Clunking coming from front suspension. Bushing?

[Canadmos]

I have a bone stock 2005 Mazda 3 and over the last 6 months I've noticed a small clunking noise/feeling coming from the front suspension.

The noise is pretty subtle and only happens while driving slow (I assume I only hear it going slow...) and going over rough pavement, speed bumps or pot holes. It doesn't matter if I'm turning or going straight, the noise is there. The steering and everything feels pretty solid, so I'm happy with that.

I'm going to assume that there are some bushings up front that are worn out? Are there certain ones that are prone to failure or just wearing out? The car has 180000km's on it now and I replaced the struts about 2 years ago, if that helps.

Any hints?

[Jackal]

Front sway bar bushings?

[Canadmos]

Is that a normal thing to go on these cars? Any tips if I should go with factory type replacements or are there any quality aftermarket ones?

[Mitchell3]

My struts made the same kind of noise when they kicked the bucket. The struts shouldn't be toast after 2 years though.

Is it any more bouncy of a ride?

[Canadmos]

The ride isn't bouncy at all, it feels normal. I broke a shock mount a few months ago in the back, which resulted in a very bouncy pogo-stick feeling ride. haha

As far as I can tell, the noise is coming from both the passenger and the drivers side of the car. The noise also happens if I'm driving straight and also with the wheels turned to either direction.

[n00bMeiSter]

Could be dead shocks. My rears were making the same sounds, until I replaced them.

[Canadmos]

I'm fairly confident that it isn't the shocks in the back or the struts up front. They are fairly new, show no signs of leakage or seal damage and the ride is still very much controlled. You can tell that the dampers inside of them are still doing they job and they are tight.

I can hear the noise the most when I slowly creep into my driveway. The curb edge on my driveway is just under an inch higher than the street pavement, the square edge bumps really accentuates the noise.


BUT, this noise problem is being put on the back burner. During that flood on the 8th or whenever, I had to drive through a severely flooded street and it has somehow screwed something up with my clutch. Its pretty much impossible to get the car rolling into first gear without it chattering or just jumping into gear.

:(

[woodsball_delight]

funny - i swear i have the same issue right now. i notice it when i am slowly going over a curb. going to have to get my buddy to take a look and find out

[Canadmos]

Be sure to post about it if you get it looked at.

For anyone else that reads this, that knows. If I'm checking the fit of the bushings on the sway bar, should I have the suspension supporting the weight of the car or jack it up and check?

[n00bMeiSter]

Make a recording of the noise and post it up.

[Canadmos]

I'll do my best to get a recording. It'll be with my craptacular phone though haha.

[Wisecraker]

This happened to me once and it sounded like a clunk in the front. It's ended up being the front sway bar bushing. That's my experience