Whenever I am turning slowly into my driveway, or braking/turning at slow to moderate speeds and the suspension moves, I get this insanely loud BANG! sound coming from my passenger side front end. It sounds like a loud snapping sound, like a tree falling down. It’s incredibly audible outside of the car and sounds awful, like something is breaking in half. Also, sometimes when I turn the car over, I can hear the banging/knocking sound when the engine moves back and forth. The car also has a mild to moderate vibration in the wheel at highway speeds around 60mph.
I was going to check the caliper slides and re-grease them, but I doubt that is an issue. I can push down on the shock tower but it doesn’t make the noise nor does anything seem loose. I can grab the wheel and attempt to move it horizontally and vertically, but there is no play in it.
When the car is on the ground and I get angry and try to manhandle the tire by shaking it back and forth, I can sometimes replicate a popping noise, although it’s not nearly as loud as when I am driving.
The axle had recently been replaced on that side by GM. I hit a pothole and destroyed the CV joint, so GM put a new one in and all has been well up until a few weeks ago.
Any help would be appreciated. I’m stumped as to what this is and GM dealerships are absolutely useless at diagnosing and repairing things swiftly and efficiently unless you bring the car to them with the axle or other broken part hanging off of the car in front of their tech’s faces.
I’m guessing suspension is the same for the two, so… check your lower control arm bushings. We replace those like we do engine oil on the Ion’s.
Also, just make sure your super durable and indestructible sway bar links do not have play. If they don’t, make sure your sway bar bushings aren’t whooped. (I don’t know if Cobalts have the updated bushings but I know some, if not all Ion’s had a crappy run of bushings that would stretch and cause a clunk from sway bar slop).
The whole front end on the car is new as of 1/2010. I did check all of those bushings, and I know what the swaybar endlink noise sounds like because before my accident they were worn out and clunking. :lol:
This noise is MUCH worse, though. It’s loud enough to make people stop what they are doing and stare at my car when it happens. Pretty embarrassing. It sounds like the car literally has just snapped in half.
I don’t care when they were replaced. If they’re oem they don’t last long. CHECK THEM, lol. Make sure the LCA bushing isn’t separating at all or it will make noise.
If all else fails, maybe its a strut mount. Never had one of those fail but anything is possible. Have had struts make noise and have seen broken springs though!
How closely did you inspect the sway bar end link connections? It sounds like something is broken off. I’ve seen it before where the end link connects to the strut is broken off. Also, are you running stock or aftermarket mounts?
If you’re in Albany anytime soon, stop by and I’ll help you take a look. We can pull it up onto my ramps and slide underneath to drive and find if anything is loose…
Sounds a little loud but similar to swaybar endlink or like george said lca bushings. I had a sound similar to that on my silverado turnout to be and control arm bushing. Maybe check your Upper strut mount bushing that was a culprit on one of my past DSM’s
No wheel bearing noise. I’ve been through 3 of those and I know what that sounds like.
It does it if I let off the gas abruptly after giving it gas as well (when the engine moves back and forth hard). It doesn’t do it all of the time though.
how are your motor mounts? If you are still under warranty, go back to the dealership and bitch about it. Take one of them for a ride to show them the noise, and keep bringing it back until its fixed.
I was just going to say the same thing. Check your motor mounts.
If you have cable operated throttle body, open your hood with the car in neutral and rev it, see how much play there is in the engine.
If that doesn’t work, have some one get into the car, bet on the brakes, put it in gear and slowly let out the clutch to put the load onto the car while still on the brakes, to see what’s going on.
Holy shit. I never realized how shitty these cars are built. I would never buy one. Shit you prolly couldn’t give me one. On that note, good luck Chris!
Yeah, that was going to be the next thing I said. How fucking new is that thing anyways? Do I even need to mention that maybe there’s a reason GM ran themselves into the ground, and its possibly related to not putting their cars together well?
A snapping/popping noise is probably a strut mount bearing.
If you’re beating the shit out of it (like most SS/Redlines we ever see) the front engine mount may crack. Usually we see broken mounts in higher mileage cars because the steel insert and aluminum mount get the old galvanic corrosion going on, causing them to become more weak than they originally were.
The trucks are a completely different design from this chassis, but it is the same concept, the rubber separates from the steel inserts and gets all floppy like.:excited
Bearing? Do you mean the universal joint? If thats the case, i-shafts are easy to do as well. Make sure you put MORE grease than whats on the slip joint of the new one or it’ll clunk in time.