clunkity-clunk in front end
 

It's been slightly doing it since I bought the car 2 years ago. This weekend I really noticed it. I have a '00S with approx. 40k miles now. I don't know much about front suspensions. What it's doing is making a loosey-goosey, clunkity sound coming from the pass. front wheel. I haven't hit anything. It feels like worn out bushings, maybe?? Is there a diy for replacing the control arm bushings? I have a bentley manual but it's a little vague to me. I did a search on this forum and discovered that the control arm bushings are a common wear item with these cars. Could mine be shot at only 40k?

thanks
sean

Been experiencing the same thing for the last 5k miles in my '02 S (now 80k mi). Based on info found here, I replaced the drop links and that made no difference. The clunking is getting REALLY annoying.

So now I'm doing everything else: sway bar bushings, lower control arms (new TRW parts from Pelican), and remanufactured control arm links w/poly bushings (****************************************.com). While poking around I noticed one tie rod boot leaking and a little looseness, so I'm replacing inner & outer tie rods and boots. The only thing I will not have touched are the struts and related parts. All of this seems - at this point - to be relatively easy DIY.

Your car's now 10 yrs old with very low mileage so you could easily have deterioration from lack of use. I'd try replacing the drop links first and then the sway bar bushings, both relatively cheap and easy to install. Let us know how it goes.

Check your strut bushings! Worn ones will make a clunk noise exactly as you describe.

Thanks for the replies! There's so many different elements that could be causing the clunk noise in the front end that I don't know where to start. I probably could do almost any diy myself. I've got a great garage and enough tools to get into pretty serious trouble! It still seems to be coming from the pass. side front. It's a kind of loose-rattle'y sound that comes from up-and-down motion as opposed to turns or corners etc. I guess I could wait until it gets bad enough that it shows itself more obviously?? At this point I don't have a clue as to where it's coming from... I'll try to do some exploratory surgery this weekend by following up with some of you guys' ideas...

sean

Update: Put the Boxster up on jack-stands this weekend. Took the front wheels off and started shaking and wiggling everything in the front end. It was my lucky day! Turned out to be a loose bolt on the drop link on the pass. side. It was the lower one that connects to the sway bar. It was literally finger-loose. I tightened it up and YAY! No more clunking noise. Thanks for your replies.

sean