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The other day, and along a worn out sealed road, every bump sounded like a thud begin transmitted from the front road wheels up into the chassi.

I sounded like the whole front sub frame was not tight up agains the main chassi rails.

I have standard springs with Bilstein HD shocks up front.

I've recently purchased a bunch of parts for Autohaus arizona for repairing my gearbox, which include new engine mounts and Coil spring pads ( lower left and right for $12.78 US each)

Will changing the spring pads ( I only got 2) make any difference?

Is this thudding a symptom of coil spring pad end of life, shock failure or something else?

chow

Could be a number of things. Your best bet is to inspect. I've heard similar thuds when the front strut nut is loose, or the strut top hat bearing assembly is failing, tie rod ends going out, idler arms loose or bushings wearing.

I'd say to follow your ears and listen for where it's coming from, but if it's that bad, there's a good chance that you should try to find it before you drive it a lot more.

Good luck!

Jason

I've had the strut nut come loose and it makes a lot of thumping. Easy to check and fix though, so hope it's that rather than something more complicated.

As long as you still have spring preload, you shouldn't get thumping from worn pads.

Cheers

nameless wrote:Could be a number of things. Your best bet is to inspect. I've heard similar thuds when the front strut nut is loose, or the strut top hat bearing assembly is failing, tie rod ends going out, idler arms loose or bushings wearing.

I'd say to follow your ears and listen for where it's coming from, but if it's that bad, there's a good chance that you should try to find it before you drive it a lot more.

Good luck!

Jason

good thoughts Jason,
so I jacked front of car up, then put trolley jack under front wheel and raised and lowered it a few times
a sound was coming from Sway bar mountings! - looks like the rubber bits need replacing.
springs a little noisy too.
spring pads looked okay
bump stops all okay
top shock 27mm nut was tight.
3 top mounting 13mm nuts all tight.

Oh yeah the dreaded sway bar clunk. There ya go. Glad you got it found! That's always nice.

I've had to replace a few 'strut mounts' along the way.

Gary, given your list of cars, I'd imagine you'd have a spare sway bar mount or two lying around. Or does this make it time to upgrade?

I heard a thud from the front suspension once. Looked in the mirror to see a Raccoon in the ditch rubbing his head.

Pete K wrote:Gary, given your list of cars, I'd imagine you'd have a spare sway bar mount or two lying around. Or does this make it time to upgrade? :)

oh yeh, I forgot about the parts car ( 79 528i)

I'll have to go and get some more bits off it, already have the exhaust, front tie rod, Auxillary Air valve, water overflow .
Shame its an Auto, otherwise I wouldn't have had to buy another 4 speed manual gearbox

I've even thought about cutting the roof off and using it to replace my rusting pillars on my daily driver ( 77 528i)

Say I heard last night that OZ dollar and US dollar are now at Parity.
Yippee cheaper new parts

Stay tuned. Currency is the prelude, next we're doing our version of the Road Warrior.