First, I've done lots of research and diagnosing myself before I posted this. I'm at a point where I need some solid advice before I start just replacing parts hoping to fix the issue:

I'm trying to track down a suspension related noise I've been having for a few weeks now. It's a popping/clunking noise coming from the driver's side front wheel area. The noise is most prominent while turning left, but can be heard when going straight. When turning right the noise is not heard. The noise does no coincide with the rotation of the wheel/axle. It goes with the bumps in the road / suspension travel. I did a visual inspection and saw the tie rod end boot was torn so I replaced that. It did not solve the issue. Then, upon a recommendation of a mechanic replaced the tie rod ends. The noise persisted. However, I did notice that after I had the car up in the air for a bit, the noise would subside for a little while during driving. However the noise came back to it's normal level after a little while of driving.

Little background on the car. It's a 2003 evo 8 in pretty much stock condition. Struts/springs are OEM with about 40-50k on them. Just replaced tie rod ends and sway bar end links as described above. Otherwise the suspension is stock.

Here are some pictures of the driver's side suspension area (before I replaced any parts)














Here is a video of my attempt to check the lower ball joint. I had a jack stand under the control arm as close to the wheel as possible. I then had a helper use a shovel to push up on the wheel to check for movement. I couldn't tell if the joint was bad or not:

I took some videos today of the car driving hoping to catch the noise on camera.

The first video was outside the car and hard to hear anything due to wind and road noise:

The second video was inside the car and caught some of the sound. Skip to 6:36 and 10:16. You can hear it most when turning left.

This last video I took at night, but the camera is inside and closer to the driver's side wheel with the window cracked to hear a little better. The video sucks because it's dark and the camera is behind the inspection sticker, but I feel like the noise is most pronounced in this one. Skip to 5:35, 6:38, 8:04, and especially 12:44

 

Just another quick update. It appears I can recreate the noise by simply pushing down on the drivers side front of the car. It sounds more like a squeaking creeking noise. It also seems to be getting worse with the colder temps and quieter when its warmer outside.

 

If you can recreate it just have someone else make the noise and start grabbing suspension components until you feel it. That will narrow down your culprit.

 

Ok, so oddly enough I can't reproduce it everyday by pushing on the car. Very weird. But I ended up ordering the whiteline roll center correction kit and some lower control arm bushings. These were items I planned on doing for this season anyway, so I figured I may as well just do them now. If it resolved the issue, then I know what it is. If not, I still get this done.

 

I just wanted to post an update to this. I installed the whiteline kit and the noise was significantly reduced, but was still present. I then replaced the stock shock/spring combo with a set of MR Bilstein's with Tein springs already mounted and the noise is gone. This leads me to believe it was the strut mount on the stock setup. Just an FYI in case someone else runs in to this issue.

 

I had a similar noise on my old stock struts. Not as pronounced but went away after I installed coilovers

 

I'm sure you have but did you check the top hat bolt on your driver strut?

 

Yes I checked that bolt and it is tight. I swapped them out for some MR Bilstein's with different top hats and the noise was completely gone.