White Lightning
17-03-2010, 02:49 PM
Now some of you will say that I am not happy unless I have got a specific noise on my car to listen to and worry about ... and you would probably be right :p
But ...
I have over the last month become increasingly worried about a knocking noise that I am getting from my front passenger side suspension area. The noise only occurs when that wheel goes over a fair bump in the road and is more likely to occur on right hand corners (well, that seems to be the case, but that's what I do mostly around Bracknell, with all the roundabouts!). It is what I would describe as a 'heavy' knock and I think is slowly getting worse. I am concerned that it may be one of the lower arm balljoints on it's way out.
So, at lunchtime, I took my 'mechanically minded' work colleague out for a drive so that he could have a listen from inside the front and rear of the car. He agreed the noise was from the front passenger side and that it sounded 'heavy' and probably ball joint related. We both think it's unlikely to be the track rod end as the noise sounds too 'heavy'.
The other point to note is that occasionally I get a slightly odd sensation from the steering. It's hard to describe but it's almost like the weight of the steering changes slightly mind corner or some slightly bumpy corners around Bracknell. It may be the 'speed sensitive' power steering doing it's thing and I am over sensitive to it ... but I will put it in here as it may be relevant.
I had the front coilovers and upper arms out over the weekend to do the wheel arch underseal so I know everything is OK there. Also, whilst at it, I regreased the upper arm ball joint and replaced the rubber cover, so I know that one 'should' be OK.
Now, some info ... the car has now done 73,000 miles. It has all the recall work done including the lower arm recall which was done in November 2003 according to the Jap website. I also have the '1003' G sticker in the back window which confirms this.
Ben at Eurospec checked over the suspension back in Aug/Sept when I first got the car, and the only thing that was spotted was that the rear toe control arms go do with replacing (I have new ones ready to fit). However, I have done a 'Ring trip in September and a couple of thousand miles on the road since then.
It's worth noting that the near side curved arm appears to have been replaced at some point as it appears to have a Mitsi part number label on it. Also, I think Ben spotted that one of the straight arms was not original based on the shape of the ball joint base metal - but I can't remember which one!
Given that we have the 'Ring trip in a couple of weeks I am somewhat concerned that something may get worse and worse case scenario fail. But obviously the arms are expensive so I can't really justify just replacing them all.
So, what do you think I should I do folks?
TIA
But ...
I have over the last month become increasingly worried about a knocking noise that I am getting from my front passenger side suspension area. The noise only occurs when that wheel goes over a fair bump in the road and is more likely to occur on right hand corners (well, that seems to be the case, but that's what I do mostly around Bracknell, with all the roundabouts!). It is what I would describe as a 'heavy' knock and I think is slowly getting worse. I am concerned that it may be one of the lower arm balljoints on it's way out.
So, at lunchtime, I took my 'mechanically minded' work colleague out for a drive so that he could have a listen from inside the front and rear of the car. He agreed the noise was from the front passenger side and that it sounded 'heavy' and probably ball joint related. We both think it's unlikely to be the track rod end as the noise sounds too 'heavy'.
The other point to note is that occasionally I get a slightly odd sensation from the steering. It's hard to describe but it's almost like the weight of the steering changes slightly mind corner or some slightly bumpy corners around Bracknell. It may be the 'speed sensitive' power steering doing it's thing and I am over sensitive to it ... but I will put it in here as it may be relevant.
I had the front coilovers and upper arms out over the weekend to do the wheel arch underseal so I know everything is OK there. Also, whilst at it, I regreased the upper arm ball joint and replaced the rubber cover, so I know that one 'should' be OK.
Now, some info ... the car has now done 73,000 miles. It has all the recall work done including the lower arm recall which was done in November 2003 according to the Jap website. I also have the '1003' G sticker in the back window which confirms this.
Ben at Eurospec checked over the suspension back in Aug/Sept when I first got the car, and the only thing that was spotted was that the rear toe control arms go do with replacing (I have new ones ready to fit). However, I have done a 'Ring trip in September and a couple of thousand miles on the road since then.
It's worth noting that the near side curved arm appears to have been replaced at some point as it appears to have a Mitsi part number label on it. Also, I think Ben spotted that one of the straight arms was not original based on the shape of the ball joint base metal - but I can't remember which one!
Given that we have the 'Ring trip in a couple of weeks I am somewhat concerned that something may get worse and worse case scenario fail. But obviously the arms are expensive so I can't really justify just replacing them all.
So, what do you think I should I do folks?
TIA