Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting front suspension? clunking noise

Sometimes when I am backing out of driveway and have wheels turned while going down the curb into the road I hear kind of a clunk as the front wheels are going down the hump of the curb.

Is this anything I should do some further checking on?

Lower control arms or loose strut mount.

The lowers are most common on older tours or ones that are driven hard. Luckely for me I have both of those problems.... :rolleyes:

Would I be able to see anything to tell me if either or both of these are a problem if I crawl under there...

Wouldn't strut mounts make more of a rattling noise on any kind of bumps and stuff at all sorts of speeds? I only have heard this clunk when wheels are turned and I go over bump at curb in reverse...so it is at pretty slow speed. The only other thing is a few times when I have turned relatively sharply at slow speed, like into a parking spot, steering did not seem quite right...not sure how to describe it beyond that.

I do have some suspension rattles too in both cars, but seem to be mostly from rear...which I understand is common, but just an annoyance.

Well if you look at the bushings on the lower control arm they would be cracked if that's what is causing the problem. Another option might be that the rack and pinion is loose? Other than that I don't reall know.

Mine did the same thing. The cluncking noise was on the front drivers side. I took it in to Ford because it was under warrenty and they saide it was a Front End Link. Fixed it and haven't heard it since.

Swaybar end link? Ihave develpoped the same problem since i installed my shocks and springs. I had everything off the nuckle so i may have not gotten everything tightened back up all the way.