66and06stangs

I'm at a loss here... my 2006 has a clunk in the front end. I've replaced the lower arms, that were inclusive with ball joints, I've put 2 sets of end links on, got the cheapies and then replaced them with better ones hoping to get rid of the clunk when I drive over something a little bigger than a rock. I've replaced all the tie rods, basically the entirety of the front suspension. The car had new looking struts, but I bought (what I thought were really good) Monroe Quick Struts, and then had the car put into the shop to look at the clunk and to align the front end. The shop tells me the clunk is in the struts.... I'm a little out of ideas on this one. The shop I had do the alignment said that the Monroes have a lifetime warranty, they are the source of the clunk. I bought them from Amazon, which would also probably replace them without too much, but damn... is there anything else I can do? I'm wondering if I need some sort of dampening on the top of the strut assembly. Anyone have any ideas? For the most part the car drives straight and on smaller bumps feels like the new front end that I have, but both turning and driving straight, I get a distinctive clunk on both passenger and driver side on certain bumps. Honestly, kinda pisses me off that I've done all this and might have to replace the struts again, which also means another alignment. I would really like this to be fixed!

Derf00

There are tons of threads on this forum about this. One item you missed, sway bar bushings. Put both front tires up in the air with jack stands on the frame, grab the sway bar and shake it up/down forward/back. You'll probably duplicate some clunking.

I did the same things you did when I was chasing my clunk. My control arms did need replacing but ultimately it was the sway bar bushings.

artsvettes73

I went through this with mine and it ended up being the sway bar bushings. It was the last thing on the front end I replaced. I put new bushings on and still had the clunk. The bushing are urethane and I felt they went on too easy. So I made a shim to go on the flat part of the bushing and the mounting point of the frame out of 1/8 thick HDPE plastic. It tightened up the bar and the clunk was gone. That bar has a slight movement left to right and I believe the bar was hitting the stops that keep the bar centered. If the bushings were made of rubber I doubt this would have ever been an issue.

08'MustangDude

Yep, sway bar bushings, then end links...

66and06stangs

Guys I apologize, I guess I need to spend more time refining my searches. I came up with literally hundreds, but I did search. Thanks for being patient with me, I'll try those sway bar bushings very soon!

66and06stangs

So the first vid I look at after a "sway bar bushings 2006 Mustang GT" search.... "Finally got the suspension all tightened up and no more noises. If you have a clunk in your mustang watch this video."
I know it must be hard to see the same questions asked over and over - thanks again.

66and06stangs

Yup, got under it today... the bushings are cracked on both sides, hard as a rock and very loose. Local parts house does not have them, so they are on order!

Derf00

Let us know if it fixes the clunk.

Quick advice on an easy remove/reinstall method.

Remove the sway bar and sway bar end links all together by removing the two sway bar endlink-to-strut-nuts and the four sway bar bushing bolts.

Then separate the end links from the sway bar to R and R the sway bar bushings. Before reinstalling everything, Attach and torque the end links to the sway bar, then reattach the sway bar bolts and two endlink-to-strut-nuts.

The reason is, it's nearly impossible to get a torque wrench onto the sway bar endlink nuts that go from the endlink to the bar once the bar is on the car. So, if you simply remove and install the end links with the bar it saves you a headache.

66and06stangs

I am editing my entire last post. After bitching about a vendor who has taken very good care of me over the years, the part was on my doorstep this evening when I got home. Honestly, sometimes it is better just to keep your virtual mouth shut... Apologies fellow Mustangers!
Parts are in, will get them on and see what happens with clunk (hopefully NO clunk)!

66and06stangs

Success! I got the kit of front and rear sway bar (stabilizer) bushings. I could NOT get the bushings out of the rear end links, which are named very weird because they are not on the end at all... anyway, I put the front bushings in, and took it for a test drive - NO CLUNK! You guys are awesome, thank you again. I took it for a second test drive about half an hour later just to *not* hear any clunking in the front end. Very nice.

BTW, Derf, I didn't take the end links off the front at all. I simply did one front bushing at a time, I took the bolts off one, the old bushings literally fell off the bracket, put the new ones on and bolted it up, and then proceeded to the other side. That way I didn't have to mess too much with the front end. I had already put new end links on and didn't want to take them off again. The bar stayed put and it was fairly easy.