[IlliniSTi]

So, I've got a noise coming from my front suspension. It started when I put my coilovers on. The noise is a pinging type of sound. Now I had an issue with the coilovers, so one of them has gone back to be reacquainted with their maker. Under warranty so no skin off my back. But I put the stock struts back on, and the noise was still there.

The noise is pretty easily reproduced. It can happen during low speed steering, i.e. parking maneuvers. It also comes up sometimes as a result of suspension travel. In other words I can go over a bump with the steering wheel straight and hear the noise. But it is most likely to happen as a result of steering input.

I drove around for a while yesterday with both front and rear swaybars disconnected. I unbolted the endlinks from the lower control arms on all 4 corners in order to completely take the sways out of the picture. The result was that I still had the same noise. Only thing is that it was maybe 1-2% quieter.

In multiple times examining the front and rear suspension links, I have found no evidence that any components are hitting each other. Nothing has been hit, worn, polished, marred or anything. I have checked tightness on my endlink nuts, all are good. I checked the tightness of my swaybar mounts too, and they were good.

Today I recoupled the sways, and I squirted some lithium grease on all four shafts of the struts. This did not seem to have a measurable effect either.

Right now I am thinking that I might want to invest in some Whiteline steering rack bushings, but I'm not sure that it will solve the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the cause of this is? I am quite baffled.

Oh yeah, for reference, I have the Whiteline 27-29 front and 24-26 rear sway bars, stock endlinks. But I am considering the Whiteline heavy duty spherical bearing endlinks as we speak.

[damianblalack]

I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago and swore it was suspension related as I had done a fair ammount of suspension work the weeks prior. After countless timesjacking the car, crawling around looking for loose, bent, nicked, or chaffed things related to the suspension it ended up being the transmission mount bushing. Apparently I didn't torque the bolts enough when installing some bushings and the nuts vibrated loose(luckily they were still there). So I'd suggest looking elsewhere if all of your suspension pieces look fine, like I said, I swore it was suspension related, specifically the front left, but it wasn't. Good luck!

[IlliniSTi]

Update:
I have done the following and it seems to help:
1) Sprayed lithium grease on the strut shafts
2) Replaced all endlinks with the Whiteline Heavy Duty Rod-end style endlinks, and lubed the you-know-what out of them with said lithium grease.
3) Removed both swaybars (I've got the big Whitelines front and rear) rewrapped with teflon tape, using only about 2 layers of tape for the moutning area. Also lubed up with lithium grease, and reassembled.

All told most of my suspension related noises are gone. I have had some issues with the endlink bolts loosening up and getting noisy, but that is only after autocrossing. A quick tighten up does the trick. But I am looking at a more permanent solution.

Now I only have the dif bushings to replace and I'll be rid of that clunk too!