nortonneon

Why do i get a thump when i go over a rut or manhole?

firemangeorge

Not to state the obvious, but something is either loose,worn out or broken.

Struts,springs, bearings, control arm bushings, swaybar links, etc.,etc. Could be just about anything. You just have to find and identify the source of the problem. This isn't one to try and diagnois over the Internet. You or your mechanic gotta get "hands on" to find the source of your problem.

Jeda13

Front or rear? My rear's thudded pretty badly and even though my brother in law mechanic was doubtful that my 2008 with 40K would have rear shocks go bad, he found nothing else (sway bar links are the next likely culprit). We swapped out for a pair of $23 Monroe shocks and she's quiet as new. Very easy job, you can do it yourself in a 1/2 hour.

Jim

donbrew

A) the rear shocks DO go bad in short order.
B) the geometry of the rear suspension allows for a lot of "bottoming out".

nortonneon

We replaced rear shocks and front links. Nothing has changed still hear thumping over ruts. Like the front is bottoming out.

badassbowtie

This happened on all three of my "delta platform" cars. Control arm bushings and a frame bushing seems to be the most common problem with the clunk... at least it was from my experience.

people have replaced a lot of parts assuming the noise will go away, few people, change the control arm bushing



this is the control arm

the one at the top of the page is the ball joint

left is the A frame bushing

right is control arm bushing(noise culprit in my case)

nortonneon

Thanx we'll try that..will that require a front end alignment? How difficult is this to replace?

whopper

nortonneon - https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-tutorial-library-21/replacing-lower-control-arms-44378/ - it isn't a fun job but each side should take about 1.5 hrs (ok, I work slow :-) ) - and not many tools are needed (see referred thread for list of tools needed). I haven't done an alignment yet - will see how the tires are wearing - the only real adjustment is the toe-in as far as I know.

Replacing mine, definitely got rid of some serious clunking noises (rear bushing was totally shot on Pass. side - and drivers side was about to go as well).

nortonneon

Thank you so much for all that information...