Pendleton

iTrader: (1)

I'm trying to track down a loud pop/clunk/bang that happens when I do a hard, fast right turn (such as going through a tight slalom). My first worry was a ball joint, but they all appear tight. I found that my upper control arm mounting bolts are fairly smaller than the hole they go through. If I take them control arm out and put the bolts back in, I can wiggle the bolt back and forth with my hand, probably about 1/8" of play. Enough so that I can make some pretty good bangs against either side of the hole. Is this normal? There was also some freshly exposed metal in the hole, but perhaps that happened as I was spinning out the bolt.

Other than that, I can't find anything that would make the popping. The ball joints are tight, all the bolts on the frame are tight, I disconnected the swaybar and the noise remained, the engine mounts are tight (and only 1 year old), I took the shock (Koni yellow) out and inspected the spring and it seemed fine. The hubs are tight, and also one year old. I tried different wheels. There just can't be much else to check. It makes it hard to push the car to the limit for auto-x when I'm a bit worried about a wheel taking off on me.

So has anyone else seen this kind of play in the upper control arm bolts?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

The bolts are designed to pinch the bushing on the control arm....so with no control arm in the hole they won't tighten

zendrums

iTrader: (2)

I think these bolts are 12m; check the size