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Suspension Clunking at Low Speeds

7K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  wrx650 
#1 ·
When I turn my wheel or go over bumps when I am moving slowly (less than 10 MPH), I hear clunking coming from the front suspension. I have aftermarket sway bars and endlinks and I am going to check the tightness on those (they made a different clunking when they were a bit loose a few weeks after I installed them). What other things should I check out when I jack my car up? Thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
Welp...welcome to having a Subaru. Deal with it :rotfl:

Kidding...but yes, definitely check your sways and links. Are the links seated perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the bars? Did you originally tighten them under load (car wasn't jacked up, right?)?
 
#3 ·
Kidding...but yes, definitely check your sways and links. Are the links seated perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the bars? Did you originally tighten them under load (car wasn't jacked up, right?)?
This.

Also, I hope you used plenty of lube on the mount bushings. Not enough bushing lube can lead to this sort of issue.
 
#8 ·
I will definitely check the sway bars and endlinks and post a pic if I can get one. I remember putting a good amount of grease on the bushings when I installed them. I tightened them down to what the specs said when I first installed them and I got a lot of clunking and rattling after about 100 miles. I tightened them down more and all of that noise went away. That was about 3000 miles ago. Is it possible I tightened them down too much?
 
#10 ·
I had the suspension under load the whole time. The best way of going about that would be to do the install with the car on ramps & not jack stands.

Make sure the endlinks are perpendicular in relation to the sway bars. This can be done with the help of spacers or washers. For me the supplied spacers were not enough. I got an extra set. You can also just use steel washers of the appropriate size.

Make sure everything is torqued to spec according to the instructions. Do not over torque.
 
#13 ·
I jacked my car up last night to see what the deal was. The endlinks are perpendicular to the ground and to the middle of the bar. I couldn't find anything loose. I also had my friend turn the wheel lock to lock to see if it made any sound when he did that and I couldn't hear anything. Any ideas on where to go next? On top of this, I have started getting the VDC, hill ascent, and abs lights coming on together. This happened occasionally a while back, but now it happens every time I drive the car. From what I have seen, it sounds like there are a couple of switches that have be known to go bad and cause this problem. Does that sound right? Thanks again guys for the help.
 
#14 ·
I wonder if your hill assist is freaking out for some reason...
 
#15 ·
Disable the hill-assist and see if anything changes...with the clunking, or with the dash lights.
 
#17 ·
I took my car in and the dealer said a faulty brake light switch is causing the problem with the warning lights coming on. I would like to avoid paying 252 dollars to have them fix it if I can. Is it a fairly easy and quick job to do? I don't have a ton of time with school, but I really don't want to spend 252 bucks if I can avoid it. Thanks.
 
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