Suspension noise?

[Rm2011]

2000 Saturn SL, 180,000 miles

For the last couple months I have had a strange "clicking" noise coming from the front passenger wheel well area. It occurs when moving from a stop, or when Hitting the gas semi-hard, causing the front of the car to lift slightly. The following has been changed partly to attempt to eliminate the noise and partly because they were due for replacement:

Wheel bearings
Hubs
Brake pads
CV axle
Lower ball joints and control arms
Outer tie rod ends
Sway bar bushings

No noise is made when only turning the steering wheel, however the noise still occurs if one of the above mentioned actions takes place with the steering wheel turned. The best way I can describe the sound is a spring tension click. I have attached a video.

https://youtu.be/FyPtzK-OwUU

The sound can be heard at:
0:02
0:21
0:43
1:09
2:30
2:37
2:42

My research has led me to be suspect of the strut mounts/bearings but given the other repairs I have just invested in, I wanted to be sure before I continue with this shotgun approach.

Thanks!


any ideas would be greatly apprecoated!

[bumpdraft]

Is it as simple as the steering rack's accordion boots dragging over an improperly-installed inner-fender splash-guard?
Meaning, the splash-guard you remove when you change the oil to make it easy to reach the oil filter.

[Rm2011]

Originally Posted by bumpdraft

Is it as simple as the steering rack's accordion boots dragging over an improperly-installed inner-fender splash-guard?
Meaning, the splash-guard you remove when you change the oil to make it easy to reach the oil filter.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that's not the source of the noise. It has more of a heavy click to it than I believe that sound would make. It's definitely coming from the passenger wheel well. I think my only option at this point is to replace the strut mount, I believe I have replaced every other thing it could possibly be.

I have sprayed lithium grease into the top part of the strut where it goes up into the engine bay thinking it may be the spring moving in there when the car lifts.

I can not reproduce the sound by editing the vehicle and either bouncing it or pulling up on it. The struts respond as they should when doing the bounce test.

[bumpdraft]

Originally Posted by Rm2011

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that's not the source of the noise. It has more of a heavy click to it than I believe that sound would make. It's definitely coming from the passenger wheel well. I think my only option at this point is to replace the strut mount, I believe I have replaced every other thing it could possibly be.

I have sprayed lithium grease into the top part of the strut where it goes up into the engine bay thinking it may be the spring moving in there when the car lifts.

I can not reproduce the sound by editing the vehicle and either bouncing it or pulling up on it. The struts respond as they should when doing the bounce test.

Maybe the bushings in the actual struts are loose too. ...even though they pass the bounce test. If you're replacing the mounts, maybe replace the front struts too.
The next thing would be verifying the Control Bar's threaded end portions were tight in the Control Bar.
Also, I had a situation where the ends of the Control Bar cut thru the bushings in the Control Arms and were making a clunking sound. Not likely since yours are new.