Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - 07:06 pm, by: Robert Faggian(Tanooki_suit)
I'm resurrecting this old thread in case someone goes searching for information on mystery clunking sounds.
I had a severe clunking sound that appeared not long after installing whiteline adjustable sway bars. It sounded like the entire steering rack was loose and moving side to side, especially when turning hard left. I replaced the steering rack bushes and the problem got worse, and I'd recently replaced LCA bushes and the trans mount, so they weren't the problem.
It turned out to be a loose nut on the left front sway bar link. I tightened it by only about two thirds of a turn (!!) and the clunk disappeared. Which is why I thought I'd dig up this thread and leave the information behind - such a tiny innocuous thing as a loose nut made the car sound and feel like a POS. Now the clunk is gone and the steering and handling are back to normal. By the way, the whiteline figure-eight sway bar links are rubbish - you are much better off getting the DIY links from repco that you cut to size.