chevy hhr help

[chicken joe]

not sure where to put this, but here goes. i have a 2006 hhr lt. in spring i put kyb shocks and struts, and moog sway bar ends. i still have a noise in the front end. its not affecting how it drives/handles but the noise is pissing me off.

just looking to see if anybody around here has a hhr with similar problems or know someone/or something about them.

thanks mike

 

[paratrooper307]

It would help to know what type of noise it is, could be a variety of potential causes. On my K5 I had this clunk that drove me batty, when I changed the rear shocks I discovered the previous owner hadn't tightened it down enough, and it had wallowed out the bolt hole causing the shock to move when I hit bumps.

 

[chicken joe]

It sounds like my upper strut mounts are shot. But i replaced them when i did my struts, along with the mount bearing.

Its a clunk/rattle going over bumps.

Wheel bearings are good, ball joints looked to be ok. Only other thing i can think of would be sway bar mounts, or lower control arm bushings.

 

[89yimmiJ]

Motor Mounts? Tie rod ends?

 

[ktmoutfront]

Let me know what you find out. My wifes 06 Malibu has one of those clunks. We drove with the hood open and me over the engine trying to find. Never did. I told her to turn the tunes up.

 

[chicken joe]

will do. later this afternoon im going to get new poly sway bar to frame bushings. I have to comment on the outstanding job chevy did when they decided to put my sway bar above the engine cradle.

i have also heard that on the new malibu the lower control arm to frame bushings dont last, but at the same time you need to replace the control arm just to do ball joints. I havnt checked to see if i have a seperate ball joint or not yet.

 

[chicken joe]

Just found out that my ball joint requires a new lower control arm to replace too at $135 a side. so im guessing if my sway bar mounts dont do it, that is going to be my next step. but not untill i get paid again next month

 

[1BEATK5]

Alot of the newer cars dont have replaceable ball joints.

When does the clunk happen? Driving straight? Driveways?

 

[chicken joe]

yeah this is the newest car im going to buy. the next car i get for my chicks is going to have a throttle cable, that censor crap is junk. im not to thrilled about a delay between steping on the peddle to the engine responding, its a 5 speed and i almost every time i drive it i snub it out, or rev the crap out of it and spin the tires.

for your question, it does it going straight or turning, but only going over bumps. it handles like a dream and feels planted, even when its clunking over bumps around a corner. i feel it is 100% safe for my chicks, it doesnt bother her she turns up the radio. she honestly has no idea what im hearing, and says im being to picky. i dont think a 7 year old car with 110,000 miles should have me chasing noises.

 

[chicken joe]

not that i think its going to matter but im taking the car in this afternoon to have tires rotated and ballanced. but they have to test drive it and ill see what they think and let you know.

 

[chicken joe]

well i replaced the sway bar mount bushings, and what a difference. they didnt look bad but it was most of my problem. i would say its 95% better still has a little clunk over bigger bumps and big drive ways. next month when i get paid again im going to replace the lower control arms both sides, and the control arm bushings. and if im not happy then im being to picky, but i feel it sholuldnt make any noise at all.

my sway bar also has plastic stops on the sway bar itself that are on the inside of the buhings, the bushings themself are not as tight as i would like. the sway bar can still slide +- an inch, and i think when i go over a big bump or driveway the sway bar is sliding and that is my clunk but dont know for sure.

 

[jake 03]

99% of the time if you have a gm fwd car and it clunks going over bumps,it needs sway bar bushings. I see that on a daily basis at work.

 

[chicken joe]

just changed them this afternoon and it took care of 95% of what i didnt like. currently the only part of my front suspension on this car that is more than 6 months old are the ball joints/lower control arm and bushings.