Good day everyone,

I have been having this issue for awhile now. I can't seem to find it, or figure out what is causing my noise. I do hope this is common problem if you could just lead me to the right area, I can search from there, but no luck so far.

05 6spd with the 18" wheels... 100% stock 30k miles (right now). I think is all you need to know about the car.

When I turn or swing back and forth I just get a solid clunk / pop. What sounds like from the passenger front. I don't think I get the noise when I hit a speed bump, although I have not tried it very fast (and I will not try it). It started about year ago, and has not changed. If I go slowly enough around corners it does not make the sound (But I didn't get this car to go slow around corners.)

I don't know when it started, but I noticed it after I had the car aligned, and had all the recalls done. I think they flashed the computer and replaced a motor mount, and a spark plug. I have pulled the plugs out and they all look old, but in good condition. So I don't know if the Mazda place has done anything other look at it. After I got it back from the Mazda shop I noticed the noise a couple days later. May have nothing to do with the alignment shop or the Mazda dealership, I'm not convinced they touched anything to make my noise.

I have taken the tire off each side and tighten all the nuts, nothing was remotely loose. All the rubber boots look good on all the joints. The sway bat end links look good. May not know what I am looking at though. Have removed the strut bar (in the engine compartment) and tighten the strut bolts in there.

Any ideas on what I should be looking for? At? Ideas?

 

Here is what it might be.....let us know if this helps.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...5-08-1948a.pdf

 

Check your end links.

Best thing to do is get under the car and inspect it.

 

I guess I don't understand how it should look if it is bad. The little blue parts look all the same shape and stick out the same length. The black cover all looks good. I tried to give the end link arm a good shake, and it did not budge. I could not jerk super hard as I was afraid to pull it off the jack stand.

 

Cheack the DIY section. do a search for end link in that ssection. You will see drawings and pictures.

 

find someone with a torque wrench.. have them tq the lugnuts to the proper 108 ft lbs.

problem will likely go away..

beers

 

It's either the endlink or the wheel.

 

108 can do, I know they are not that tight. Didn't think it was that high. I though 70 or so was good. Doing the search now for end link. Thanks!

 

when the 8 first came out, the torque settings were lower but some people experienced a noise when turning at low speeds

108 ft/lb is the correct torque setting

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...2-04-1301b.pdf

 

I never use 108 ft. lbs. even when racing.

No problems here.

 

Guys - I've experienced this as well, as have a number of other people if you search carefully.

I replaced sway bars, end links, shocks and sprins with aftermarket parts, and it still happens. It is only while turning, typically right after turn-in during initial weight transfer. It does NOT happen when going over bumps, at least for me.

This is something different, and is not the endlink clunk that other people have had. It sounds similar, because I've had both, but after tightening the links the one sound went away while this one remained.

I only noticed it after about 3 years with the car and have no idea whats causing it.

For me, it sounds like it's coming from the rear, although I'm not sure.

Any ideas??

 

For the OP....you have a major clue as to what the problem most likely is. You say the noise started just after having an alignment done. That's a giant clue. My guess is one of the bolts/nuts that was turned to do the alignment was never properly torqued down. Just pulling or tugging on things from under the car will not always cause them to move. Remember you are turning/swinging a 3,000 pound car around when driving it. Compare that to the 100 lbs of force when tugging on things from under it by hand and you can see why things don't always move as easily while pulling on them. You can try a big pry bar on some stuff or sometimes something as simple as very slowly rasing and lowering the car on the one side will produce the popping noise you seek, just by the weight transfer on the suspension components alone. If you are able to replicate the popping noise, carefully feel all of the components while replicating the noise until you feel the component that is popping. Who knows.....it could be a sway bar end link that looks just fine on the outside, but internally has no lube!

You can also check to make sure there is no rust or corrosion between the wheel mounting surfaces and if there is clean it off with a wire brush and a brillo pad. Then apply a thin layer of anti-seaze before remounting the wheel.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Torqued the tires down and got no change. Removed each tire and cleaned the surface, and torqued them down again no change. Did this with all 4 tires. It's never the easy stuff.

I will note that when I checked the sway bar I made a bone head move, and had just one side of the car jacked up. So like you said even if the joint was loose it was loaded up with a 3000 pound car. I will try jacking up each wheeland see if I can make the noise happen. That sounds like a good plan of attack. I just don't know if I can find a jack small enough to get under the lower control arm... May just be the 7 I have issues getting a jack under.

I have re-torqued all the alignment adjustments right after I noticed the noise. They where all good. I have no bad tire ware, and the car drives straight.

Also, I can not find anything on a search for end link. I was hoping to find pictures of bad ones. I even tried the whole site, and still did not turn up anything that looked like what I needed. Are we sure there is a DIY on the end link issue?

 

You will want to jack up the car from the frame of the car, not the lower control arm because you want to re-create the same senerio as you would when the suspension travels. So if you jack it up from the jack point on the front right the suspension will start it's travel. Then slowly lower it. I'm not saying that you will definitely hear the noise, but a lot of times you can replicate it. I say slowly lower and raise because if you do it too fast you might not get the noise to replicate itself in the certain area of suspension travel that's making the noise because there's not enough pressure on the component for long enough. Since you have tightened the alignment adjustment points down it really sounds like something with your sway bar. If you can't get the noise to replicate the only other option without spending money on new links or bushings first, is to remove the sway bar all together and see if the noise goes away. It's pretty simple and shouldn't take that long to do.

You can also check if there is any play in the front wheel to make sure you don't have a wheel bearing problem.

 

Did you look at this it has pictures of what to look for.....I was your first mesg...

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...5-08-1948a.pdf