Suspension noise after J02?
 

Hello everyone,

Lately, my car's been making a sort of wobbly suspension noise at low speeds, which seems to manifest itself more frequently since I did the J02 recall a couple of months ago.

It's a mid-to-low pitched wobble noise coming from the front of the car, as it something were loose. Only appears at low speeds on uneven pavement, and seems especially present in colder weather.

Anyone has any idea what it is? Is there anything done during the J02 recall that could create such a noise? It doesn't seem like motor mounts as clutching in / out doesn't change anything.

Thanks!
Best regards,

Do you have a video you can post?

we dumb question is the tires tight or a bad tire lol

Holy sh*t I think i had a mild stroke trying to read that.

Probably coincidental.

I think so too - it'll be hard to make a video of it though, as the noise is somewhat evasive.

I'm starting to wonder whether this might not be some rock in the under engine protection, or said protection being loose.

Is there such a thing as a suspension noise that only happens on very light road imperfections, but not at all on larger bumps?

Suspension noises can be the biggest pain to track down. The only thing tfrom the J02 recall that would in any way cause a noise like this is if they forgot to tighten a engine mount or you batter mounts or something like that. I would say if that was the case, you would have already found the issue or it would be getting worse/worse.

I would suggest going under the car and do the following:
check all the under trays are tight
check your sway bar end links are tight/and not broken
check for wheel bearing play/loose lug nuts.

If nothing comes to light, have someone stand on the door sill, and "bounce" to get some suspension movement and see if the noise is audible while stationary.

I've noticed I have some play in the driver's side foglamp, which might be the cause of the issue.

Also have noisy brake pads that rattle when turning the wheel, I'm thinking those might be the cause of my problem (see this thread: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...t=96633&page=2)

It's been a while, but I've been able to rule out the foglamp and brake pads as potential cause.

I also finally got around to lifting the driver's side front wheel to check for any play around the wheel area. Couldn't find anything loose in the wheel arch, but I did notice some play in the wheel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIWzOI8_dZA

Is this normal? It felt like it was just the column bumping into the steering lock, I could see the steering wheel move a bit as I was fumbling with the wheel. It's the only "loose" thing I could find in this area.

That's a lot of movement. Usually it's worn tie rod ends that cause it, but that almost looks like too much, and there's a weird thump associated with it. Take the wheel off and check everything, it shouldn't be that hard to spot. Make sure the main bolts holding the rack in place are tight.

I had to put a lot of strength to make it move, and the thump wasn't coming from the wheel area.

My guess is that it's coming from the anti-theft steering column lock. As I'm moving the wheel, I'm causing the steering rack to move, which turns the steering wheel and makes the column bump against the limits of the car's anti-theft column lock (and that's what's you're hearing).

I agree, that seems like an awful lot of movement. Also remember that if the wheel on the other side is on the ground, you probably aren't moving the entire steering rack that much. Don't discount the idea that you have loose suspension components based on a gut feeling or a hunch.

U're lucky if u walked away from the recall work with just loose suspension lol

You had me worried here, so I re-did the same check, this time filming what happens on the opposite side wheel (passenger front), as I'm moving the driver's side front wheel.

As you can see, the other side of the rack is moving too, so it's not an issue in how the left wheel links up with the rack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlGyKHXyz_Q

I also tried again with the ignition on (to remove the steering lock), and the bumping noise you could year in my first video a couple of posts earlier goes away completely, meaning it was indeed coming from the ignition-off steering lock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXqd71NZaVI

With that said, I'm back to square one as to where the wobble noise I hear when driving is coming from.