I’m having a clunking noise coming from under my 2006 Super V8; and when I brought it to a shop that worked on a couple of my Mercedes Benz cars, they put it up on a lift and couldn’t find any thing...I drove home and the noise was gone. The next day it came back, so they put it up on a life again, and the noise was gone again until the next day! They still don’t know what it is, but we know that putting it up on a lift gets rid of the clunking noise for a couple hours. What could it be? I’m thinking one of the shocks. I isolated the clunking noise to the front passenger side wheel, by going over speed bumps, but it does radiate to all over the car while going over bumps during normal driving. <grin>

The mechanic did say, there was some play (very little) on the front lower control arm bushings, but didn’t think that was the problem. I did tell him to check the upper shock bushing, but he didn’t want to go into taking the shock out without a new shock to replace the old one.

 

Check your front brake pads caliper retaining clip. If fallen off, or not set in the self locking groove, the pads makes a heavy clunking sound as you describe.

 

Read this thread and all of the posts. There is a post by Doug of Arnott which is good information. I finally got rid of the clunk in my car and it is detailed in this thread.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...beware-195091/

This thread is on the same clunking topic from 2015, I chased eliminating this noise with a lot of parts from 2014 forward.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-crazy-154001/

After replacing anything that looked slightly worn (including new air struts in 2016), a new set of improved Arnott air struts cured my clunk. Now it is so much more tight and fun to drive without hearing that low speed clunk on every bump.

 

I’m going back to that shop today and have the brake pad retaining clip checked. But the clunking going away after being put up on a lift and coming back the next day, has me thinking it’s the air shock. If its not the brake clip and I just read through NDW’s two links, I will replace the existing two front shocks. Should go with OEM shocks as opposed to Arnott? I really don’t like the ride of this car, but I do have 20’ wheels...Would the Arnott shocks soften the ride some????

 

I don't know about the ride softness comparison of the AS-2888's vs. OEM. I am very pleased with the AS-2888's though. I paid $775 for my set.

 

The AS2888's worked out great on my 04 XJ8

 

I can almost guarantee it is from your air shocks, especially if it sounds more like a front end rattle than a clunk and you hear it mostly around 30mph.

 

I had a dull clunk going over bumps at low speed. I could not tell where it was coming from it actually sounded as if it was coming from under the dash area.

When I replaced all my rear bushings it went away. I replaced those when I was taking out my diff and I noticed that some bushings were starting to go.

So I got lucky with my clunk.

 

 

A Clunk over bumps normally tends to be anti roll bar drop link ball joints starting to go, if they put the car up on a wheels free lift, the suspension would drop and the weight would be on all suspension parts, particularly the drop links, that could maybe stop the clunking for a little while, seems a bit severe and expensive to go changing out air shocks to try and diagnose a little clunk, I would be more inclined to change the much cheaper links first, see how that goes and work up from there. These links are pretty much a consumable part, seen some cars fail MOT every other year on worn drop links.

 

When I first heard the clunking noise under the car, mostly when going slow up to about 30 miles an hour, and got worse in colder weather, it seemed to be coming from the rear; and sometimes it sounded like I had rocks in the trunk...I replaced the rear anti-roll bar links, because the boots were ripped, which didn’t help (I think). So, from than I tried to narrow clunking under the car down, by going over speed bumps of all types, and the only clunking was from the front passager side wheel.

When I first got this car last October, the first week I owned the car, I ran over a pothole and blow out the passager side tire, which was rock hard anyway, so I bought new tires; and the owner before me, who owned this car from new, was on his third set of tires, with only 46,000 miles on the car, and all the rims were bent. <grin>. Well, the rims now are all straightened and true and the car ride ok; but my thinking is: that the car going on it’s forth set of tires, because of potholes, would be very hard on the air shocks - Going over a pothole with this car (20” wheels) is like going over a landmine!!!

But, it does seems weird, if the clunk is just coming from the passager side wheel, while driving, why does it seem like it’s coming from all over the car! I wind up turning off the radio, like being in the cone of silence, so I can enjoy the surround sound going on under my of car. <grin> I think I bought a real clunker... LOL

It would not be a big deal to change the front anti-roll bar links, and I did check the brake pad clip on the passager wheel, which seems ok; and I can press on the brake slightly while rolling over small bumps and the noise is still present.

 

I replaced drop link ball joints on the anti roll bar as well while doing the bushings in the rear.

Only some of the bushings were cracked but the drop link ball joints were in bad shape and I believe that brian5 is correct. It was probably those that were causing my clunking noise.

I drive a lot in MA and some of the roads are in really bad shape. Will be driving there a heck of a lot more this year. I have 19" rims on the Jag and 20" rims on the Rover.

 

I’m replacing the front anti-roll bar links tomorrow and will update this post after...

John, It’s becoming a sport with this car trying to avoid potholes. LOL

 

Many of the back roads are in really bad shape around the Wareham area.

 

Allot of RT 6 on the Cape from Exit 12 in Orleans down to Exit 1 in Sandwich, just before the Sagamore bridge, was recently repaved, but if you’re traveling in the left lane, the fast lane, you sometimes have no choice but to hit those nice new tires into some deep potholes. And RT 28 through Hyannis area, is like going through a mine field. I went to the Boston Airport last week twice and road through Boston, and it’s even worse. My 1998 Jaguar XK with 17” wheels has no problem with these messed up roads arounds here and rides much better than the Super 8. I do like the Super 8, just taken back by all the problems with this car and the 20” wheels. <grin>

I go to Wareham lots! It’s my go to place for Walmart. Now if you’er ever on the Cape, go to Osterville...It’s the only place, it seems, that every mansion has a new or classic Jaguar in their drive way; and it’s just a beautiful place to visit. I love the Cape, except for the winters here.

 

The Sway bar (anti roll bar) drop links on any car, take an unbelievable amount of abuse, the sway bar is in constant motion, and these tiny little links have a ball joint at each end, thats 4 on each sway bar, they probably move 10 times as much as any other ball joint on a car, and as the bar is linked at both sides, the movement is probably doubled again even the tiniest bit of wear on the ball joints is amplified and travels through the entire chassis, I have found myself hanging from the bar, and I'm no lightweight, pulling and pushing on it and still not found enough movement to justify the amount of clunking they produce, As I said earlier, I find these failing the MOT, (road worthiness test) on a regular basis, more often than not, every 2 years, sometimes every year, especially on rough roads. In my view they should be considered a service item and changed on a regular basis. they might be ok at a yearly service, with no clunks, but i could pretty much guarantee they will be clunking by the next service.

 

Did not know they were that short lived, only that they needed to be replaced, with tie rod ends up front, as well as tie rods on the rear, then alignment, on every Jaguar i've ever bought. Always seem to have the same cheap parts causing the sale of these great cars. Great news if you do all your own work, with Ford parts where they fit, makes them almost affordable.

 

Its the old story, You advise people to use OEM, the test of OEM is when you first need to change the part, 5 or 6 years, as opposed to the after market longevity of 2 years, but the war cry is always... "can you not get them cheaper elsewhere".
Having said that, the OEM ones for the X350 are not bad at about £30 each and you can get uprated for £60 each.

But OEM prices can be deceptive, After market come at say £15, and have all that is needed, nuts, washers, etc, whereas I have bought OEM and had to buy each nut and washer separate at extra cost. And yet we are always told, replace nuts and washers every time.

 

If you have front end noise and can't find the source, it may be the strut which is composed of a hydraulic shocker and air bag combined.

The shocker can fail and become noisy.

I don't know how to diagnose it except "when it's the only thing left".

 

If its not the sway bar endlinks, it's probably the sway bar bushings themselves.