Need help diagnosing suspension clunk and steering wobble

[Racer Boy]

Originally Posted by jakeru

I may be wrong, but I wouldn't rule out the track arm joints potentially causing a steering issue. If the fore-aft movement is significant enough, it would affect caster, which would affect steering. I guess it's more of a hunch of mine because I also have a similar steering inconsistency, which seems caused by accel/braking. I recently rebuilt lots of suspension parts and refurbished all of the balljoints and tie rod ends (all of which seemed reasonably tight), but I'm pretty sure I have a noisy rear track arm spherical bearing, and suspect this also may be responsible for the slight brake/torque effect on steering that I'm still noticing even after changing out all the shocks and closely inspecting pretty much everything. (I just won't be 100% certain I've properly diagnosed my own problem here, until I repair the loose track arm joint and verify whether it actually solves the small steering inconsistency.)



I think you have some good info which suggests track arm joint as the likely culprit.

Not to be argumentative here, but the play in a track arm would be so small if they were really shot (less than 1 mm), that the effect on the caster would be miniscule. Go ahead and replace the track arms, because those are fairly easy, but I'm pretty certain that it is something else that is causing the shaking of the steering wheel.

Gordons986, I wouldn't get too excited about it being wet making the noise quiet down. There is no way your problem has magically disappeared, unfortunately.

[Gordons986]

Originally Posted by Racer Boy

Not to be argumentative here, but the play in a track arm would be so small if they were really shot (less than 1 mm), that the effect on the caster would be miniscule. Go ahead and replace the track arms, because those are fairly easy, but I'm pretty certain that it is something else that is causing the shaking of the steering wheel.

Gordons986, I wouldn't get too excited about it being wet making the noise quiet down. There is no way your problem has magically disappeared, unfortunately.

Haha don't worry I'm not excited at all if i seemed that way. Just really curious as to how/why the the noise just wouldn't happen yesterday when it has never stopped and only gotten worse since it started. and i still cant find any tears or looseness in anything with the help of someone else and a mechanic. just strange and trying to give you guys all the details.

again the feedback through the steering isn't much but it is present. I got out earlier and opened the car up at bit and was able to hit some bumps going about 70-80km and still no sound but i am getting the play still.

when i hit the bigger bumps the whole car sort of shakes like a shiver and the wheel does the same, you can just feel something isnt right. and when i go over smaller bumps like tar strips i dont get much feedback unless im going over 100km but i do get the noise (or i was getting the noise) I have to go for about an hours drive here in a bit and ill see if i can get the noise again. its cleared up here again so see what happens

[Gordons986]

Okay so I took the car out for a drive for an hour and no noise but some pulling on the highway the whole way there. on the way back however i had noise and still a little pulling/feedback. I took a video on my way back and you can hear the noise that im talking about and the steering wheel shake im talking about/ pulling. Im just uploading it to youtube now and will post the link when its done (about 1 hour)

In the mean time i took some pictures of some of the suspension components in the offending front driver side wheel area for you guys to see. and i also took some of the rear end for you to see. and i believe its worth nothing that both sides front and back look identical. the first 2 pictures are of the rear suspension...



this is a picture of the bottom of the wishbone on the front drivers side. the trailing arm bushing...



This is a picture of the strut on the same side... the bump stop is almost completely gone. however this is intact on the passenger side and rears.



and this is a picture of the trailing arm on the front drivers side at the ball joint connection.

[Gordons986]

more pictures of the front suspension...
this is a photo of the lower ball joint on the wishbone that connects to the carrier..

this is a photo of the outer tie rod end...

this is a photo of the stabilizer/end links

here is another photo of the lower ball joint on the wishbone

[Gordons986]

here is the link to a video i posted of the noise on youtube. you can hear the noise at about 4:20 during the video very clearly and a little steering wobble. there is another rattle from my wind deflector just so you know and try to ignore that. that on is obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjROtwLd80

[Gordons986]

Okay so in the meantime ive spent the last few hours looking at several site you guys have referred me to and made a chart so i can pick out the cheapest prices for the best products.
I also have to take into account american exchange rate; please inform me if one of the sites is non american and is euro or canadian.
First i called my local porsche dealer which of course was the highest prices i found. over 500 per coffin arm and over 300 per front trailing arm. i wont even get into the rest of the pricing.
I checked out suncoast, pelican, FCP and ECS tuning and found that each site got cheaper as i went in that order... for the same products (mostly TRW)

so i ended up at ECS tuning finding the coffin arms for $86 the front trailing arms for $129 drop links for $32 swaybar bushings for $32 koni shocks for $862 H&R coils for $300 new strut bearings $34 and strut mounts $34 and new bump stops for $10

Im considering dropping the money and ordering it all and doing it all at the same time my self. but im also considering just doing the drop links, coffin arms and front trailing/control arms to save some money until i can really decide what i want for new struts...

I know ill save myself an alignment if i do it all at the same time however...

what are your guys thoughts? and has anyone ever had any experience or heard anything about the stagg struts? I came across this brand as i was searching the internet for parts. they were listed on ebay.

[jakeru]

My local Firestone offered a "lifetime alignment" which applies to the vehicle as long as you keep owning it. Could be a good option for you to consider if you potentially see multiple suspension service jobs in your future.

I would stay away from any bargain brand (you can find on eBay, but also I seem to recall ECS sells one called "Hamburg technic", so specifically beware of that) on any rubber suspension components, (especially when you aren't sure that there's anything wrong with your current part - in which case your preventive maintenance could easily backfire and cause more problems than doing nothing).

IME with other bargain rubber parts (like aftermarket engine mounts purchased for other cars), they can look fine when you first get them, but self-destruct very shortly after installation.

I still personally believe your steering inconsistency could be caused by just a worn out trailing arm spherical bearing. My front bump stops on my '01 base with 110k were also obliterated before I did suspension service. If your suspension bottoms out frequently (mine did), replacing them will help improve that. Best to do bump stops at the same time as replacing the struts, though.

Trailing arms repair or replacement could easily be done as a standalone project. When you get to replacing struts, you have a much, much larger scope of project on your hands. Hope this helps and best of luck!