Hi all, Our car is making some front end noise over bumps, maybe more so when braking. Sort of a side to side hollow thunk thunk thunk when the bump hit in the road is only going under the left or right wheels of the car. It makes noise if we hit a bump with both front wheels too. The car is riding fine in smooth roads.
103k miles now on our 2008 Clubman. What is the next likely thing to wear out in the front suspension after the sway bar bushings - you know the $5 ones you need to drop the subframe and take the long bolts out of the steering rack to replace (bolt taken out from the top of course)? We had those done last year, and put up with the noise for several months before bringing it in to a shop,
Please help. There must be some order to the way the parts wear out in most cases. Ball joints? Thanks!

 

I would change out sway bar end links next. If the sound persists, then I would look into ball joints. If the sound is still there, lower control arms.

 

Stock front control arm bushings
go very quickly. The Powerflex
ones last a very long time.

 

now that you mention it I did those outer sway bar links first, before paying the shop to put in the sway bar bushings (attached to rack). Sorry I forgot to mention it and thank you,
Inner and outer ball joints? I could do all 4 to be done with that. This is a lot but not as bad as my old Audi A6 with it "virtual" steering point that required 4 ball joint per side
I better do some inspection before buying parts... no sense spending on unnecessary parts right?.

 

Likely another job I am not willing to do, and cannot do safely: lowering the front subframe..