bad strut inserts mimicking bad CVs?

[dlb]

i finally got a new CV for my passenger side (autopartsonlinecanada.com) and installed it yesterday but guess what! still clunking when i accelerate while turning hard left! i noticed when i put the camry springs up front that i would get a single, solid clunk if the front passenger side wheel got air (hitting potholes in my driveway) but have put it off since. could a blown insert cause a sound like a bad CV?

i think i'm going to opt for the corolla all-trac springs like synth did and then trim the pathfinder springs in the back so i don't have a harsh rake going on. i'm tired of pulling my front end apart.

[xirdneh]

the clunk when you hit a bump
are your stabilizer bar end cushions bad?

[dlb]

no, i did them year or year and a half ago. everything is pretty new--inserts were done a few years back, strut mounts, sway bar end bushings, tie rods and rack ends, CV, ball joints, control arm bushings...it really sounds like a CV. could it just be the angle that the CV is on due to the taller springs? i don't think anyone else encountered that and it certainly doesn't look extreme.

as far as i've known with bad inserts, the ride just gets mushy. never encountered or heard of anyone encountering clunking with them before but there's tons i don't know. i pushed on that corner of the car and it doesn't seem to bounce excessively.

[dlb]

i should clarify: when i hit a big pothole or go over a speed bump too quickly, the clunk in the passenger side strut occurs before the front end has come down. as soon as weight is suddenly lifted from that corner, that's when it clunks. so that definitely sounds like the insert is topping out but the clunking on corners sounds/feels like a typical CV. i guess i could do the struts first and see if the clunking on corners goes away after that.

[dlb]

i seem to have finally solved this and wanted to share the info with everyone for future reference. while swapping on new wheels i was checking all the various front end components, looking for something that might cause CV-like thumping in the outside wheel while turning on acceleration. nothing was obviously loose but i remember xirdneh suggesting the sway bar end bushings so i put a wrench on the sway bar end nut just to see if i could tighten it at all--and i could! probably about one full rotation. when i did all the front end work a while back i tried to follow the FSM to a T, including the way it suggests to tighten the sway bar end nuts to spec, which is with all four tires on the ground. it was pretty hopeless trying to use a torque wrench under the vehicle but i thought i had got it up to spec...i guess not! so i tightened the nut up snug while the offending corner was jacked up--worked fine for me when i did the bushings so i'll just ignore the FSM on this one.

it's been a day and a half now and the clunk hasn't returned yet. i'll keep my fingers crossed but if anyone else has a CV-like clunking and your CVs are new and appear good, check the sway bar end nut is good and tight.

[deejay1272]

Thanks for the info, DLB. I have a symphony of clunks going on in my front end and this sort of information about your sway bar end nut may help me address some part of the issue(s).

[Petros]

do you think you might be putting too much angle on the CV in those conditions? you are already raised up, and what you describe sounds like the strut reaches the end of its travel. All kinds of strange things will haven driving around with the suspension at full extension.

[dlb]

that was the first thing i thought of too, peter, but i still haven't had any CV-ish clunking and it's been 4 days. additionally, this clunking has been consistent even immediately after installing a brand new EMPI CV on the offending side. i also remember asking bart if i needed to be concerned about the angle of the CVs w/ the camry springs but not the extra spacer for lift and he said he had had no issues running just the camry springs. that being said, he didn't encounter the topping out issues that almost everyone else has so maybe the springs he used were different in some way. anyway, the clunking has been gone since tightening that nut up.

i'm still thinking about trimming the camry springs a bit just to be CV-safe--i know synth liked the corolla all-trac springs so if the spring rates are similar between the corolla and camry springs i will just trim these springs. i also wonder if he trimmed his pathfinder springs though. i will want to level the vehicle out a bit so i will have to trim them as well.

[Petros]

remember when you cut a coil off a spring you also make it more stiff, even if the lift is not as much. Fewer coils means the spring rate is higher. My plan BTW is to cut the pathfinder rear and all-trac front springs to give me about the same ride height (up to +3/4" max) but with a much stiffer spring. When I get the 4age engine swap done I need the car to be a lot more solid than the soft stock springs.

[dlb]

yes, i remember you mentioning this in other threads and that's part of the reason i want to trim them. i could stand it to be a little bit stiffer all round.

i think you said cutting a coil off would increase the spring rate by about 17%, is that right?

[Petros]

It is a direct relationship, if you have 10 coils, cutting one off makes it 10 percent more stiff. IIRC there are 7 coils, so cutting one off means 7 over 6= 1.1667 or about a 17 percent increase in stiffness.

[dlb]

ahhhhh, so i put the slightly higher profile winter tires on ron which has brought a bit of the body roll on cornering back and the clunk has returned with it. i checked the swaybar end nut and it was still tight so it seems like the lower profile tires eliminating body roll also help to mask this clunk. messing with the struts is next--trimming the camry springs would put them at about 270 lbs for spring rate, which synth design has found is a bit too stiff for anything besides paved roads so i might just go back to the stock springs and trim the pathfinder coils to stiffen them up and level the rake out a bit.