SO tonight I set out to find exactly, what was clunking. Alot of us have the mystery clunk, so I will fill you in on what I found. I don't trust a shop to 'find' it for me, so instead of them throwing parts at it, it was easier to find it myself.

I out my hands on everything underneath that car that had a bolt, nut, or bushing. Inside of the fender well's behind the caliper bracket there is a bar that attacked to the upper middle of the strut, down to the sway bar. I assume this is GM's idea of a sway bar end link. I had a friend rock teh car as I found out I could recreate the noise by rocking the car back and forth. On the bolt that mounts it to the strut I put my ahdns on it and griped it firmly and low and behold no more clunking noise. My assumption is that there is some type of bushing, that has gone south.

I highly advise anyone with the mystery clunk in the front end to grab ahold of that bar while someone is rocking the car and see if that silences the noise.

-Marcus

 

Good find

IIRC, MOOG makes these with greasable zerk fittings in the ends.. & much better quality..

 

I work at a parts house, I will see what I can get my hands on. I am stoked I found it. When I crawled all the way under there and got my hands on teh steering joint and that wasn't it, I was a little bummed.

 

The Moog # is K750012. The NAPA # is 265-1833. Neither have grease zerks. Were you thinking of the actual sway bar replacement bushings as they have the grease zerks where the original GM do not.

Just bought the NAPA ones this morning. I really belive that a lot of the "front clunking noises" that are complained about are really the end links. Whole steering colums, intermediate shafts and 1/2 shafts have been replaced and the clunk is still there.

 

Sway bar end links & bushings are really only one potential source of noise, but they are also the easiest to diagnose: get under and shake things up. However, I've had a lower control arm bushing replaced that was also the source of a knocking noise.
The next time I have to replace an end link, I'm buying a case of 12.... the good news is that the bolts don't have enough time to rust between replacements, so taking them out is a breeze.

Are the Moogs really more sturdy?

Yves

 

Good find! Maybe a pic the next time you get under the car? Mine really only makes noise when it's super cold out.

 

I was under my 06 the other day and I found both my front struts leaking so that is one problem with my HHR I will have to check those next.the dealer has not found anything according to them my HHR makes the same noise as all the other ones. Yes they all have a knock in the front end....

 

Uh no, no they don't all have a front end knock. I've got over 113,250 miles on my '06 and it has never had a front end knock, clunk or any other front end noise. The road I live on is so bumpy I go a little over 2miles each way every morning to avoid driving on it.

 

Well all the parts house's were out of stock, so I went to GM and paid 5$ more for a GM end link. NO more clunking. I am super stoked about it being gone.

 

You're a very, very lucky owner!