Knocking From Suspension

[SlowButSpeeding]

I’ve been having this obnoxious knocking sound coming from my suspension for a while now and I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s wrong. Here’s the history on the problem. I wrecked the car ('97 Spyder GS-T) a few years ago. Hit a tow truck at 65mph. I managed to swerve to the right, so my driver’s side headlight caught his bumper and it tore up the driver’s side of the car and missed most of the mechanical things. Only mechanical damage was to the power steering fluid reservoir and the rack and pinion. After the wreck, the car still drove, but barely. I drove it 100 miles back to where I lived (and it drove straight on the road). I hired out the body work and had the whole front left apron of the car replaced and re-welded. When I got the car back, it pulled DRAMATICALLY to the right when you drove it. The body shop SWORE it would be fixed after an alignment. The alignment shop said it was so far off, that they wouldn’t touch it and I needed to take it back to the body shop. I did that and they said they’d pull it out some more. After I got it back a second time, it drove much better, but it was at this point that I started noticing the knocking noise coming from the driver’s side front wheel well. It would knock when going over bumps in the road and upon acceleration and braking. I didn’t think much of it, and after I replaced the rack and pinion myself, when I took it to the alignment guy, I asked him to check it out. When he was done, he said he found some loose bolts (I’m killing myself now for not asking specifically which ones) and tightened them. The car drove great for about 3 months. However, the knocking sound slowing came back and at this point I had moved to another city. I have jacked the damn car up countless times trying to find the source of the knocking and I can’t for the life of me figure out. There aren’t any loose bolts that I can find… NOTHING. Now, however, the problem is getting way out of hand. The knocking occurs all the damn time and now I can actually feel a steady vibration through the steering wheel related to this. The car just feels unstable… and NOT safe. I don’t know what to do. Any help you guys can suggest would be great. Also, after the alignment, the steering wheel was perfectly center. I now notice that when I’m going through a corner it just doesn’t feel right when I’m cornering, and the steering wheel is no longer on center like it once was. I’d say that when cruising, the steering wheel is 5-10 degrees to the right to maintain a center line. Let me know if you need any more information about this problem. Thanks so much for your help!

Drew

 

[DiamondStarAwd]

Check your ball joints. Make sure none of the boots are ripped. For the turning check your tie rod ends.

 

[SlowButSpeeding]

I checked the ball joints. I even tried the whole pulling on the front tire to see if it moves when the car is slightly jacked up. The boots on the joints seem fine, and the wheel doesn't budge. Anyone else have anymore ideas??

Drew

 

[MITSUMURDOK]

I had a similar problem with my old 1st gen and it turned out that the front cross member was cracked. I checked all over the car, like you have, and could't find anything either. The only way I found out was when it finally flexed to the point where my CV shaft blew apart (which was real fun at 3am). Take a close look at welds and look for cracks--mine was cracked above the rack that's why I couldn't see it. Good luck

 

[90laserRSfwd]

I have the same sound coming from the front of my 1g fwd "track only" car, when I take it out on the street (track I mean) it makes a knocking sound like that when I hit small dips in the road. Always though it was something to do with the agx's and pro kit. Guess I'll be looking under there too, thanks for the info

-Jace

 

[Locke]

Check the bushings in the lower suspension links and upper arm. If the body shop used heat, they may have damaged them.

 

[MyÜberFastGSX]

Sounds to me like the bolts on your lower control arm. Had that happen on my GTI after it was wrecked. The bolts kept backing off and it would make a clicking like noise when accelerating, stopping, and going over bumps.

 

[SlowButSpeeding]

I'll give that a look and hope for the best. Were they visibly loose, or just a little? Did you use lock tight or something like that to keep it from loosening after that?