bimmerc90

I replaced all four sway bar bushings in an attempt to get rid of the incredibly annoying and embarrassing clunking. Replacing the bushings and tightening everything down real good definitely has made the front end feel noticeably tighter and less sloppy which is great but the clunking persists and it is coming from the left (driver side) strut area. What part could possibly be causing this issue?

Also I am getting real bad squealing from the front brakes which I recently had resurfaced. Is there any way to remedy this?

WDB124066

Ball joint??

POS

The clunking could be anything; only way to figure that out is to get it on a lift and start pushing and pulling everything with a hell of a lot of force until you maybe figure out what it is.

As for squealing pads, you need to go get some brake anti-squeal paste, remove the pads, coat the backing plates of those pads (entirely, and use your finger for a good coat) and reinstall. Voila! The noise is caused by the backing plates vibrating under duress - the anti-squeal stuff fixes the 'song' they sing when they vibrate.

Floobydust

Ball joint, tie rod ends, strut mount, lower control arm bushings. What condition causes the car to "cluck"? Bumps, braking, truing the wheel?

You can tell a lot just by putting it up on a jack stand and rocking the road wheel at the 12 & 6 o'clock positions and then at the 3 & 9 o'clock positions (with someone holding the steering wheel). Excessive movement at 12 & 6 o'clock points to a ball joint issue while clunking/excessive movement at 3 & 9 o'clock points to tie rod ends and/or the steering box.

Of course, if it were my car, it would be some weird-*** problem like a burr on the road spring digging into the LCA . .

bimmerc90

It's really only driving at slow speed over crappy roads. The replacement of the sway bar bushings helped slightly but moreso just tightened up the front end. When I had the car lifted up I kicked the wheel and there seemed to be some play. I will have to recheck. I hate dealing with suspension issues. Whatever it is it is most definitely coming from the driver side area. Braking and turning the wheel do not seem to have any noticeable negative effect. Steering seems a little on the sloppy side, too, a bit on wandering is evident. Hell, I'll just replace the whole car! I am getting pretty sick of playing 'where's Waldo' with this thing

bimmerc90

I think the slogan should be changed from 'nothing is more expensive than a cheap Mercedes' (none of the parts for this car I really all that expensive) to 'nothing is more annoying than a cheap mercedes'