giovannitx84

Hello everyone
I can really use you guys opinion/advice on my problem. for a while now Ive been having a problem with my 08 tC. every time i turn the steering wheel left or right i hear a clunking sound coming from the front end. i got the car used about 2 yrs ago and didnt have this problem. so far i have changed the ball joints, end links, and strut mounts. let me go into some detail, first and for most i bought the extended warranty when i got the car and as soon as i heard it, i took it to the dealer. they told me it was the ball joint that was loose and gave it back to me. hours later the noise was back and i took it back the next day, so they told me they tighten the bolt more. the noise was still there, so at this point they told me they want to replace the whole suspension!? the response of the company of the extended warranty was NO! so i decided to do the replacement myself, so i started with the ball joints. the noise still stayed. then i decided to change the end links and still no luck. so i looked up if anyone else had this issue and

some people suggested that maybe some of the motor mounts were loose. sure enough some were loose and i bought a torque wrench and looked up the setting for all the bolts and did them except for the rear motor mount. so one day i decided to pop the hood and see if something would stand out to be odd. so i saw that the strut mount was out of place when i moved the steering wheel left or right. i replaced it and the sound was not as loud but got slightly better. i talked to a mechanic buddy of mine and he suggested to change the bushing on the sway bar. looking at the instruction guide to get to the sway bar looks like a long process. i mean sometimes you can almost feel that clunk or pop sound from the foot rest and passenger side as well. any feed back or suggestions would be greatly accepted and if you guys have any additional questions I would be happy to answer. i took a video as well and you can hear the sound when I reverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snrb...ature=youtu.be

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criminaltc

So obviously you would have mentioned if you have aftermarket suspension, right? I hope so. Otherwise, that sounds like the same sound we all get with our coilovers. It's the top hat. That piece in there could need replacing, or just tightening. I'm pretty confident that's what it is.

giovannitx84

Well the only suspension mod I did was adding the lowering springs but even before that I had the issue going already. Btw, when you mean top hat, your referring to the strut mount?

criminaltc

The top or upper strut mount, yes. It can wear and need replacing, and not sit right anymore. Or just needs to be tightened.

giovannitx84

I replaced it with a brand new one when I changed the front struts. The old ones were popping out of place and I saw that but like I said it didn't help much. I used an impact gun and compressor and I used my torque wrench to make sure I got the right amount and no luck.

criminaltc

I gotcha. So it helped a bit? Maybe the lower mounts are loose? No? I'm sure you checked those too... hmm... I'm not sure man. It really really sounded and acted like a top mount was bad. That's the exact pop it does. Are your new springs seated good and seated right? That'll make that pop too.

giovannitx84

So your saying that if the spring is loose it could make that noise because it's hitting the Groove on the strut?

criminaltc

I mean, kind of. I'm saying, if a spring isn't seated right, and then is put under load, it'll "pop" because it has room to do so.

giovannitx84

Ok well ill look at it and I'll keep you posted

criminaltc

Sounds good man.

racrboy

iTrader: (1)

Subscribed. I have the same, just not as bad. Toyota cant find the issue either...

giovannitx84

yeah man i was like WTF!? and i contacted scion customer support and they said that i could get the dealer to get a scion rep to go to the dealer and look at it there with their "master mechanic". now when i took it to the dealer that i always get it serviced with they said it was almost impossible and since i didnt buy it from a toyota/scion dealer they couldnt do that for me. that being said i bought it from a honda dealership and on the sticker said no warranty as is. so i assumed that it was still under powertrain warranty and like i said..... since i didnt bought it at a toyota dealer then its not valid. now the next thing on my mind is to take it back to the dealer that i got it from and classify it as a "lemon" but 2 things are stopping me from doing that. 1) i already invested alot of time and money to it to just take it all off and let them deal with it and 2) that dealer that i bought it from have really bad customer service. not going to go thru that story today but i feel like they will do their best for them not to take it.

criminaltc

Whoa whoa whoa. This took a wayyyy left turn. Now you're trying to go after dealerships for this issue on a car that you bought "as is"? I don't think so man. First, this is not a lemon by any means, nor in any state can you classify it as a lemon. Why you ask? Because it's used, and doesn't have an classification-prone symptons to be one either. Here's your options. Get it fixed with money from your wallet, or don't get it fixed. It's nothing that is bad or hurting the car, I know that for sure. My right front coilover of my GTI has been popping since a week after I put them on 2 years ago, and it still pops when I back up or turn right front a stop. Big deal. You aren't suing anyone....

giovannitx84

So basically if it's that annoying then fix it with my own money or just deal with it are my only options!? Wow... so I guess the morale of the story is buy it new or you get what you paid for.

criminaltc

Yep, by the looks of it, that's what I said ^

bbsciontc

Listened to your video. Check the bushing on both of your control arms. The rubber may have torn, leading to metal on metal contact between the control arm and chassis. This happend to my parent's civic. If it's torn, it should be obvious, so no need to change them unless you visually verify them as torn.

This may not be your issue, but it's one to rule out. If it is torn, you have an option of replacing the bushings alone (which will require a press) or just swap the entire control arm itself. Either way, you'll need an alignment afterwards.