I had mine in this week for the dealership to look at. The manager drove it, agreed the noise was there (he said 50% of all Mustangs 2005 and newer he has driven have this noise) and told me they called Ford's tech hotline for guidance. Apparently Ford is very much aware of the issue and they have been working on a fix. The problem is, they have ruled out the suspension as the cause and believe it is a chassis flex issue. Anyone have a strut tower brace and still have these issues?
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2007 Ford Mustang GT Premium - Alloy Grey/Dove interior, 5 speed, 3.55 limited slip rear end, Tunable Induction CAI/SCT XCalibrator 2, Ford Racing Zero Heat Range spark plugs, Pypes Mid Muffler Exhaust, NOS Wet kit w/75 hp shot, 285hp/306tq
God this thread appears on just about every Mustang Forum. I have an 06 GT and it did it from day 1, just like everyone describes. Only on the passenger side. The dealer has been very nice but they gave me the same story everyone else has heard. They did replace the whole front suspension. Some have said it was the vertical sway bar. See attached diagram. I has resigned to live with the problem, but will sue Ford if this issue is the cause of an accident. It is well documented. I did end up having the plastic wheel well liner replaced. It was flopping around in there, the driver side was nice and tight. I thought that might be it but it wasn't. Good news is it isn't getting worse. Since it's not a safety issue you can't expect Ford to fix it. That's my read. If a flaw won't result in a lost sale or litigation they won't bother.
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Man oh man.
You are 100% correct. I remember reading this post loonnngg ago.
The way I found out was I wanted better weight transfer to the rear wheels. So I decided to remove the front sway bar. Jacked up the drivers side, pulled the wheel and then tried to remove the nut from the sway bar end thats attached to the strut............that baby was on there..........like to never got that thing broke loose.
Repeated the same thing on the passenger side.........this time when it came to take the sway bar nut off the strut it came loose with no effort at all.
Since removing the sway bar................I have not had that stupid klunking sound. I did install a BMR Front sway and radiator bracket eliminator.
I'm tellin ya there is something wrong with the design. If you notice where the sway bar ends attach to the struts they are not in the same holes on each strut.............mine were not.
The left handed robot that Fords using should be canned..........uh I mean scrapped.
Anyway this issue is closed with me. Case closed.
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2005 Mustang GT - Automatic WMS 80mm HV Intake System SCTuning by Doug@B A M A chips WMS 80mm 93 Octane Race / Tran Tune BMR Front Sway Delete, IMCO Extreme Axle Back Exhaust, Saleen SS UDP's, PH Aluminum DS, Steeda LCA's, Steeda UCA, FRPP 3.73
I would tend to agree that it is a suspension issue and not a frame isse. I just took mine out to the store and when I got back I backed it in the driveway. Mt drive is cement with about a 3 inch drop on to the road. As the front wheels hit the 3 inch differance I could hear it (more on the passenger side). I went back and fourth a few times and you can hear it each time the wheels drop off. Are 05's 06's and 07's doing this?????
For what it's worth, my vote is with all those who mentioned the links on the front sway bar. My 07 GT was recently lowered with Steeda springs and Tokico D-Spec struts. Almost immediately after this I started hearing the "thunk" from the front end. It had been silent before. After some poking around the front-end with the car on a rack I found that the bolt that attaches the upper link for the front sway bar to the strut was not very tight. After really tightening it down, the suspension is as silent as ever. Check it out; the upper sway-bar links can be accessed easily with the wheel off on a straight floor jack.
Well, I just checked the tightness on the suspension links and found them just a bit loose. I mean, I only turned the bolt about 1/8 of turn. Guess what, that fixed the noise. I can't believe that such a small amount of loose-ness would cause the problem, but I don't have the "thunk" any longer. I'll see what happens in a few hundred miles, if it loosens again. If so, I'll put some locktite on it.
I didn't do anything else to the car. Jacked it up, took the wheel off, tightened the nut, put the wheel on, dropped the jack. So I would say to everyone, check the bolts again. I just did the passenger side one. That's where most of my noise seemed to be coming from. This also would coincide with those that remove the front bar - bar gone, links gone, thunk gone.
I still think it might be poor suspension design that contributes to the loosening of the bolt/nut.
Yeah mine is STILL fine after adjusting - all the usual bumps I would hit on my way to work that would piss me off, I don;t stress about anymore.
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ORIGINAL: My05GT
Well, I just checked the tightness on the suspension links and found them just a bit loose. I mean, I only turned the bolt about 1/8 of turn. Guess what, that fixed the noise. I can't believe that such a small amount of loose-ness would cause the problem, but I don't have the "thunk" any longer. I'll see what happens in a few hundred miles, if it loosens again. If so, I'll put some locktite on it.
I didn't do anything else to the car. Jacked it up, took the wheel off, tightened the nut, put the wheel on, dropped the jack. So I would say to everyone, check the bolts again. I just did the passenger side one. That's where most of my noise seemed to be coming from. This also would coincide with those that remove the front bar - bar gone, links gone, thunk gone.
I still think it might be poor suspension design that contributes to the loosening of the bolt/nut.
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FORD Powered - Saleen Blown 440 rwhp / 421 trq - Tuned by VMP Tuning
The thunking sound your hearing is not limited to the 07's.
This issue goes all the way back to the 05's.
The issue is the front sway bar, rod ends and the attachment to the front struts. The the thunking sound your hearing is probably coming from the passenger side front area.
The only way I was able to get rid of the sound was to install a BMR Front Sway Bar and Radiator Support Kit.
Like you, when I first heard the sound I about crapped my pants thinking that the front right strut was toast and would need replacement.
But since I was trying to go for better weight transfer to the back tires I removed the front sway bar. Lo and behold the thunking sound dissapeared and hasnt been back since...........almost a year now.
If you remove the front sway bar the thunking sound will go away.
I did install a dual Strut Tower Brace to tighten the front end up. The GT performs very well in turns.
Did you install the duel strut tower brace after you got rid of the thunking noise? How does removing the front anti-sway bar enable better weight transfer to the rear end and in what way does it do this? I mean at what point is more weight transferred to the rear wheels other than during acceleration and I suppose powered cornering?
Thanks very much for the input by the way. I was beginning to think I was beside myself with the only stang that thunked. Also, a dealer, 'not the one I baught the car from but in the same county', had their suspension specialist replace both strut assemblies and I KNEW this would be a total shot in the dark but hey it's free anyway and I suggested they try to replace the strut bearings with another manufacturer since I was pretty sure the few mm vertical slop in the bearing has something to do with the thunking noise under non-damped/higher than normal frequency oscillations of the strut assembly. I mean if the shock doesn't react fast enough during jounce and or rebound, that's equates to undamped (no shock absorbtion) moments that have obviously got to go somewhere. Where will it go? To the weakest link,,,,thunk thunk thunk....
Make sense?
Also, I did try completely removing the passenger side sway link, then test drove the car...noise was still there! I have been putting up with it since. It's not that bad and seems to come and go to a degree anyway. Really a pain in the ars though! Especially when driving in city traffic!
Hello Gang, Well, I am going to do the test in the morning. I will check both sides, and tighten the up and lower end link assembly and then test drive it. If still there, I will then completely remove the front sway bar and then test drive it again. I will definitely post what I find in the morning. All other vehicles in my family are Jeep Cherokees, and my son and I have lifted many other Cherokess as well as ours, so we have some mechanical experience in the swaybar and end link area. We did have some of our cherokees make simular sounds due to end link problems, so I am a little excited to try this in the morning with the hopes it is going to help. Sounds funny to get excited about one's car, but after driving a new 07 GT for 4 weeks with a noise that makes you feel like your driving a clunker, it is like getting into a new car again. Talk to you all soon,
Hello Gang, Well, I am going to do the test in the morning. I will check both sides, and tighten the up and lower end link assembly and then test drive it. If still there, I will then completely remove the front sway bar and then test drive it again. I will definitely post what I find in the morning. All other vehicles in my family are Jeep Cherokees, and my son and I have lifted many other Cherokess as well as ours, so we have some mechanical experience in the swaybar and end link area. We did have some of our cherokees make simular sounds due to end link problems, so I am a little excited to try this in the morning with the hopes it is going to help. Sounds funny to get excited about one's car, but after driving a new 07 GT for 4 weeks with a noise that makes you feel like your driving a clunker, it is like getting into a new car again. Talk to you all soon,
Thanks, Casper (Keith Orr)
Not sure your excitment will be long lived. I've had my front anti-sway bar off for months and it still makes the loud clunking.
Hello Gang, Well, I am going to do the test in the morning. I will check both sides, and tighten the up and lower end link assembly and then test drive it. If still there, I will then completely remove the front sway bar and then test drive it again. I will definitely post what I find in the morning. All other vehicles in my family are Jeep Cherokees, and my son and I have lifted many other Cherokess as well as ours, so we have some mechanical experience in the swaybar and end link area. We did have some of our cherokees make simular sounds due to end link problems, so I am a little excited to try this in the morning with the hopes it is going to help. Sounds funny to get excited about one's car, but after driving a new 07 GT for 4 weeks with a noise that makes you feel like your driving a clunker, it is like getting into a new car again. Talk to you all soon,
Thanks, Casper (Keith Orr)
Not sure your excitment will be long lived. I've had my front anti-sway bar off for months and it still makes the loud clunking.
Hey Casp! So how did it go when you removed the links and or anti-sway bar? Did the thunking noise dissapear? Thanks!
How much did you tighten yours? What's the torque spec' if any? What exactly did you tighten? The end links or the clamps/bushings holding it to the frame? Thanks
Hello Wolfey2k, Well, today was boring to say the least. I first removed the end links and zip tied the sway bar up so that it did not move around, then I went for a test drive. I still had some road noise, and it was so little of a difference that I could not tell if it was better. So, I then got home and removed the sway bar as well. Same thing, I still had a noticable noise. I would have to say that there was very little difference if any at all. I got home and reinstalled everything I removed, (sway bar and end links). I took time to do everything with great concern. I made sure that there was no pressure on the end links by using two jacks. I torqued all bolts/nuts with wrench and cheater, to assure that I was getting things as tight as it could ever get. I went for my test drive again and still have the noise. It seemed as though it was not as bad, but I may be at this stage where I am wishing it to go away so bad that I may be convincing myself that it is a little better just to feel better about it. So, my final answer is, NO improvement, still have the noise. Now this may have absolutely nothing to do with our noise problem, but I have a past experience with another vehicle, (Jeep Cherokee), that also had a simular front noise. I had searched for what seemed like for ever in trying to locate the front noise in my Jeep, and I also had the dealer look at it many times as well, with no success. But, one morning I had a flat tire on the front driver's side. I took off the tire and accidentally stumbled across a very sloppy rotor. The machined lug bolt holes in the rotor were well over sized. They were not egg shaped or wollered (sp?) out, they were perfectly round but over sized. I was going to do the front brakes on the jeep anyway, so I went ahead and did it then. I bought new front rotors, pads, etc. But the lug bolt holes in the new rotors were considerably tighter. So far as space between the bolts and holes, there was very little to none. The fit was very tight, not like the old ones, which I could turn back and forth enough to cause noise. Well the end of this story is that after the install of the new rotors, I had no noise at all and have not since. It has been about 8 months since the replacement and I have absolutley no noise now. I looked at my 07 GT rotors and found that there is a considerable amount of play between the lug bolts and the holes in the rotor. Now this may have absolutely nothing to do with anything at all in the way of noise in the front end, but I thought I would add this little experience of mine because at this point, who the heck knows what it could be. Just a stab in the dark guys. Anyway, I will continue to search for the noise and will definitely post any findings on this issue. But, I love the car, and I have a big smile on my face due to I just ordered my CAI and TUNER today from brenspeed. It was a good day after all.
If the holes in the rotor are to large it shouldn't matter with the wheel properly torqued.
Now the calipers could make some noise. I haven't looked at my front ones, but my rear calipers move quite a bit.
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whipple HO SC,FRPP springs, Pypes mid mufflers, Che adj. LCA, hurst, 4.10's, 1 piece DS, spec stg 2 clutch. Accel coils 12.52@117.6mph so far with a 2.01 60 ft time(pre shaft, coils, clutch).
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RE: 2007 Front Suspension Thunking Noise - 
