*Thunk* and rattle in left front suspension
 

14 BRZ, 8K miles

Tein Monosport 8K/9K
factory sway bar
whiteline endlinks FR/RR
~2' front camber
17x9 RPF1 w/ 245/45/17
hotchkis front upper strut bar

Ever since alignment, which just happened to coincide with endlink installation, I get a massive *THUNK* out of the drivers' side front when going over uneven road. It seems to happen when unloading suspension, but I can't be sure.

No signs of contact/abrasion anywhere in the suspension. Sway bar and endlink appears to clear control-arm and shock body with room to spare. Re-torqued strut tower bolts, endlinks, spring perches, and verified that spring is slightly pre-loaded.
I've had it up on alignment rack 3x and up on 4 stands in my garage probably 4-5x as well.. with wheels both loaded and unloaded.

When I encounter lesser undulation on that side of the car, the sound that corner makes I can only liken to a spring rattling around a shock body.

At this point, I'm thinking it's a defective strut (<3K miles on them), but there are no signs of oil anywhere either. Losing my mind.

Has anyone here experienced something similar?

Thanks

Turns out a friend had a similar issue with his Teins many years ago, and it turned out to be a failed/failing spherical bearing in the pillowball mount. Google-fu revealed that Tein is notorious for 1) not torquing the strut body nut to spec, and 2) prematurely failing spherical bearings. News to me.

In any case, I called Tein and they confirmed the symptoms sound like spherical bearing failure. I'll be disassembling the strut tomorrow to test. Either way, with less than 3K miles on the coilover, it's going back to Tein for analysis and service (under warranty).

FYI I started getting a thunking noise on my new sway bars. Turned out I didn't grease the bushings properly. This doesn't quite sound like your situation but now someone knows. Good luck