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2008 S550 Front End Clunk-Rattle

11723 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  kyleelouis
Hello all my 08 S550 has developed a very annoying consistent front end clunk / rattle. It doesn't consistently even on the slightest Road bumps including going over road reflectors. I thought it could possibly be the sway bar so I actually completely removed the end links and drove the car and there was absolutely no change the noise was still there so I'm 100% positive it is not the sway bar end links. I did replace the struts about a year-and-a-half ago with cheap after-market Chinese ones and although they are not leaking I suspect the noise might be coming from the internals of the strut. Has anybody had any experience similar to this with this noise or with aftermarket rebuilt struts? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I guess my next step is to just replace one of the struts with a new Arnott and see if the sound goes away. Thanks in advance.
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Sorry for the typo...I meant to say that the noise does it consistently even over the slightest road bumps and even road reflectors. I don't think it's subframe mounts and I don't think it's motor mounts because I don't have any vibrations related to those issues but I am open to any and all suggestions.
Oh wow of all the things I have tried that is one thing I have not. Tomorrow I'll try checking all the joints with a pry bar with no load and see what I find thanks for the tip.
Well I am happy to report it was in fact the ball joint on the left lower front control arm. It was so loose I'm surprised it didn't pop out of the socket it had over 3/16 inch of play in the ball and socket! I switched it out this morning and the car rides like brand new again. I will eventually do the right side as well as I had already purchased all of the components for both sides just to have in stock. These components are very inexpensive. The job was moderately difficult but not too bad I actually did it with the car on jack stands the hardest part was breaking the ball joint loose using a ball joint separator it was very very very scary how hard and tight I had to tighten it before it would break loose. Thanks for the advice all.
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