front end "rattle" noise ....

[fsteyer]

so I put in new control arms which took care of the shaking. I did the lower ones last year.Now I still get a kind of rattle from the front end when I drive on rough surfaces. What could that be? Wheel bearings, but it's not a grinding noise? I have close to 100K on the car.

Thanks .......

[gale]

Have you checked the swaybar links? If not that, then it could be the pads rattling in the caliper:

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/brake19.jpg

My son's e34 has noticable wear and corrosion/pitting on his calipers where the ends of the pads register. I felt quite a bit of slop up & down when putting in new pads & rotors a couple weeks ago. His has the same rattle you describe and it sounds like it's coming from right at the wheel. His upper strut bearing/mounts and sway bar links are tight. Loose pads are the only other thing I can think of.

I'm not quite sure how to remedie it other than getting new calipers and/or a different brand pad. Easy enough to check by temporarily sliding a shim in there and seeing if the rattle goes away.

[repenttokyo]

I have a leaking front shock, that causes the same rattle you are describing on my car.

[jonmar]

it could even be bad sway bar bushings.....

[fsteyer]

Thank you for the reply, I'll check it out ..... it's more like a clunk when I hit a pothole or other unevenness in the road. It's difficult to explain ....... are there any other bushings or such in the wheel area other than the ones I already replaced? (upper and lower arms)
thanks again ........

[632 Regal]

a clunk could be the strut collar being loose.


Thank you for the reply, I'll check it out ..... it's more like a clunk when I hit a pothole or other unevenness in the road. It's difficult to explain ....... are there any other bushings or such in the wheel area other than the ones I already replaced? (upper and lower arms)
thanks again ........