Drivers front suspension grinding

trpltongue · #1 (**permalink**) 12-22-2008, 09:02 AM

Hi all,

I've noticed a weird metallic scraping / grinding noise coming from the drivers front tire area. It only happens when I have the wheels turned hard right and I hit a bump or something to force the suspension to travel. Typically this happens when pulling out of the driveway with the wheels turned to the right, but also when I was turning right to turn into a parking spot and hit a small pothole. It is loud enough that my neighbor 3 houses down who was working in the garage came out to let me know that he thought I ran over something.

I don't think I'm scraping the bottom of the vehicle on the ground as my driveway is not that steep and I can easily back out in my in-laws 4-door sedan.

I've looked for any markings on the underside of the vehicle and simply cannot figure out what is making this sound.

I can not reproduce it by simply driving in a circle, however, it's pretty reproduceable pulling out of the driveway because that causes the suspension to travel.

Anybody experience anything similar or have any ideas on what this could be? I'm very nervous that something could malfunction with the suspension while my wife is driving with the kids in the car.

Russell

berry1234 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-22-2008, 11:11 AM

I have the same thing. While turning left or right, almost all the way, going over an approach, speed bump, etc. I hear something clanking. If I could reproduce the sound reliably I would take it in.

trpltongue · #3 (**permalink**) 12-22-2008, 11:50 AM

So it's not just me? The thing that's troubling is that it's a metallic sound. If it was just plastic it wouldn't phase me, but what piece of metal could be causing that?

berry1234 · #4 (**permalink**) 12-22-2008, 12:03 PM

The spring shifting? I will crawl under and see if I can see any wear.

trpltongue · #5 (**permalink**) 12-22-2008, 12:10 PM

Maybe, but what I'm hearing is more of a scraping sound rather than just a quick clunk. When I was changing the oil last week I spent 40 minutes looking around and couldn't find any sign of wear on the suspension parts. I even spent time looking at the inside of the wheel, brakes, etc. to see if it was somehow hitting, but couldn't find anything.