Cool casper! Thanks for giving it a try at least. I hope you do find that noise and kill it! Interesting about the rotors but the wheel and lugs should hold it dead still once tightened one would think. Moosestang commented about his rear calipers being lose. That's strange. I did check my front calipers weeks ago when I was looking for mr. thunk and they are snug as they should be. Someone will figure it out I hope! FORD should get off their duffs, fix the problem and issue a TSB. Especially with all the people they now have complaining about this problem. Perhaps we should get others to send them a letter, email, phone calls and harrass the shiz out of them until they do something about it.
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
I will be taking my new '07 with 300 miles on it back to the dealership this week for this problem. It has gotten a little worse, first occuring predominantly on the right side but now both sides have the problem. I explained to them there may not be a fix for this, so I'll report back when I find out something.
So how did it go? Did the mechanics find the cause of the thunking noise? I was under my car today to look at the configuration of the exhaust system while I was deciding on which cat back true dual exhaust system to buy. I looked at the lower control arms and since I was looking from the front of the car to the rear I could see a gap on the bottom of the rear 'big' bushing where the rear of the LCA connects and is held in place by a huge 3.5" or so round rubber bushing. You can see there is a clamp on top of it holding it in place so it can't move in and out and supposedly up or down in that holder but I swear I saw a gap on the bottom of it and it could be possible that this is where the mystery thunking is coming from. I have other reasons to think so but I won't post them here. I just wonder.....hmmmmmmmmm... I may look further into this after the weather clears up and I have a nice day on my hands.
Went to my dealer today with my 07 gt.They had no recalls or tsb for the clunking.Mine has it front and rear at slow speeds.They checked all suspension parts and found nothing loose.I have noticed that when i have the car loaded with passengers i do not have the noise over the same roads.It must be preloading the suspension.I am going to live with this until there is a safety issue.
I have an '07 GT with the same thunking, and that is the perfect word for it. I test drove about 4 GTs and they ALL had this sound. Car noises drive me INSANE; it's in my genes or something. A few things:
1) I drove an '85 Scirocco with oodles of miles on it and this is the same sound that car had: it was a strut noise. 2) I drove a 2000 Honda Insight and sued Honda using the lemon laws and won. Each state is different to a certain extent on what is required to cause a car to be a lemon. But fairly common to all of them is how many times you take the car to the dealer vs. if they actually fix the problem. For me it was 5 or 6 times and maybe a month total of not having the car to have it declared a "lemon".
I hate to be "that guy" and say sue the bastards, but maybe it would send a stronger message?! And what you get if you "win" is not necessarily predetermined: could be money damages or a total buy-back of the car. I don't want to get rid of the car, but this noise is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE.
One more thing: I haven't heard of a single person on this thread [maybe i missed it] who has put NON-FORD struts on the car. Anybody? Did it kill the thunk?
I checked the upper and lower bolts on the link and they were tight on my 06 GT. I could only get them to move a fraction (more than the 85 ft-lb spec) but it made no difference. I've had the thunk from day one and still have it. I've learned to live with it, although it is irritating to not know the cause.
I have an 06 GT and had the exact same problem. I took it to my ford dealer and after test driving it, the service guy said it was supposed to sound like that. I said no way, so they took an 07 off the lot and took me for a ride in it. Low and behold, it also had the cluncking noise on low speed bumps. The dealer checked their national hot line for complaints and had none on this problem. He said that eventually when complaints came in Ford might do something about it. OK, now listen to this. I wanted to lower my stang, so I added eibach prokit springs with tokico dspec struts. Vola', the noise went away and I haven't heard it since. This tells me the problem is in the factory strut/springs assembly and Ford doesn't want to deal with it.
I presume you replaced the strut bearings with the new kits right? I am convinced now more than ever that the slop in Ford's stock strut bearings are the culprit! However, there is also a possibility that the ratio between the spring tension and the stiff resistance of the shocks may be causing the bearing to THUNK during undamped suspension periods. The tiny bumps are so sharp and so fast that the strut / shock doesn't have enough time to react hence the vibration goes to the weakest point which is the tiny amount of vertical play in the strut bearing. Mine has gotten worse recently. My dealers suspension mech' replaced both struts and bearings with stock Ford strut kits...It's still there. I too have driven other stangs and they thunk too. It gets worse over time.
I am convinced now more than ever that the slop in Ford's stock strut bearings are the culprit! However, there is also a possibility that the ratio between the spring tension and the stiff resistance of the shocks may be causing the bearing to THUNK during undamped suspension periods. The tiny bumps are so sharp and so fast that the strut / shock doesn't have enough time to react hence the vibration goes to the weakest point which is the tiny amount of vertical play in the strut bearing. Mine has gotten worse recently. My dealers suspension mech' replaced both struts and bearings with stock Ford strut kits...It's still there. I too have driven other stangs and they thunk too. It gets worse over time.
I measured the upper strut bearing movement of one of the pieces I replaced. I've replaced both to no avail. There is about .025/.030 movement. However, this movement is eliminated with any load on the bearing. I can't see that the load would be taken off over a small incline.
I've heard it's this bearing, the strut and even one posted that it's the A arm. I really don't know what it is but I feel like my new Mustang is a "clunker"! Almost embarrassed to have friends ride with me. I thought a new car is suppose to be nice and tight.
< Message edited by LarryS -- 1/14/2007 7:43:52 PM >
I get this too. more so on the pass. side though. Happened since the minute I drove it off the lot with 15 miles on it. Figured thats just the way its supposed to be, its a Mustang GT, I thought, not a Lincoln Town Car, so I didn't give it much thought. Not any worse, though, at 3,000 miles. Car rides fine!
yup i get the same nosie on my 06 V6, there is a recall now on the struts, my vin does not match up on the after market struts problem. so im gona put up with the sound as normal for now, and have my dealer inspect them just incase
Hello gentlemen and ladies if there are any out here ;-). I spent the better part of today at my favorite dealer where I have made friends with some of the mech's and service manager as we all like to tell old autoshop war stories and so on.
Okay, while I was hanging out with the guys, the service manager asked me how it's going with the clunking problem. I told him it's still there and I was about to come see him about it so we can get hold of Ford's engineering dept. and see if they are aware of it.
He has to log on to their exclusive dealer only assistance hotline. Waited for him to jump through all the hoops to get to the section where he fills out a form that asks specific questions regaring customer vehicle complaints.
Here's a typed copy of the Q&A. Enjoy and rejoice my friends! Help is on the way! Finally!
**************************
REQUEST FOR DETAILS: DISCRIPTION OF VEHICLE CONCERN: clunking noise over small road deflections at low speeds.
DIAGNOSIS PERFORMED: visual inspection of all suspension components.
PARTS REPLACED: front strut assemblies at earlier service visit.
QUESTION: WERE YOU ABLE TO VERIFY THE CONCERN? ANSWER: Yes
QUESTION: Is there an appropriate pinpoint test in the WSM for this concern? ANSWER: No
QUESTION: Was the pinpoint test followed? ANSWER
TECH'S QUESTION: information to assist in better diagnnosis of concern
HOTLINE RECOMENDATION get off your fat enginering asses and come up with a fix for this friggin problem! < just kidding, I added that ;-). (note, at this point the service manager clicks on send, waits a few seconds and Ford spits out a phone number for him to call. Evidently the number is for the specific person or team addressing this problem at Ford engineering. Then he's sent a LOG of the call and a summary of their conversation as written below.
CALL LOG:
CALLS TO HOTLINE FOR THIS VEHICLE (he entered my VIN and some other data at the beginning of the hoops)
1/16/07 12:15 PM - TECH SAID: NOISE IN RIGHT FRONT OVER BUMPS AT LOW SPEED. THE STRUTS HAVE BEEN ISOLATED TO NOISE, COMPARES TO OTHER VEHICLES THAT HAVE BEEN TESTED IN THE PAST.
1/16/07 12:15 PM - HOTLINE RECOMENDED: ADVISED DEALER THAT THE ISSUE IS BEING LOOKED INTO AT THE ENGINEERING LEVEL. CONVERTABLE MUSTANGS HAVE ALL THE SAME PARTS BUT DO NOT EXHIBIT THE NOISE, SO THEY ARE EVALUATING THE SUBFRAME CONNECTORS AS A POSSIBLE FIX AS WELL AS THE STRUT MOUNTS. THESE ISSUES HAVE TO BE EVALUATED FOR ROBUST FIX AND CRASH TESTED, SO THE REPAIR MAY NOT BE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE, BUT THE FIX IS COMING IN THE FORM OF A TSB OR SSM. THE ISSUE IS NOT STRUCTURAL AND IS ONLY COSMETIC AND IS NOT A SAFETY ISSUE. WAIT FORM MESSAGE TO MAKE REPAIRS. THANK YOU! END OF MESSAGE.
Now I talked with the service manager a bit more analysing what they were saying regarding it only being a cosmetic issue?
He said that they consider it so because it's nothing that is dangerous. It is an cosmetic issue because it is only an annoyance issue. Well that makes sense to me as much as I hate to admit it but they are right. He showed me a blueprint of the subframe to body connections. They are bolts with hard rubber bushings around them with a metal shaft up the middle as with most frame to body bushings on any vehicle. They are small ones, not the huge ones you see on other vehicles.
My theory is that the subframe is flexing to the degree that it allows a tiny bit of side play (normal as that's what the bushings are there for), but the side play is sufficient enough to be a concern or possible cause. The strut bearings are an obvious issue. No need for analyzation. If there is any end play in the bearing i.e. up and down play, it's going to thunk! That's the story folks. Problem solved....almost!
Anyway, I'm happy that Ford is on top of it and we will soon see a TSB out on the issue with the correct and permanent fix!
Look forward to it I'd guess within the next few weeks to few months! Wolfey2k
I´m from Monterrey, Mexico so please excuse my errors . Sadly I can tell you that I have experienced the same problem as you, My car is a 2007 GT and I also drove two 0 km cars before I decided to buy mine and the 3 of them including mine, had the same noise you guys have been writing about . I decided to buy the car accepting that I would deal with that problem, My brother had a 94 Mustang Gt and it was noisy also. Last week I bought a pair Prokit Eibach Springs and set of Tokico D-SPEC adjustable shocks and struts for my car. Before I bought them the salesperson told me that It was incredible the number of custumers buying the springs and shock package for this cars and he also told me that the 2005-2007 mustangs had a design problem with their FRONT STROUT MOUNTS, he asked me If I had noticed any strange noises in the front end and I told him that In the three 0 kms cars I drove, the noise was noticeable . He said the noise was going to be stronger as miles pass. He told me that some times the noise stops when you lower the car , but as you use your car ,the noise will start. He said there was nothing to do by the moment and that he would let me know if some aftermarket part appeared to deal with the problem, With a little investigation on my mustang magazines I read about steeda suspension components and today I found in its homepage : http://www.steeda.com/products/heavy_duty_upper_strut_mounts_street.php that they just released these replacement part for the struts mounts, Not to make this much longer, I decided to order them (they are expensive) and I´m almost sure that the problem will be solved, Check it out , In a couple of weeks I´ll let you know the results, meanwhile read this:
555-8120 Heavy Duty Upper Strut Mounts - Set of 2 - Street - '05-'07 $299.95
Product Details FINALLY! A heavy duty, direct replacement upper strut mount to replace the weak factory mounts for S197 Mustangs that can be used on the street! The Steeda street heavy duty upper strut mounts are manufactured to the same exacting tolerances as our industry leading caster/camber plates. They utilize a roller bearing that exceeds OEM specs to ensure precise suspension control. Will not fail on lowered cars like the factory piece. They eliminate the "popping" sound that is common on lowered cars when the factory upper mount fails. Unlike the factory piece, you can also get an extra 1 degree of camber in each direction with these plates as well. Steeda's heavy duty upper mounts are specifically designed for street use and will not show any increase in NVH when installed.
Price includes a set of two.
Benefits
Better handling with more stable cornering, while maintaining factory ride quality
Precision Tolerance and Fit with the Highest Grade Materials available
Allows adjustment of up to 1 degree positive or negative of camber.
Thanks for the excellent write up wolfey2k. I have a 2006 with the same issue and response from Ford as everyone else. What I find funny though is Ford is on top of it. This is the 3rd year for this model and the issue has happened since day 1. 3 years and they are on top of it? We can expect it to be resolved in 2010 with the redesign. But I doubt they'll address anything that they consider cosmetic for our model years. They told me to just live with it and let it go. I hate to say it but that's what I'm doing. If it gets worse, which it hasn't 14,000 miles later, I'll raise holy hell.
Hey GenMex2, did you get those upper strut bearings replaced with the aftermarket ones you wrote about? Has the thunking noise dissapeared?
Ever since I baught my car, I had it in to service the 2nd day I had it and all the mechanics I talked to there were lunkheads because they denied it was possible for strut bearings to thunk due to the pressure of the return spring and vehicle weight! Geesh! Anyway, I've known the bearings are the culprit since day one. Ford wants to play games and from what one other wrote about their fixes, Ford may never get around to issuing a TSB on it. I do find it interesting that Ford says convertables don't make the noise. There is evidently an additional cross member between the two frame to body mounts and this is the ONLY difference suspension wise. I haven't test driven any convertables yet. I might give on a test drive soon though. I'm going to give Ford until Spring time to come out with the fix. If I don't see a TSB by then, then I may consider purchasing and installing those bearings you found. Let me know how it went with the installation and the result.
Thanks! Wolfey
< Message edited by wolfey2k -- 2/2/2007 3:02:21 AM >
Printable Version
RE: 2007 Front Suspension Thunking Noise - 
FINALLY! A heavy duty, direct replacement upper strut mount to replace the weak factory mounts for S197 Mustangs that can be used on the street! The Steeda street heavy duty upper strut mounts are manufactured to the same exacting tolerances as our industry leading caster/camber plates. They utilize a roller bearing that exceeds OEM specs to ensure precise suspension control. Will not fail on lowered cars like the factory piece. They eliminate the "popping" sound that is common on lowered cars when the factory upper mount fails. Unlike the factory piece, you can also get an extra 1 degree of camber in each direction with these plates as well. Steeda's heavy duty upper mounts are specifically designed for street use and will not show any increase in NVH when installed. 
I think I'll call Ford again.
