clunk sound while backing out of my drive way
 

So apparently this only happens when i back out of my drive way, it could be my tires but i'm not sure.

So basically i let the car warm up, then i put it in reverse and start pulling out. and as i turn my steering wheel, i sometimes would hear a clunk(about 70% of the time). I have stock wheels and tires and car has not been lowered. anyone else has experienced this before?

Thanks guys!

Problem Solved:

As to my expectation, it was the spring rotating digging into the top mount. this only happens when i'm in reverse because the spring is rotating in the opposite direction, thus making the poping noise. Subaru dealer has put a rubber gasket between the spring and the top mount to see if the problem goes away. after testing for an entire weekend, there seem to be no more noise coming from the front of the vehicle when i put her into reverse and turning.

Subaru dealer has agreed to change the entire strut/spring assembly if the gasket does fix the problem, thus confirming the issue.

edit: it does sound a little like spring or a bushing poping.
edit 2: it doesn't only happen while i back out of my drive way, although i'm 99% sure its gonna happen there every time.
edit 3: Problem has been solved.

Could just simply be the front springs moving around in the strut.

hmmmm........does your driveway slant up or downhill ...... ??

The sound could be the ABS doing a self-test.... ??

Could be the limited slip differential settling in ..... ??


humfrz

its not on a hill, but it is definitely not flat. slight slant upward. if i leave the car in neutral, it would slowly roll backward.

it does sound a little like spring poping.

It may not be a spring, but could be your brake pad unsticking from the rotor. Sometimes rust forms over night and you hear a pop when they separate.

will the rust be visible? because i don't see any. not closely at least, maybe i should. also it pops while i'm backing out and turning the wheel, if its the rotor, wouldn't the sound happens the moment i move?

Rust on a rotor can form within a few hours.

Yes, usually it can be seen ..... but, sometimes you have to look closely.

If the pad was "sticking" to the rotor, then breaking lose, it would make a sound right when you first move the car.

If it is a spring "popping" you may consider spraying a bit of silicone spray around where the springs meet their seat.

Back in the day, we would mix up a concoction of kerosene and oil and squirt the heck out of the suspension parts till they didn't squeak anymore …… :D


humfrz

yah it is very weird. i just went home for lunch and wanted to see if i can replicate the sound. this time i didn't turn the wheel as much as i used to when i backed out of my spot. I still heard the "pop" but it wasn't as loud. it sounds like a spring + rubber pop. and it happens as i get out of the drive way and as the car is turning. very strange...

There's a video in this link. Does it sound like this?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76006

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To isolate it:

Raise the front of the car off the ground. Turn the wheels and see if the pads are being stuck to the rotors.

If not, see if noise is there when you have the car up in the air. If there is noise when you back up and turning, it simply could just be the springs having a tiny amount of play in the spring seat in the front struts.

-alex

sound very similar. except i only get 1 pop, instead of a series of pops.

I've had a clunking for quite some time. This only happens when I set off in 1st gear after the car sits for a while, and it will only happen once. I notice the same noise when I pull up the e-brake slightly under 20 mph. I wonder if its the e-brake sticking...?

Its rust and depends on break shoe brand. Oem toyota does it. Im using Wagner. They squeak but dont 'pop.'

I think it's the end links, lots of people have had that problem (I'm currently having the same problem and have been checking EVERYWHERE) from what I can tell it is slowly getting worse, tried tightening the end links today since a friend of mine said that fixed the problem on his… didn't help: I'm going to bring it in to Subaru (if they'll look at it for free even though it isn't under warranty) and hopefully they can give me a definitive confirmation of my suspicion…
EDIT: By the way @slyphen since it's been over a month… did you find out what was causing YOUR problem?

^I second the possibility of sway bar end links. Mine have come loose on two occasions.

@Keenercarguy the dealer haven't got a clue. they swapped the entire strut and thought it was the strut collar, i still get the sound. i'm bringing it back to the dealer later next week. they told me they gonna get a subaru engineer to come down and check it out.

@slyphen seriously consider asking them to replace the end links, a lot of people described the same problem that we're having and fixed them with the end links. Plus, definitely cheaper than a new strut.
Also super jealous of where you live by the way... I love basically every single part of Washington that I've seen so far.

if you look into the archives of this forum you can find people talking about a weird clunk kind of noise when you reverse out of a sloped pavement onto a flat one .. did you have 1 wheel on the flat and one on the sloped pavement?

I'm experiencing the same issue, but it doesn't have to be on a sloped driveway. It happens any time I turn sharply while moving slowly, and the sound seems to come from the front driver's side area.

I'm going to check the end links this weekend. I've also read elsewhere that it could be a ball joint.

In for updates from @slyphen

now that you said it, for most of it yah, my parking spot is a very slight slope upward, you can't really tell if you are just looking at it or standing on it. And thats where it happens everyday 99% of the time. but at the same time, it also pops on flat pavements occasionally.

My car had this, turned out end link was a bit loose. By a bit loose I mean I had to go at it with a torque wrench but spec is very tight. Enough stress can make the bolt shift in the socket, which is obviously larger than the bolt. Metal on metal.

Check those endlinks and see if it helps. Have you changed your sway bar (s)?

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So I had a professional suspension tech and porsche GT racecar driver look at mine at an autocross today and the second he heard the description he was about 95% sure what it was (I already torqued my endlinks down to a little past spec and there's no way that they are loose by the way). The sound, according to him, was coming from the sway bar bushings on the front sway bar. We turned the wheels and heard the pop and he inspected them; he's positive that's the problem and you can even see that the bushings aren't 100% snug anymore. I've ordered a Perrin 19mm front sway bar and white line adjustable endlinks. I'm going to change the sway bar first and if, somehow, that's not the solution then I will change the endlinks. I'll post my results when I find out late next week.

My popping is fixed!
 

So the suspension tech was absolutely right in my case. I got a new front sway bar entirely (a perrin adjustable one) since this was an excuse for an upgrade. Upon replacing the sway bar the popping was gone entirely. Inspection of the bushings on the OEM sway bar showed clear signs of wear and they were the problem. I also purchased whiteline front end links just in case, didn't even need to install them, so now I can get my money back for those. :)

In conclusion, the popping is gone!

Turn your wheel to one side and get your head down close to the sway bar with a flashlight, you'll be able to see the bushings just fine. The bushing should be fully snug around the bar (there should be a clear 90* angle between the bar and bushing). Check the edge of the bushing (where it is wrapped around the bar) for rounded edges. The left and right bushings on my bar both had rounded edges from pressure and wear, and that was causing the popping. If anyone wants pictures of a good bushing versus a bad one for reference then I can fish out the old bar from wherever it ended up and take photos of the new 08-14 WRX rear sway bar that I'm about to install for pictures of proper fitment.
Good luck!

Edit: I also auto crossed the week before installing the bar and again right after installing the new front bar on a very similar course, at the same location. You are just fine to drive on the worn bushings, they are not the end of the world and you can take your time fixing them. For a BRZ stiffening the front up will add a little more understeer, I have an autocross focused alignment to negate some of it myself and it was still noticeable with the added stiffness of the Perrin (25% or 72% stiffer than stock, I am using the 25% stiffer setting) bar, I am remedying this with a moderately stiff (46% stiffer than stock) OEM 08-14 WRX sway bar in the back. For an FR-S the slightly stiffer front bar would actually make the car a tad more neutral though, so consider upgrading when you attempt a fix!

update on this poping issue. My dealer called in a subie engineer to assess the problem. and to my expectation, it was the spring rotating in reverse and digging into the top mount. this only happens in reverse while i'm turning because it make the spring rotate in the opposite direction, when comparing to turning while i'm moving forward.

the dealer put some kind of rubber gasket between the spring and the top mount where the spring make contact and the noise was gone.

Subaru dealer has agreed to give me an entire new spring and strut assembly, if the gasket did its job fixing the issue. I just want to make sure all problems are solved before going after market. I do have a set of Fortune Auto 500 coming in.

Going to bring this thread back. I have a 2013 FRS lowered on RCE Yellows (about 9000km on them and 19000km on stock struts) and has whiteline camber bolts up front. I have a clunking in the front end (driver side) that occurs when turning the wheel at slow speeds.

I have had a dealership check it out, and while they could replicate it, the could not find what was wrong. I also had a shop that specializes in Subaru's look at it, and couldn't find the source. They took the strut out and checked the top hat and re-torqued everything. What are the odds that its the front sway bar bushing?

the dealer has replaced my struct and spring. issue has been fixed

Ive encountered a similar sound and thought the same thing till i put the car on a lift and found the calipers to be loose. just food for thought.