My front passenger side has started popping in the past couple of weeks. I have stock suspension and stock wheels on a 2002 I bought about 3 months ago. The sound at first was faint and something I heard but it was so infrequent I blew it off. It is a dull metal to metal popping sound and at times is fairly loud. Its rotational....meaning it speeds up as I speed up whether on mostly smooth road or over bumps. Bumps do not make anything happen much more or less but since its variable its hard to say. I can say I dont hear any major change over a bump than I do in general. It does not happen all the time but is to the point if I am moving....its gonna happen. I have jacked it up and tried to find something "loose" and cannot find anything with any play at all. Visually when inspecting I see nothing wrong or suspicious either. With the suspension unloaded, the wheel is tight when I pull on it in any direction testing for play. I have loaded the suspension while on a jack and still I cannot reproduce anything. I have inspected the upper control arm mounts and do not see any cracks but they are covered with undercoating so it would be hard to see. I would be suprised if it were the welds but I am at a loss so who knows. I have found no way to reproduce the sound except for driving which makes it very difficult to isolate. If I am coasting and hear the sound consistently and then lightly brake, it goes away. If I let off the brakes it can return. Turning to one direction does seem to increase it a bit but it is variable and not totally consistent so its hard to say that it makes a difference. Steering changes do not make enough of a difference to say it really matters. Rotating the wheel fast while driving does not increase or decrease the sound. Turning the wheel at a stop does nothing as it only occurs while moving.

I am at a loss but every time I drive it I hear it more and louder so it is to the point I am concerned to drive it. Has anyone ever seen this? The fact its what I would consider rotational and that it stops when I brake have to be relevant but I cant piece it together. I have searched both this forum and then internet every which way I can think to and have found very little.

Hoping for an "oh yea" moment for someone rather than speculation. Has anyone see anything like this before? I would really appreciate some help, I generally can figure things out but this one has me totally baffled.

 

Check the sway bar links. the bushings are probably worn out having similar sounds from mine in that same location and thats what it was.

 

[quote name='Reapur' timestamp='1330661541' post='21468459']
Check the sway bar links. the bushings are probably worn out having similar sounds from mine in that same location and thats what it was.
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I'm learning with suspension so bear with me. I do not know how to test or check this. There is no play in it that I have been able to determine. Can you tell me how to verify this is the problem and recommend where to get the parts if this does turn out to be the issue?

 

This is a sway bar end link.



The nuts for the end links on some cars have come loose, this will cause a knocking noise that only happens when one wheel goes over a bump and nothing usually happens when for example going over a speed bump.

If the nut has already backed out like an 1/8 or more then you might need to replace it because the threads may have already been damaged.

 

Honda dealer would be your best bet... or if you wanna save over list prices you could order from www.bernardiparts.com
and they will ship it to you.

I would advise against haphazardly replacing parts on a hunch. If you take your car to a local shop for say an oil change, ask the mechanic to just check them out for you while the car is up in the air, 99% of the time they won't charge you for an hours diagnostic fee. This way you can know for sure before you start blowing money on parts that don't need replacing. After you find out, let us know what it was!

The only reason marc88 replied and posted the photo was to show off his sexy Ohlins TTX coils that I lust over every time I see them. Actually helping you identify what a sway bar end link looks like was secondary I hate you!

 

I took it to a place and had it checked while I had a valve stem replaced and they found nothing unfortunately. I will put it up on jacks this weekend and check every freaking bolt under it. If something is lose I will find it. If its something worn...who knows if I will. Will check the sway bar links first. If the bolts are tight, how do I tell if they need to be replaced?

 

There is a rubber boot on them covering a joint. try to wiggle it around to see if there is free play. It could be worn out like mine and be making noise because of it. The nut on mine is still tight but the actual join in the sway bar end links is worn out which will require me to replace them.

 

I didnt notice any play in the end links. They seem to move freely but as I would expect them to. I didnt notice any play/slop although I didnt have a lot of time tonight and will be more detailed tomorrow. I did find that the sway bar mount that bolts to the frame with an upper and lower bolt....that the lower bolt was "loose". It immediately turned a quarter a turn with not a lot of effort before I started hitting some serious resistance. I compared it to the drivers side and there was certainly a difference as I couldnt budge the drivers side lower bolt with the same resistance and maybe a bit more applied. I'm going to look the torque specs up tonight on all the suspension bolts and go through tomorrow and retorque all of them. May not fix it but its a start since I cant find anything with any play or slop anywhere.

 

At least he didn't post a pic of himself, because he is super sexy!

 

nice

Lust away hehehe