armaniE55

So the other day I went to Sullivan Tire to have my new rear Hankook installed and I had them take a quick looksi at my front passenger side as it was making a slight clunking noise. I thought for sure it was coming from my sway bar links as I just installed new ball joints last year. Long story short it was my swaybar bushings... They first quoted me a price of $150 I almost laughed out loud and told him I'll have my indy guy do it for half price. (speaking w/the manager) He went to the back and spoke with the mechanic and then quoted me a new price of $90 with OEM bushings. Pretty big drop eh. Had them do it and topped it off with a 4 wheel alignment (purchased from them as well they use the Hunter Machine lifetime warranty for $170) The car handles so much better with the new swaybar bushings. For those who have around 100k Miles it wouldn't hurt to change them out.

Pretty easy

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210...ng-link-r.html

Armani

Nocturnal-G

I plan on doing mine soon... I get the occasional clunk. Bushings with new links, tie rod ends, and maybe the lower control arm bushings.

Glad to hear it made a difference...

armaniE55

I was planning on doing a complete overhaul in the front end but I ended up buying a bunch of goodies/gadgets for my garage. Plus I just had the ball joints done last year and upper control arms. The mechanic stated everything is tight as can be-

He showed me the bushings and they were pretty beat......... you couldn't really tell until they came off. They were holding on for dear life

WBE55

Good Info, Im Due for some front end work !! 108k

armaniE55

No problem brother!

timmins

Good for you, did my swaybar bushings and mine still handles like crap! Took a 1000 mile ride in an eighties long wheelbase Econoline at the weekend. Got in my car, and was struck by how much worse the handling feels. Excessively sensitive steering, twitchy over bumps.

armaniE55

Ouch. Did you have any other work done in the front end. I'd recommend tire rods inner outer, sway bar links. Check ball joints and lower control arm bushings.

Dan04mcs

That sounds like it could also be a bad alignment.

armaniE55

alignment keeps the car going straight and keeps toe, camber and caster in check. Most importantly keeps our expensive tires lasting a lot longer. He's stating that it's jumpy when he hits bumps. Buttttttt it wouldn't hurt to have one done to see if it helps at all. (He could have a really bad alignment)

I spent $180 at Sullivan Tire for a lifetime alignment. So worth it... Every 3 months you know where I will be on a Sunday

Just bought a pair of Hankook rears.... 2nd set and by far best tire to date.

timmins

Already done, there was a slight improvement. Indy couldn't find any sign of worn subframe mounts. He suggested new shocks, but I'm not convinced. I think this car is due for a trip to the stealer for a hopefully better informed second opinion.

timmins

Thanks for the suggestions. I did do the sway bar end links also.

armaniE55

How many miles? Probably do need shocks. When I bought mine w/50k miles I changed shocks and springs right away. That's usually the first thing I due to my cars that have around 50k.

Edit: Keep us posted

beachjustice

Every time I put my car in reverse, back up and then straighten the wheel, I get a loud thud around the front passenger wheel area. I just had my entire suspension (minus the sway bar links) done 2,000 miles ago and the car handles great, and never makes this noise at any other time, only when in reverse and turning the steering wheel.

My indy, who is really good, says its probably a loud front ball joint. He put the car up and didn't see any damage anywhere. Does this sound like it could be the sway bar though?

armaniE55

Ha! That's exactly how mine started to go and the problem is that it's really hard to see if it's actually going bad. The only way Sullivan Tire found it was (right above the bushing) due to a smudge from the sway bar link bushing. I had them show me.....

The bushing itself was in pretty bad shape. No more clunking noise-

Just make sure to go OEM. The part itself was pretty cheap

100% sway bar bushing. Even more so if everything else is tight-

beachjustice

Awesome, thanks for the help man. Going to call my indy today, will post back after its taken care of.

armaniE55

NP brother- That's what the forums are for.

Armani