hi everyone wonder if you can help. my GL is knocking/clunking or the front near side it seems i have had the top full strut changed, the top arm with top ball joint, the bottom arm with bottom ball joint and drop links changed and the noise still persists. i’ve took of the drop links and drove it and it’s still doing it so it’s nothing to do with the sway bars. also the steering wheel is out of alignment... anyone any ideas as it’s just burning a hole in my pocket. thanks

You’re going to have to explain this near side/far side description to us colonials.

good morning “front near side” is the front left left hand side of the car. “passenger side” thanks

Just out of curiosity... Steven, you must have a right-hand drive car for the "left" side to be the "passenger" side? But... why is that the "near" side... wouldn't that be the "far" side? Just curious as to your choice of terminology.

You might try jacking the front end up and pushing/pulling/twisting/lifting on the wheel to see if you can duplicate the sound. You might get lucky. I have the same thing going on as you right now - wondering if it's something in the strut, itself... or maybe one of the ball joints. I haven't been able to duplicate it, yet, though... but I've only spent a short time trying to figure it out so far, as well.

One thing I did (didn't work for me, but it might for you)... with the wheel off the ground, I used a 2x4 as a lever (with a small block underneath as a fulcrum) to lift the wheel up as quickly as possible - hoping to duplicate it. No luck, yet. Maybe once it gets a little worse.

I too have a clunk on my 08 GL320 that i cannot figure out. The noise only occurs when going over small cracks in the road and sounds like a caliper rattling or the backing plate, but its not. The noise comes from the spindle but I cannot find any issue. Its not the wheel bearing or nut, not a ball joint or tie rod...

hey, it’s called the near side because it’s the closest to the kirb over here haha. we have tried barring it it in every single way and we can’t duplicate the noise. even had it on the m.o.t shaker at different heights and nothin.

does yours sound like plastic to plastic or metal to metal, i had another knock and it was the air filter not not being tight when you close it. so i just james some rubber into it so it closed tight. might be worth a try

Ah - got it. Often times on forums, I use port and starboard since that it is ALWAYS accurate - no matter which way you're facing, too (some say "left side" because they're standing in front of the car looking at it!).

I've been thinking about getting a set of "chassis ears"... google that, if you haven't heard of that tool before.

Chassis ears - best $75 I spent. I tracked down the end links as the source of my clunking noise using chassis ears.

Max, which brand/model did you get? After using them, would you get a different brand or model? I assume for that price, they are wired - how hard was it use with them being wired instead of wireless?

Kent, he mentioned that he disconnected the end links and drove around (I did too, for that matter) - no change.

steelman 06600 from amazon; they’re wired.

just take care when routing around rotating machinery and use zip ties where required.

Thanks, Max.

Hi, i had 2007 gl450, 5yrs ago dealer did change all the things as yours but clunking noise still nagging.

Then the last thing they done was replacing/fixing the joints and/or bearing of the steering wheel. No more clunking sounds. Hope this helps!!!

could you pls describe a little more the components and or location you’re referring to in the steering wheel? Thanks

check out the post on the pic.

ive replaced these with no improvement. Easy to do though.

I think MB dealer fixed/replaced joints for my wife gl450 2007 like in pic.


https://rrr.lt/en/used-part/egi2265-...oss-connection

Thanks