00blackS4

In June I had every lower control arm replaced after about 70,000 miles. Then in July, I had one of my upper control arms replaced--after having the same one replaced the prior summer. Everything felt fine and then when my mechanic was putting my winter tires on, he noticed my CV boot was torn. Everything has been okay since then (November), except that my alignment always felt a bit off. I got my summer tires put on Friday, but no time for an alignment. I was pulling a U-turn leaving my house, had the wheel cranked all the way to the left, and as soon as I started to pull away, the car made 3 awful clunking noises that I could feel thru the steering wheel. It was so rough that I thought the wheel was going to fall off the car. The problem seems to be coming from the right front of the car and is easy repeated. The other thing I noticed (maybe I'm paranoid after hearing that noise) is that the car seems to tramline a ton. I feel like I constantly have to correct the steering to keep the car going straight. Can anyone give me some tips so I can tell my mechanic exactly what to look for. Usually he catches suspension problems when he's got my wheels off doing the tire swap, so I'm assuming this isn't entirely visible.

85-4kq-girl

I think he had a video he posted too about upper control arms...though yours have been replaced.

I searched "clunk" and "tie rod diagnose" and a bunch of his posts came up. But you can filter with that uid to find out more...it's # 57154.

--morgan

DocWyte

Check the alignment and check your ball joints...

berTTos@pjK04

It could be that when your lower arms were replaced the bolts that connect that damper to the front lower arm were put in backwards (with the nut facing the inside rather than outside). If replaced that way, the longer end of the bolt (with the nut on it) can contact the rear lower arm in a tight turn at a particular ride height (I notice from your sig that you're running H&R + Bilsteins). That could be it.


As for the alignment - get a good one at a shop that can do a proper 4-wheel alignment. Ask for a little toe-in so you don't have to correct all the time on the highway.

Good luck!

00blackS4

experienced this problem. Only explanation I can thing of is that the snowtires obviously have a much softer sidewall than my summers and offer a lot more give when the wheel is cranked and the car is making a sharp turn.

limey156

easy soultion: stop turning

M3KILR

the damage unless you pull back the protective boot.

RKA

Your mechanic should be checking all the bolts/nuts on the side making the noise, and he should be checking the subframe bolts to make sure they aren't loose. A casual tug on the wheel should reveal any worn ball joints.

If he's worth his salt, you shouldn't have to tell him anything...she should be able to sort this out and get it in perfect working order in an afternoon.

tlewis81

usually a cv joint clicks when hard turning under acceleration, i would check that