I own a 2009 Roush 427r 30k miles I recently encountered a clunking noise in the front end going over eben the smallest bumps and when turning the wheel sometimes.
I jacked the car up took off both front tires and everything is looking good under there . I tried shaking the car to get it to make the noise and nothing. Don't want to start replacing parts that are still ok. Anyone else have this issue thanks.

 

Sway bar bushings, I'd bet, but that's at best a guess.

You can look, but you might need to pry at the parts a little bit with a pry bar to see where the problem lies. Just enough to move things if the bushings are bad, not enough to move them if the bushings are good.

Also, recommend doing this on either ramps or an alignment rack, as jacking the car up changes the geometry and will therefore make these things go away. You gotta test them with the suspension loaded. You can load the suspension in the back by putting the axle on jack stands, but the front will be more tricky... hence ramps, or the alignment rack.

 

I'd also recommend checking out the Sway Bar Links. I recently went though my entire front end and during the process forgot to tighten the driver side link. Made all kinds of noise just going around the block. Obviously the conditions are not the same but if your link is just slightly worn out or loose it'll make noise over bumps and while turning.

Good luck to you! Took me many days and probably some un-needed spending to track down a recent front end noise in my GTCS.

Cheers,

 

Sway bar bushings

 

Could be upper strut mounts ...

 

How many are on your car now Nemisus?

 

How many what...light bulbs, water spots, pollen spores...

 

I check for this with the front on ramps (sway bar at ride height). Grab the sway bar by the end link, and push/pull vertically. If it makes any knocking noise, replace that end link. The fronts can be replaced individually.

 

I would check your sway bar links/bushings and also check your strut mounts as well, as the stock strut mounts are well known for crapping out.

 

I recently purchased a 2008 Mustang 4.0 Coupe Deluxe for my daughter's first car. It had 115k miles on it. From the Carfax and my personal inspection, it has turned out to be exactly what I was hoping it to be, an all original car that had no history of major mechanical issues. It was just driven by previous owners who had to do nothing to it. I wanted to be the one who performed the first maintenance on it. It had the original serpentine belt, spark plugs, fuel filter filled with very dark brown mirk, totally flat shocks, springs and struts, cloth seats, complete with drivers side hole in the lower outside back rest and totally glazed over headlights. It even had the original totally clogged and nasty cabin filter. In other words, a perfect car that had never been messed with by a wannabe teen age mechanic.

This forum helped me find the "clunk" in the front end. I read where someone suggested that the fastest, easiest and cheapest first step in the process of elimination is to remove the front stabilizer bar. I removed it and wa-la...no more clunk. It had a 31mm stabilizer bar with a 31mm and a 33mm bushing. Someone had placed a plastic shim behind the 34mm bushing in an attempt to stop the "clunk." That was the first and only shade tree fix that the car had. New bushings are on the way.

 

could be, maybe more likely, the sway bar end links . . . when you reinstall the bar, if the noise is still there, grab the sway bar on one end and shake it up and down as hard as you can . . . if the end link rattles, that would be it

 

If removing the front sway bar eliminated the "clunking" noises? then you know it's most definitely the sway bar end links. Although replacing the end link bushings are less expensive, I would still rather pay the extra money towards getting new end links which already have the bushings installed.

 

Not so, you still have the sway bar bushings. They are poly bushings which are hard. That with the two welded washers that locate to center the .sway bar is the issue. The sway bar bushings are smacking side to side against those locators which causes the clunk . If they were old school rubber bushings that may have not been an issue. Fords Mistake.

, I was the one who made up two shims to put behind the bushing mount. That tightened up the sided to side movement how ever slight it might be, new bushing old bushing it don't matter. . I used 1/8" thick HDPE plastic

 

First off! I was strictly referring to the sway bar end link bushings, not the actual sway bar bushings themselves. Also, FYI: it's usually the end link bushings that cause the clunking noises over the sway bar bushings, as the end link bushings wear out quicker. Also, how is this Ford's mistake? as Ford uses strictly rubber bushings for all their OEM suspension components.

So bushings don't matter huh? Well not so, as they most certainly do matter. That being said, so much for your shim remedy fix

 

The sway bar end links don't have bushings they are ball jointed end links. Believe what you want I am to old for a pissing match. over trivial matters

 

for those of us who have been trying to solve this dang clunking for years, it isn't trivial! LOL

I very much appreciate the suggestions on where the noise could be coming from . . . and I think I can clarify:

"rattling" over small bumps is most likely the end links . . . those ball joints wear out pretty quickly, especially on the factory units, and then they start clanking and rattling . . . this one is easy to diagnose, if they are shot you can make them rattle by hand, just grab the end of the sway bar and shake it up and down and you can hear it . . . I just installed my second set of aftermarket end links; the first set (Steeda) wore out in about 50K miles, so this time i went with BMR which have greasable ball joints. (replacing them is one of the most difficult 2-bolt jobs ever, there is no good way to hold the bolts from turning, but that is a different story)

"Clunking" or a dull thudding/thunking could be from the sway bar moving side-to-side in the bushings. Replacing the bushings won't help (ask me how I know), because it will still move side-to-side. You have to stop that side-to-side thing. I saw a post where someone used hose clamps and a piece of rubber hose, wrapped around the bar, up against the bushing mounts on both sides, to keep it from moving sideways. I haven't tried that yet, but thanks for the reminder, someday soon I will, and report back to confirm. I can't quite picture how shims would help; I guess they just make the bushings tighter on the bar?

right now my front end is the quietest it has been in many years (with the fresh end links) but there is still a little clunking . . .

 

Yes !!! you are right it makes the bar tighter it the bushing. And it was the ONLY Thing that solved the problem. I wish I had the money I spent on all the parts I was throwing at it..

 

Wrong again slick!

OPR Front Sway Bar End Link(05-14 All)

Features:
Front Sway Bar End Link
Direct Fit Replacement
OEM Style Rubber Bushing
Sold Individually
Fits All 2005-2014 Mustangs

 

 

Your smugness is misguided there, M05... Sorry.

https://www.americanmuscle.com/profo...113-10409.html
Those are greaseable ball joints. However, don't take my word for it:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...1431310&jsn=10
and
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...1431310&jsn=29
and
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...1431310&jsn=30

That last being the Motorcraft replacement, and it is absolutely NOT a rubber bushing. They are not greaseable, sadly, but they are in fact a ball joint on either end. This is why they have the nut on the back of the stud near the joint, so you use a wrench on it to get the thing on and off. Otherwise it'd spin in the socket. I have these original still (no clunking oddly enough, must be the full stiff GT500 sway bar setup. ) and you definitely cannot pull them off without a wrench on that nut on the stud. Real annoying, but that's how it is. They aren't swedged in the receiver like a tie rod or knuckle and therefore locked in for tightening or loosening, so they had to put that nut there instead.

Hope that settles it. Go Motorcraft and be done with it, unless you want adjustables, then these:
https://www.americanmuscle.com/bmr-f...lack-0514.html
And those are definitely greaseable ball joints, plus adjustable. Fun for everyone!

Oh and those OPR ones? They have a bad listing. Those are ball joints too. The nut on the end tells ya that. Oh, sure, they could put that stud in a rubber bushing, but the forces would RIP THEM OUT because it's not a through hole bushing like that would need to be. Like this, for a 1997 Thunderbird:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...140602&jsn=919
The one end is a stud with captured bushings, and the other end is a bushing in a hoop, with a through bolt connector to the sway bar. Source: had me a '97 Hooptybird and it needed those things. Awful design, the bushing in the hoop at the end would disintegrate rapidly. Clatter clatter clatter. Didn't last for crap. The one thing about that chassis that really drove me irritated. Dumb dumb DUMB design.

For what all that's worth. Be nice, everyone. Laters!

/Also, the guy who said this thread helped? Glad to hear it!