I'm not sure what to make of this problem since it seems to happen mainly in the morning as I drive to work, after the car has been sitting all night.

Basically as I pull out of my driveway, the overall ride quality feels very rough. This goes on for about 4 blocks until I pull up to a stop light down the street. When I resume my commute, the rough ride is pretty much gone, but if I hit a bump in the road I get this noise that I can feel in the steering wheel more so than I can hear. It's a knock/click kind of noise that almost sounds like when you push in the side of an empty soda bottle (best description I can give, sorry).

It reminds me of when the shock on my mountain bike needed lubrication and it would make a slight click when it initially started moving after compensating for a bump in the road.

The odd thing about this is that once I'm closer to work, the car starts driving like it should and when I leave work to go home the ride is perfect as well. I'm thinking it may be heat related?

I'm no expert though so I'm open to advice on how to address this

 

I've experienced a similar 'problem.' Cold weather usually, the ride seems stiffer in the mornings.

 

I'm guessing it's some sort of bushing somewhere that, when heated from driving, expands so that the "looseness" goes away. An expert opinion would be nice though since I'm not a mechanic

 

Bushings! They go on the shocks all the time.

 

Thanks, guy. I was figuring it would be something like that. My next question is how easy would it be to replace them?

The other issue is that once they heat up enough they operate normally. My mechanic friend's shop is about a 20 minute drive from my house so by the time I get there and he checks them, they'll appear to be fine. He had checked the bushings on the sway bar and control arm I believe and said that they seemed fine.

 

Well we're both convinced it's the strut bushings. I'm assuming they can't be replaced independently of the struts themselves, not too big of a deal though. I found new struts on Rock Auto for $66. Has anyone used them before?

 

I have been experiencing this same problem I had the shocks replace and still got the noise. Still got the noise with the Anti Roll disconnected as well. After poking around, found it was coming from my struts. So I now need to replace them both as I'm getting it from both sides. The bushings on my 02 S-Type are not sold separately, so I have to buy the whole strut I was quoted 1100 for labor and parts from my independent shop.

 

The dealer first replaced my shocks when I approached them with the clunks and squeeks, but they were still there. They then replaced the struts and the sound disappeared for a few thousand miles.

After the sound reappeared, I returned to the dealer and they replaced the struts again. Again, the sound disappeared, but again came back. I never returned to the dealer.

It seems like this is common on the vehicle, I just don't know why they constantly get the noise. I don't notice any ride quality issues, so we just deal with the noise.

 

Apparently the strut bushing is also called a strut bearing/strut mount and these can be purchased independently. Found them on Rock Auto for $43

 

Sorry, been away for a vacation. I'm glad you found the strut bushings.

 

No problem guy, I appreciate any help I can get.

Looking for an opinion/recommendation on whether or not I should do the struts as well when I do the bushings, or just start with the bushings and see if that solves the problem.

EDIT:

Just found the mounts/bushings/bearings even cheaper at JPLV for $33

 

Been away again;-)

I'd just go for the bushings. Its happened a couple of times to me...

 

Thanks again guy, hope your enjoying the rest of the summer.

I'm going to take your advice and just do the bushings. I have yet to see an issue with my struts from the basic tests I've done on them so I'm not going to replace what isn't broken.

I was wondering though if you replaced these bushings yourself or took it to a shop to have it done. I would obviously prefer not to pay for labor since I can get these things for $30 from JPLV, but I'm no mechanic. I know a couple mechanics who like working on this car, but they're a little hesitant to start work on the struts after our experience with the brakes turned into a 4 hour job that required a special tool. So if you have done this yourself and could at least give me some basic steps that my mechanics could follow, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

This can finally be considered resolved. It ended up being a bad CV Joint on the right front side. The "looseness" over bumps was becoming worse and worse and eventually the car developed a whine. I suspected at that point a CV Joint. I took it in to a local shop and $200 later the car drives like a true Jaguar again.