briand

Based on what I've learned from this forum it seems the end links and possibly the swaybar bushings are 60% of the front-end rattles. Shocks/struts and steering shafts (universal joint starts to fail somewhere along the shaft) make up the other 40%.

thegodfather

Lower steering shaft, front wheel bearing was replaced, struts & the end links & bushings were checked/examined. But That Does Seem to be the General Conscensis of what the trouble comes from. Alot went & had that and more work done without Any success of eliminating that, what has come to be the mysterious 'Curse of the HHR' (front-end noise & dash rattle) in the high percentage of HHRs. But it Does seem to be More to the Earlier Models, such as my 2006, at least from what I understand. If I Cannot find the Exact culprit to this particular tormenting knocking/thumpng/ratteling/or Which-ever it tends to be at any given time, then I will Forced to Start Over from the underneath front-end, to the tearing apart the Entire dash to Find this. I will Not Rest Until It Does! The dealer did say he is going to check & re-balance the front tires as They Are Dumbfounded as to where else it could be coming from. (I Don't Want to say they are just Dumb, Not quite Yet anyway.) That will be on Wednesday morning since our schedules are booked on Monday & Tuesday. I Will Keep Up-To-Date Posts as to the Progress, or lack of, as I get More into the mechanics of this.
B.T.W. Did Anyone's ever:
1. Shimmy at highway speeds?
2. Just 'Come & Go', Almost at It's Will? (Sometime Does & Sometimes Don't)
3. Seem to be when the temperature is lower?
4. DISSAPPEAR when You Have Someone Else Listen for them? (almost 'taunting' you)
5. Sounds Mysteriously 'Move' Everytime you hear it one spot, but then you listen in that spot, then hear it in another?
6. Have different people say, 'By those descriptions, it could be Anything', when You Know that If there is a noise, then There Has to be Something Causing It!?
7. Just want to say 'It isn't worth the time, money, & aggravation to keep messing with something that is 'Harmless'?
I was just wondering if & what you done, & If Everything You tried Done Nothing except Drain your wallet & time, Did You Just Say 'It Isn't Worth the aggrevation' or just 'Keep at it'?
I APPRECIATE ALL THE ADVICE I CAN GET ALONG WITH YOUR COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS (that have not been Already offered.) WHILE I TRY TO SOLVE THIS MYSTERY-OF-MISERY, as Some Would Put it.
Once Again, Thanks for being here for me guys when I have questions! You Are All Better than Any 'Do-it-yourself' handbooks, or 'How-To' Manuals! You Have Experience, & That My friends Is Better than Any speculative assumptions, just try this, or anything else that No one who Hasn't 'Been There & Done That' Could Offer!

jriddle

I have 07 fall edition 2 LT and the clunk sound might be the sway bar links..mine went bad and only made sound when it hit small bumps

moonsign

I have a 09 SS, Pedders springs, and I have been chasing the font end noise for awhile now. Changed to Moog end links, sameo sameo. Then bought a 6 lead, Steadman electronic ear, and hooked it everything under the sun, again and again. Noise seemed to be comming from the sway bar bushing area.
Bought Energy Suspension poly sway bar bushings, installed today. A little quieter, but still has some front end clunk, over certain pavement, at low speeds.
Bottom line: back to the drawing board to try and pinpoint noise, and fix it. "Moon"

thegodfather

One thing I Have noticed was one sound I was hearing was coming from the steering wheel itself. It would sound like it was from under the dash, But when I would be going at faster speeds, I would feel a shimmy in the steering as I would Brake. (I Know, I Should Have Pumped Them, From what I Was Told so that the heat would not warp the rotor & cause THAT to shake the wheel. The Service Manager at the dealership where I purchased he car from TOLD ME THAT.) Anyway, I decided to just 'sit' in the car and "shake & wiggle" on the wheel, & found a Familiar Noise! I tried Everything to try to get at everything I could to try to tighten that up, but don't know what else to try to get to so I could tighten whatever could be loose. (I Only took the panels off around the underneath, NOT the cloumn itself where you put the key, I am Not Very mechanical so I didn't think it wise to try and take something apart that I didn't know how or put back together. But I Will Try to continue to TRY. That is Just A Suggestion if anyone wants to see if That could be a 'familiar noise' of yours. (P.S. Don't be Afraid to give it a Good Shake & Wiggle, it depends on just how hard & fast it is wiggled to get the sound I get going over certain bumps. Up, Down, Back, Forth, all around, or just every way you can to see if you get a noise.)

AceMan

I heard the dreaded clunking last week. Seems to be coming from drivers side front. Mainly hear it on small bumps and manhole covers etc. at slow speeds. Don't notice it going over speed bumps. At first I thought that maybe it was my imagination but it became too irritating to be that.
I know it's been gone over on this and other threads but I thought I would post it and will do a follow up on what the dealer has to say. I will take it in Monday morning. Two dealers here in San Antonio,TX indicated that they are backed up about 2 days so I probably will not know the final results until Tuesday.
Still under warranty (34K- '09)

thegodfather

You would think that since '06, that the engineering/designing team would have done something to resolve this issue on the HHR's. From '06 till even now, it seems that 99% of the HHR's have that haunting sound that irritates you to the point of thinking, "is this worth it?" But of course we still try to do everything possible to fix & deal with this issue, and keep going on with our day-to-day driving. Someday, One of us IS going to be smarter than the design team at GM and get that darn noise located & corrected. It seems we have ALOT OF KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE on here and that are MUCH MORE MECHANICAL THAN I AM that will Someday have all us HHR owners driving more enjoyable & less irritated while we will look back & recall all the 'fun' we had trying to isolate & correct the problem. (We MAY even laugh about it while we recall these days of, 'remember when we tried....before we finally figured it out'.)
Good Luck to Everybody, & Let's keep in touch with new ideas & attempts on the finalization of this taunting noise that Will Not Beat Us, but We Will overcome!

prod

It can also be caused by worn lower control arm bushings.
There isnt a lot of parts to the front end. Wheel hubs/bearings, struts/bearings, tie rods, steering rack, steering column, control arms/bushings, swaybar/bushings, endlinks. I think it would have to be one of those. Lift the front end, test for play at each spot, removing the springs could help.

AceMan

I may pull the wheel off tomorrow and see if there is anything I can notice that may need repair. It is still under warranty so it may just be best to leave it to the "experts" but I would fell some satisfaction if I found something before taking it in Monday. I have no problems thru the steering column that I can tell-- Just that darn extra rattle
Best description from a non mechanic is the sound is as if a caliper was loose (and it doesn't seem to be) or a bad shock bushing--Just trying to describe the sound to the best of my limited mechanical ability not diagnose the problem.

thegodfather

SOUNDS AWFUL FAMILIAR TO ME!!! That is a sound that I couldn't quite describe, but that is Definetly One I Heard.
I even 'tried' to check those also, which it didn't seem to be. Just like yours...(I am NOT very mechanical either.)