My 2000 XK8 with 57,000 miles has been giving off clunking noises coming from what appears to be the front suspension. I took the car to a friend that is a great suspicion guy. Really good equipment as well. We put it on the rack and unloaded the various joints by jacking at the right spots. He could find nothing that wasn't in excellent condition and tight. I had just completely redone the shock struts reusing only the spring.

My question is, has anyone else had this experience? It seems to be getting worse. The car handles great. But on roads with small bumps it clunks and clunks a lot.

Your suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks guys.

 

Two major issues your "friend" missed.
#1:Upper Shock mounts----Most likely.
#2: Sway bar bushings------Second most likely.

Cheers

 

Sounds like sway bar (anti-roll bar) bushings. Cheap and relatively easy fix,
Regards,

 

Shock struts just overhauled only saving the spring. Sway bar bushing found OK.

 

Is one of the upper cross member supports loose? The bar that goes from upper shock mount to firewall.

 

If you haven't changed those sway bar bushings yet, do so. They do not always look bad but are still able to rattle because the rubber gets hard.

 

I did recheck the cross members not long after I did the struts. As tight as I can get them.

 

Thanks RJ. I will order new bushings today. I looked at them again and, yes they look good. But I will change them anyway. Ran into that problem with my old 240Z a long time ago.

What about the sway bar links. I think I will get new ones and change those too.

 

EZ, you will be surprised how worn the bar bushings get. The links flatten out and look fine, until compared to new. I did the rears on my buddies and made so much difference, he thought I had changed all his bushings.
As a side note, the wife's Jeep has been rattling for a while and I was hoping she would get a Jag XK8 Coupe, but no such luck. Anyway did the front and rear complete sway bars and it rides like a new one. Now she will never trade. Oh, I went shocks and springs first, so we all leave those little old sway bars as a last resort and maybe that should be our first thought.


Wayne

 

I wanted to echo what has been said already. I changed the front anti sway bar bushings a few weeks back. The old ones looked somewhat collapsed at the bottom, but looked "good" overall. The new ones do not look that much thicker at the bottom. The bottom of the bushing fits into a recess in the cross member, and there is very little clearance between the cross member and the bar when everything is new. FWIW, after replacement, the noise on my car is gone.

Another thing: check the position of the bar through the bushings. There is no "stop" or shoulder or anything for left-to-right positioning of the bar. I assume that if the bar has somehow slipped left or right, the end that ends up too much inboard will hit the cross member and make a noise. I adjusted mine to be centered, with the same "gaps" on both sides. For all I know, THAT was the cause of the clunking all along. And yes, this is another zero-dollar fix!

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

What about the sway bar links? I do plan on changing those too.

 

Just my 2 cents, the sway bars links are dirt cheap, change them while you are there.