Front End Klunking Sound

[Ozzie]

My 97 NSX-T has developed a klunking/clacking sound in the front end, mainly the passenger side. I have Porterfield pads and a Dali Racing anti=sway bar.
I originally thought that this might be the pads floating around in the calipers, but it also occurs under braking. There is no steering play, and whipping the wheel side to side does not create the sound.
I put the car on stands and yanked on the front end and could not get the sound to develop. It appears to relate to up and down suspension movement, but it does not occur over every bump.
The next step is to jack the car up and take the wheels off and go through everything.
Could it be the sway bar?
Can I take the sway bar off and drive VERY SLOWLY to test for the sound?
Any thoughts would be helpful.

 

[POWERED by HONDA]

Wild Guesses:

-Sway Bar?
-Loose Spare Tire?

 

[Soichiro]

Just an idea - I have not tried this. Put the car up on stands then use a jack to raise a front wheel. Listen and look carefully for interference between the suspension pieces and the sway bar or it's links. Let us know!

 

[NSXGeek!]

Drive over a significant speed bump side ways to compress the suspension only on one front corner, and listen for the sound. If you hear the same sound, the problem is likely the sway bars. Check the bushings, and lube if needed.

 

[WOODY]

my 97 has a similar problem and i also have the dali race sway bars. does yours only do it at slow speeds? does the incidence decrease after the first ten miles youo drive or so? i also have eibach springs and have been told that maybe the rubber sleeve that is in the origional springs was not transfered to the aftermarket part.

 

[Hrant]

Regarding sway bar: based on several tech inspection sessions, we have found that ALL aftermarket sway bars on the 97+ models hit the battery tray corners whether you have lowered the car or not. Trimming a small piece of the tray solves the problem. And you can test it with wrapping the affected area of the sway bar with tape and see if it hits again.

We have also found that if you have Bilstein's and aftermarket sway bars, there is literally no moe than 0.5" clearance between the end tips of the front sway bar and the Bilstein dampners! Did not check it on oem dampners though. Make sure the sway bar is perfectly centered and it is secured with additional clamps if it does not have a collar like the Dali one. Comptech's plastic clamps are not enough to hold the sway bar in place.

HTH, it's a process of elimination ......

 

[Ozzie]

Today I finally got around to figuring out what is causing this sound. The sway bar WAS hitting the battery tray, and I bent the tray back a bit. It still clunked. I changed back to the stock brake pads on the front right, it still clunked. I disconnected the sway bar and moved it up and down. It clunked. The sway bar needs to be greased.

This creates an interesting problem because the car that I am building (FFR Daytona Coupe) uses poly bushings in the rear end suspension. There are some concerns related to the suspension binding when the grease dries up, looks like this could be a real possibility. I guess I'll figure out how to add grease channels and nipples to THAT car.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Ozzie