My 03' has just over 68K miles on it, recently I've been hearing a loudish clunking noise coming from the front left or front right when:

There's a significant bump on the road
Backing out of the garage from driveway to street (45* angle curb).
Noise is more predominant when it's that particular side that's compressing.

At first I thought it occured on just cold days or when I haven't driven the car for days/weeks but that's not the case.

I've put the car up on a lift twice now and can't find a loose bolt or anything that appears to be damaged (front swaybar, end links etc.)

Sounds like it's the front shocks but would like some sound advice or things to check before looking for replacements.

Is this common for 03' Evo's?
Do the shocks need replacement at about this many miles? (no harsh driving during my 40K mile ownership).

Is there something that I'm missing or should be checking?

Thx in advance for any sound advice/suggestions.

 

There are a number of things to check:

- Check all bushings and joints to make sure they're not damaged/cracked
- Check to make sure the bolts holding the strut are still tight

At 68K, though, it's time to start thinking about replacing the shocks (unfortunately you can't rebuild the KYBs). I just replaced mine at 50K. I went with Bilstein HD struts and Swift Spec-R springs and all I can say is wow! Huge difference.

l8r)

 

Check this thread out - Clunking front end noise. It's a pretty common problem and it seems as thought there's been more than one solution. In your situation though as Ludi said above with that many miles on the stock shocks there's a good chance that they're done. I recently replaced mine at about 60k and saw some leakage, indicating that mine were on the way out.

 

^^^ Good info. Hopefully I can source the problem after some reading.

Thx guys!