My Rav4 had a lot of road noise coming from the tires but the tread was good even after 65k miles on the RoadHandlers from Sears. Finally decided to buy new tires and the road noise is gone and it rides very quiet and smooth. Except, when going over a slight bump. There is a clunk when going over any type of bump. Sounds like it's coming from under the front end or engine. It's very hard to locate sounds. I assume some rubber bushing or similar has hardened and it causing the sound. I can't get the car to make the clunk by pushing down on the fenders. The struts are very tight and have no bounce. Is it worth looking for the source of this clunk or just live with it as it just comes with a vehicle with close to 300k miles on it? Anything specific to look at? I'll have it on ramps on Sunday.
clunk clunk clunk
- Thread starter Leo99
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Possible sway bar links or bushings, LCA bushings.
Brand/model of new tires?
Originally Posted By: Trav
Possible sway bar links or bushings, LCA bushings.
+1 I would check those out first. My first guess would be sway bar links. Easy fix with hand tools. Suspension is hard to figure out, especially with a higher mileage vehicle.
Possible sway bar links or bushings, LCA bushings.
+1 I would check those out first. My first guess would be sway bar links. Easy fix with hand tools. Suspension is hard to figure out, especially with a higher mileage vehicle.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
It really could be anything in the suspension. Sway bar links or ball joints come to mind. My grandmother's Trailblazer clunked over bumps and kind of wiggled over them. New upper ball joints fixed that.
My Camry kept clunking over bumps and on rough roads, I thought it was something in the suspension.
Turns out I just needed to adjust the hood rubber stops, the hood was rattling.
My Camry kept clunking over bumps and on rough roads, I thought it was something in the suspension.
Turns out I just needed to adjust the hood rubber stops, the hood was rattling.
Assure they really tightened your wheels. Loose wheels do clunk, clunk. Happend to me once.
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If you drive on heavily potholed roads often, also suspect your upper mounts. This is a common failure point on Toyotas, a bit earlier than some other makes. If it is the case and you want to change them, experience has shown the aftermarket solutions are generally worse and paying a bit more for OE is worth it given the labor involved.
My father had this problem with his RAV4, and it was sway bar end links. I think it is a common problem with that vehicle.
Motor mounts is what comes to my mind.
Originally Posted By: Yup
New struts have always fixed weird clunking in my Hondas. They seem to last about 60-100k.
They are still the original struts in the Rav4. They are really tight. There is no bounce in them. My wife said set a limit of $100 to try and fix the clunk. She's not spending strut money to fix it; she'll live with the noise for now.
New struts have always fixed weird clunking in my Hondas. They seem to last about 60-100k.
They are still the original struts in the Rav4. They are really tight. There is no bounce in them. My wife said set a limit of $100 to try and fix the clunk. She's not spending strut money to fix it; she'll live with the noise for now.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
You check to make sure the hood isn't clunking?
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
You check to make sure the hood isn't clunking?
I have not. The clunk sounds like it's coming from under the car so I never thought to check the hood.
That's what I thought with my Camry a couple months ago. I had to loosen up the rubber bump stops for the hood.
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
You check to make sure the hood isn't clunking?
I have not. The clunk sounds like it's coming from under the car so I never thought to check the hood.
That's what I thought with my Camry a couple months ago. I had to loosen up the rubber bump stops for the hood.
Took a long time struggling with a seized nut last night but with some vise-locks and a lot of struggling, but in the end the strut links came off.
Think I got lucky and the clunk is gone after a short test drive. The wife will drive it to work tomorrow for the full test.
The strut boots are torn up so new struts might be in its future if they go south. But I'll let me fail before I change them out.
Think I got lucky and the clunk is gone after a short test drive. The wife will drive it to work tomorrow for the full test.
The strut boots are torn up so new struts might be in its future if they go south. But I'll let me fail before I change them out.
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Took a long time struggling with a seized nut last night but with some vise-locks and a lot of struggling, but in the end the strut links came off.
Think I got lucky and the clunk is gone after a short test drive. The wife will drive it to work tomorrow for the full test.
The strut boots are torn up so new struts might be in its future if they go south. But I'll let me fail before I change them out.
I've never had "the bounce test" work with struts. The struts are probably always good when I've replaced mine but it's the rubber bushings and such. This isn't a surprise. Every weird clunk on a car under 25 years old that doesn't have noticeably weird steering or pulling habits is almost always something in the strut components. My view. Anyway, my last set had about 100k on them and the rubber on the upper strut mount was getting torn pretty badly. I hit a rather moderate bump on the interstate and heard a bigger knock than usual. The actual strut had popped through the rubber bushings on the upper mount and was tapping on the underside of the hood of my car on moderate bumps. It also started wandering a lot and wouldn't track straight. After this issue, I personally won't ever "push the last drop" out if my struts again.
Took a long time struggling with a seized nut last night but with some vise-locks and a lot of struggling, but in the end the strut links came off.
Think I got lucky and the clunk is gone after a short test drive. The wife will drive it to work tomorrow for the full test.
The strut boots are torn up so new struts might be in its future if they go south. But I'll let me fail before I change them out.
I've never had "the bounce test" work with struts. The struts are probably always good when I've replaced mine but it's the rubber bushings and such. This isn't a surprise. Every weird clunk on a car under 25 years old that doesn't have noticeably weird steering or pulling habits is almost always something in the strut components. My view. Anyway, my last set had about 100k on them and the rubber on the upper strut mount was getting torn pretty badly. I hit a rather moderate bump on the interstate and heard a bigger knock than usual. The actual strut had popped through the rubber bushings on the upper mount and was tapping on the underside of the hood of my car on moderate bumps. It also started wandering a lot and wouldn't track straight. After this issue, I personally won't ever "push the last drop" out if my struts again.
Originally Posted By: Leo99
Took a long time struggling with a seized nut last night but with some vise-locks and a lot of struggling, but in the end the strut links came off.
Pro tip, three seconds with a cut-off wheel and they're loose.
The replacements usually have a hex or flat on the rear side by the ball joint.
The ones with allen indentations rarely work out up here in the rust belt.
I just get cheap ones, $10 or so on amazon, and consider them disposable when doing any front end work that requires their removal.
Took a long time struggling with a seized nut last night but with some vise-locks and a lot of struggling, but in the end the strut links came off.
Pro tip, three seconds with a cut-off wheel and they're loose.
The replacements usually have a hex or flat on the rear side by the ball joint.
The ones with allen indentations rarely work out up here in the rust belt.
I just get cheap ones, $10 or so on amazon, and consider them disposable when doing any front end work that requires their removal.
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