Near side clonk

[AliK]

Driving the Z last night I had to virtually stand on the middle pedal at 30mph for an emergency stop to avoid an overexcited voter.

There was a clunk from the front left during the braking and then massive steering wheel wobble as I came off the brakes that disappeared after a half a second. Not witnessed again!

I gingerly drove on and did a full lock to lock turn in a car park - no obvious clunks or unnatural behaviour. Slight vibration at speed but nothing obvious seems loose under the car (tie rods etc).

I get a clunk from the same wheel when I reverse and then go forward so I'm suspecting a brake pad coming loose or something of the such. Haven't had wheel off yet but will tomorrow.

Any thoughts on what may have happened / typical known issues? Advice? Banter? Well meaning sarcasm?

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Well during strong breaking the 'compression rod' as the name suggests does the job of stopping the wheel going back. Therefore check both ends of that (the rear bushes/chassis bracket and the connection to the lower arm).

After that check the ball joint under the strut.

I don't know of any common issues - but others may.

 

[AliK]

Thanks Rob - will let u know what I find.

 

[AliK]

Rob,

Your advice was bang on!

The compression rod nut was on it's last one or two threads!

I tightened it up but not sure how tight it should be as I guess the rubber has to have room to compress. I took it as far as the off side one in the pic below

How tight should it be?


Justifiable paranoia took hold and I checked EVERY nut and bolt on the front suspension. The ball joint on the near side has two small bolts nearest the wheel that took a good turn each too!! Gulp!!

I feel a lot more confident driving to Japfest now!

[edit] dumb question - have I put my tracking out by tightening this up?

 

[jonbills]

The compression rod nuts are meant to be self locking, but when they've been on and off a few times they can undo. Mike sells them.
I think you torque them to something like 40 lb/ft. It'll be in the manuals.
And yes, doing it up will have changed your suspension geometry. On the upside, if you haven't had it changed since it was last torqued, you might have adjusted it to what it should be.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

...........- have I put my tracking out by tightening this up?

The biggest difference will be in the castor angle. This is the inclination of the suspension to the vertical (think motorbike forks). Without castor your wheel would be unstable and you'd have no self-centreing.

 

[AliK]

Thanks fellas - really appreciate all the help / input!