Yeah i notice that to my is drop could be that but not everytime i leave from hier side walk it makes like shock drops with suspention and tire and then car car follows it and hits it also when I turn all the way it hits something or more like its ball join mest up

 

I have 03 JDM evo 8, hearing the same noise every now and then coming from the left front. I think its some sort of a clearance issue with the suspension. A lot of evo's have this clunky sound.

 

I have the same noise in my 03 evo, coming from the left side. It sounds like a shock bolt is loose.

 

I had same clunk and no idea what it was till I replaced my fpr yesterday. Took the strut bar off to make room for the aeromotive fpr to slide in and one stud on my coilover was completely stripped, nut was just laying on the stud so it looked good. Then when I put the strut bar back on another stud was so stretched it snapped with like 10 ft lbs. replaced both studs and torqued down and voila no clunk. At least that's what worked for me, you might check yours.

 

03 EVO 8, Same issue with the Driver Side front, the clunk sound. I get it when backing out of my driveway or going over a bump or pothole. I will check out my strut

 

03 USDM Evo 8 just developed a clunk in the front passenger side. bought the car with 90K and the previous owner had Tein springs installed on OEM struts. i put 20K on it myself and the noise started a few days ago. i get it going over just about any bump, either in a curve or straight line. sounds like the strut is loose. nothing shows any major signs of wear aside from the top hat

 

With the crappy s-tech sprigs which are notorious for blowing struts as well as that millage my bet would be that your strut is blown.
If you see fluid leaking all over the shock tube chances are that its blown. If you really want to confirm it though pull off the strut and pop off the spring. If you push the damper down it will either shoot right back up or go up very very slowly? The latter would tell you that it is blown.

If you find the strut is not blown then maybe your top hats could be worn out. Check for a lot of play in those. Brand new ones come with a little bit of play when you compare they to a spherical bearing top hap counterpart.

 

Hi i have the same noise think i have got to thenottom of it. Antiroll bar bush. I disconnect my anti roll bar links and drove it and it was gone. So iv ordered powerflex black series bushes will be fitting them on friday. Will update on friday. Myt be the same as sum of the noises that your cars are making.

 

Can you suggest a replacement part for the OEM top hat? This car is a "spirited" DD, no track time.

 

To replace a worn set or more of an upgraded unit such as adjustable camber plates?

If you're simply doing "spirited" driving a new set of OEM top hats might fit the bill perfectly however if your looking for more performance a set of adjustable camber plates might be a better option. Keep in mind that road comfort might be a little compromised as what was once a rubber mount will now be a a metal spherical bearing. Also, the real benifit to camber plates is adjustability and the ability to dial in more negative camber.

It's really up to you and what your ultimate goals for the car are...

 

well i considered buying a set of the Tein camber plates this morning but read horrible stories of them causing MORE clunking. it didnt quite make sense to me how replacing a worn out part clunking with a new all metal part could cause more clunking. more road noise, yes, but not more of the same problem(if the worn strut mount was indeed the problem).

sooo, Tein plates opinion?

 

As long as the spherical bearing are in good shape and the top nut is on there tight there is no reason that they will make clunking noises. Now with that being said I'd imagine that camber plates will not stand up as well over time relative to an OEM piece.

Also, if you plan to get camber plates but not run an aggressive alignment then it sort of defeats the purpose. You can get close to -2 degrees of camber in the front simply by flipping the bolt.

There are a lot of different manufactures who make camber plates for our cars. Personally I've used ones from Cusco, Ciro Design Racing as well as ones that came on my Ohlins so I have no experience with the Tein ones but I dont see why they wouldn't work fine as long as they are in good shape.

 

I'm suffering from a similar issue (again) on my 2003 evo. To be as precise as possible, it sounds more like a popping noise than a clunking noise. It is coming from the driver's side front struck/shock assembly and can feel it with my left foot. It will ONLY happen when the wheels are straight or turning left. When turning right, there is no noise. The noise appears to go along with bumps in the road and get worse the farther left the wheel is turned. My theory is that as the spring/strut is unloaded (less weight as car leans on the driver's side), there is less pressure on the spherical bearing in the top hat, causing it to move more. As more weight is put on it by turning right, the less it moves. Looks like new OEM top hats are about $60/ea so I may try this as a fix before I go buying a set of MR bilsteins for $400 or coilovers for over $1k.

Can anyone else confirm or deny this theory before I go ahead and buy parts? I've confirmed the strut is not leaking or damaged based on a visual inspection. I also checked the tightness of the three nuts holding the strut to the strut tower, as well as the nut on top of the strut. That nut was tight and still had grease around it.

 

Just an update. I replaced the outer tie rod end since the boot was torn, but looks like that wasn't the issue.

 

New strut bearings/top hats from RCHill for $108 fixed my clunking problem. Still needs struts tho, they have gotten weak over 110k miles lol