Wow no need to get rude suddenly... I've researched the hell out of this issue and nothing seems to be correct. I'm really regretting purchasing this car. Can't get it to sound even remotely civil.

 

Did you follow that link? It doesn't seem like it.

I have mentioned it 3 times and it appears in my sig everytime I post. We have now gone 41 posts in this thread and you keep coming up with new things that are addressed in the link.

Not rude, sarcastic. The info is there, it is provided by GM.

 

Sorry. I looked again at the GM bulletin and it says a lot of things like the PCM and TCM bumping together and everything else seems to be steering column related, this is definitely near my left and maybe even right side now. I took another video though this sound is driving me nuts. It's worse on my dirt road I live on obviously. That's where I took this video.

 

So far we have what - 4 possibilities discussed at great length? We can suggest things to check, refer to various articles on diagnosing the issue, but this is really not getting you anywhere fast at all, as the target keeps changing from day to day.

My suggestion is to take it to a GOOD shop that specializes in suspension repairs and have them check it out.

By "check out", that means a hands-on inspection of all the front suspension components: struts, control arms, ball joints, bushings (sway bar and LCA's), sway bar links, hubs, wheels and tires. If you want to continue diagnosing it on your own, you can check some of it with the wheels on the ground, but you also need to securely support the vehicle such that both of the front wheels are totally clear of the ground and hanging loose so that it is not pre-loaded and inspect it again.

 

Ive posted about bearings for the LCA bushings, strut upper bearing plates , so let me know what you found.

 

In my opinion the reason this issue keeps coming back up is that the issue is extremely difficult to diagnose. My HHR SS has had the clunking since I bought it last year. I have replace end links, one strut, LCA bushings, checked sway bar bushings, One engine mount, and checked the bumper for looseness. The other items I plan on doing are the ball joints, hubs, tranny mount, and upper engine mount. The other item that might be on the list is the sway bar due to the fact that the sway bar has two little plastic pieces that (What I believe do is position the sway bar center to the car. Mine have moved and I believe the sway bar is off center and making contact with the control arm.


Once I replace the part that causes my issue I will definitely post on it. As of right now there is no repair I have done yet that has fixed the clunking issue.

 

Stealth, try some gear clamps to hold the bar in place. Can you move it more then an inch each direction?
Did you use 23 mm bushings or 25 mm bushings?

 

I haven't replaced the sway bar bushings since both sets of poly bushings I have bought have larger diameter openings that would have made the problem worse due to the excess play between the bushing and sway bar. Supposedly the bushings were 23mm but both sets seemed to be 24 mm and left a gap around the sway bar. The stock bushings fit tight around the bar and looked like they had been replaced at some point in the recent past. The plastic retainers have moved away from the bushings allowing some left to right movement of the sway bar and since the tolerances for that are small that leads me to think that may be part of the problem.

 

See if you can move the rings back into position and use a gear type HOSE clamp to hold it there to see if that is the issue.
Your bar should be a 23 mm, as you have explained. So I just wanted to give you an idea on how to determine if you need to replace the swaybar, as it will most likely happen again, and any aftermarket bars don't have the plastic rings.

 

Are those on the shelf near the hose clamps?