tim gaffney

2008 R350 80K miles, excellent condition
I have a clunk in the left front suspension of my Rclass, it has springs on the front and air suspension in the rear. This clunk has been there since I got the car. I have changed:

• both front struts and springs,
• changed the sway bar drop links,
• changed the sway bar mounts that hold the anti-roll bar to the chassis.

There is nothing else for me to change. The clunk is exactly the same as before I changed all that stuff. The clunk is most prevelent with small bumps and it feels like the shock is not working in the 1st one inch of travel. What else could it be???

I have checked the steering ends, the upper and lower ball joints. All nuts are torqued tight. Could it be the a-arm bushings? Has anyone found the same thing? It is driving me crazy!

BTW I have 19" rims, drilled and slotted rotors, and a rear wing that I got from some supplier in Latvia. The car looks like its new and this is the only thing that is wrong. Thanks in advance for the wisdom of the forum.
Tim

chassis

Try to precisely find the noise. My guess is the shocks because you replaced them, and because you described a situation that would be consistent with a loose shock attachment.

When the vehicle is parked, open a front door and rock the vehicle back and forth, to try and produce the noise. Do the same thing on both sides of the vehicle. Do the same thing on the front of the vehicle. You need to pinpoint the source of the noise.

It doesn’t seem like a lower A-arm bushing because the spring load is on the lower A-arm if the suspension is similar to many German cars. It could be the upper A-arm bushings.

What did you find with a Google search and using the search button on this site?