I took my 2007 HHR Premier (10,000 km) in to my dealer today to have the tires balanced (shimmy at 80 kph) and mentioned to the service manager that I had always had the “cold strut thump” noise (noise # 1) but that just this week I have noticed the bumpy parking lot entrance “wheel rubbing / grind, scraping, maybe bed spring” noise (noise # 2) that sounded like it was coming from the rear.

My nearest dealer is hour and half away and just (5 minutes) before I took my car in I double washed it, paying special attention to getting any winter crap out of the 17 inch wheels so it would be easier for the tech to balance. They where as clean as you can get without taking them off, except behind the calipers because I didn’t move that car forward a foot.

I waited for it (hour and a half) and when ready the service manager said that the fronts were out a little bit but that I should pay special attention to washing the wheels because they had dirt and muck on the back of the wheels!

So it is my fault that GM designs a wheel that after double washing with a spray nozzle still has guck on them.

He then said that the steering column intermediate shaft will have to be replaced and that was causing the other noise. Hum, maybe or maybe he needs some shop warranty work, time will tell?

Parts ordered and no charge for balancing and rides great now and as I watched the tech take it for a test drive, what a gorgeous good-looking car (but I think I’m a little biased).

 

i too have been having this problem for a long while now. only when it's kinda cold in the mornings. guess im gonna have to make a trip to the shop

 

me too.

 

What is this noise....sort of like a clunking a bit when over bumps in the road? Is is something that needs to be fixed?



Goose

 

it's like a strut going bad. you can hear it when it's kinda cold outside and when you hit a bump, you hear it like the strut/mount is just gonna pop off. but it goes away after a couple of miles.

 

The ground here is a little uneven due to packed down snow...leaving Dunkys this morning I heard from the front end a little bit of a clunking noise..nothing major...just like something was loose....is this an issue or just a noise?

Is it me or is this a common problem with GM vehicles? My wife's Vue makes similar noises but any vehicle I have had from Toyota, Nissan , Honda or even Ford lacks these suspension noises...seriously what the heck??



Goose

 

The clunking noise might be the steering column... It was in mine. I still have other noises in the front end, and have it in the dealer today to see if they can sort the other noises out.

 

I have a 2006 HHR that also has this scraping/grinding suspension noise in cold weather. It started in March 2007 when it was about 40 degrees outside. Then it warmed up and I never heard it again. I hit 36,000 miles in July 2007, but had no way to explain this noise since it was cold weather related.

The noise came back as soon as we hit 40 (or less) weather. Being out of warranty, I've just been ignoring it, but I'd really like to know what the fix is. Maybe good aftermarket struts will take care of it?

I have an AllDataDIY.com account for my car, and there's no TSB for this issue.

 

They fixed the problem by replacing a (or some) bushings in the front suspension. I took mine in yesterday to have the problem corrected and I got it back before lunch. It wasn't too cold this morning, but I'm pretty sure the problem is fixed. It will get into the 20s here this weekend, and I will check it then.

 

my 2007 with 12,000miles just had the same sounding noise. The dealer replaced a "defective" front sway bar. may want to look into that as well.