I have to ask has anybody had an issue with their lower ball joints? I remember when my ball joint was going out on my 96 DSM it would make small poping sounds when going over small bumps.

my evo just started doing that 3 days ago, usually when i partial throttle accelerate and happen to hit a small bump in the road. it goes pop coming from my right front.

i have not gotten a chance to inspect it, but im just wondering if anybody had an early ball joint issue, my car has 10k on it.

 

im starting to hear the same thing from my right front. seems like it does it more when hitting a bump and turning left, but it also does it going straight and hitting a bump. it doesnt do it evertime tho. next time i bring my car into my shop im gonna check them.

i have 15k miles on mine

 

get it on a lift. look at it. shake it down, clean out the dirt. i think i had this same problem last week

 

yes evil, that is exactly what mine is doing it, it dosent do it every time. Every once in a while over a bump especially if you do some light to partial throttle over it.

Also you get that sound on left turns? let me ask you this, does the left turn sound like a tire is rubbing ont he splash gaurd but it really isnt?

 

I seem to be having the exact same thing happening. Its on the driver side though, and its been happening on small bumps. Anybody gotta clue on what it is? Is there an aftermarket ball joint i can get?

 

My 03' does this when small pieces of gravel get stuck in the bottom winding of the coil springs.

When I finally figured out what was causing the noise I was urprised to find that the entire lower spring perch was filled to the top with fine gravel.

When a piece gets in between the coils and you hit any kind of bump it occasionally will spit the rock out or crush it and it makes a hellacious noise.

About every two months I jack up the front end and use the shop vac to suck out all the crap.

FYI, you will need to use an oring pick or a scribe to dig the crap out of the coils.

If you jack your car up and take a look, there is a rubber lower "hat" that the spring sits in. You will probably find gravel all the way around this area.

Good luck

 

I blew a strut the other day. It started like a thunk/pop at slow speeds, turned into a click/clack, and then it made noise all the time. I got it replaced under warranty. I have 8k on the car, and wasn't doing anything crazy when the strut died.

 

I recently had a similar issue with my car. Turns out that some of the lugz had gotten loose. I'd go back and give the lugs a good wrench over. hope this is the problem, cheaper fix.

 

Maybe just a little off topic, but will having stiff coilovers and harder suspension in general increase wear on ball joints, tie rods, wheelbearings, bushings, etc...?

 

as far as stiff springs, im not sure, But low profile tires have a significant impact, impact, with bigger tires, the impact from the road ( pot holes, pumps ect,), is dampend, now with low profile tires, more stress is transfered over,

i know wheel bearing longevity decreases significantly with low profile tires.

*follow up*

i pulled off my wheel, examined the strut for rocks/dirt, couldnt find anything.
i looked at the ball joint it seemed ok, so i have no idea what the pop could be.
one thing i did notice is the control arm bushings seemed to be really soft and you could tell they were starting to get really worn in. ( i work at auto zone even though auto zone has cheap chinese parts) new control arm bushings are SUPER STIFF. and the bushings on there seemed like they were getting really soft, no crack formation, i dont know if they normally soften up with initial wear on them or not.

it bugs the hell out of me, ill hear the pop about once a week, and the weird sound on a left u turn about once every two weeks.

 

naa it just pops. its while making a turn and hitting a bump at the same time. its very quiet. i feel it more than i hear it.

to check if your ball joints are any good you need to jack the car up under the control arm with a floor jack just enough so the tire is off the ground by about 1-2 inches. then take a huge pry bar and place it under the tire and try to lift the tire up. there should be no play in a good all joint. if it has play than replace it.

 

There has been threads posted about this in the suspsension forums, many say it is the sway bar bushings that need greasing. I get this problem too, but only when it is very cold leading me to believe it is a bushing of some sort contracting under the cold/lack of grease causing me the noise. It is also of important note that I can get the noise by just hitting a bump, I don't have to have my wheel turned.

 

Gauranteed it's not your ball joints but just the car making it's noises, it seems like it's finally figured out and it's debris getting stuck inbetween the coils like said above.

 

Here is a huge thread about the notorious front end clunk. This pissed me off for the longest time but like other have said I finally figured out it was debris in the coil and the upper end of the coil contacting the hat.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...ght=strut+wear