bracket to the frame, by making the flat spot on the bottom of the bracket parallel with the bottom of the front arm of the control arm. (Both are pretty much parallel to the ground when the car is in its normal rest position). I then installed and torqued the rear bracket mount bolts to spec. After the car was lowered onto the wheels and rolled back and forth and jostled, I torqued the control arm front bushing bolt to spec, and tightened the anti-roll bar link rod upper nut.
This has greatly improved (probably solved) the rattling when going over bumps, but now I'm getting a clunk from the right side if I turn left. Turning to the right causes no clunks. If I weave a bit agressively between lanes on an open road, it clunks when going left, but not right. I suppose one explanation is that with everything else tighter, the few remaining symptoms are easier to focus on, but I'm not convinced that it's not a new problem I may have inadvertently introduced. I don't ever recall hearing a clunk on any turns on smooth roads before replacing the the rear control arm bushings.
I'm wondering if I tightened the link rod upper bushing nuts tight enough. My understanding is that there is no published spec for this. Can anyone recommend an appropriate torque setting for these nuts when new upper bushings have been installed, so I can verify that I have tightened them sufficiently?
I'm considering doing the strut cartridges, but can anyone give me a definitive test to determine if the upper strut mounts are the source of the clunk? Or how to isolate it to something else, if it's not them?
Thanks, David.
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