Would like to check with those who have experience in resolving noises from the front suspension when the vehicle is going over speed bumps. Usually it's related to faulty or damaged lower control arm of the vehicle, or is it caused by worn stabilizer bushings?

I read that worn out bushings will cause noises from the front suspension but a mechanic mentioned that it is rare for bushings to fail and it is more to damaged lower arm of the vehicle. Replacing the lower arm at the front is suggested as a solution. Any thoughts?

In my case it was lower arm bush.. sometimes bearing.. just get it checked by a qualified mechanic and he can tell you exactly where the problem lies... no point guessing.

Noise can come from many factors, difficult to pin point. Can also come from absorbers.

Thanks for all responses.

Gooroojee, it's true that there is no point guessing. The purpose of this post is to gather the experiences from people who have had some part of the suspension replaced mainly due to noises from the front suspension to have an idea which part is mostly replaced. The mechanic I spoke to mentioned that visual check may not be able to ascertain if certain part of the suspension is faulty most of the time, and for this reason the part would be replaced to see if the problem would go away.

For instance, if a visual check does not reveal any crack or damage to any part of the suspension, do we replace the stabiliser bushings, lower control arm or absorbers? Or replace the whole suspension system itself? Of course, replacing the whole suspension will bring more profit to the mechanic but for the owner it is not cost effective if the non-problematic part is replaced. To illustrate on another point, it may cost RM500 to fix the actual problem but in the end RM2k+ is spent instead, unnecessarily.

Most likely worn stabilizer links on either side, but I changed them in pairs.

If I remember correctly mine is ball joint and steering rack

If the mechanic's method of diagnosing this problem is to replace the part to see if the problem goes away, you better run as far away as possible.

Depends on symptoms: straight road, road hump, turning when moving, bumpy road, accelerating/decelerating, braking, heavy/light load, turning when car not moving etc can help pin point:

Stabilizer bush
Absorber mounting (front tower)
Steering rack mount and bush
Arm bush
Absorber kong

Just some questions :

If absorber Kong, or lower arm faulty/wear & tear..

Would it be an issue if we decide not to change it? Apart from the noises?

absorber cause less grip during full brake.
lower arm cause forever alignment senget

ur car is what. front anti roll use link or attach direct to control arm.

how to identify is jack up visual inspect. or diy rock (shake) the car by push side by side.
all the noise come out

Vehicle maintenance is sometimes very tedious job. Certain parts may took a long time to disassemble and reassemble. For example, when they change the engine mounting, if you change the lower mounting only, well, they will just change that one since they just have to jack up the engine a little to remove the old mounting and replace it with a new one. However if you are going to change the left or right mounting, most of the time, they will advise you to change both sides since it's gonna involved a lot more work, might as well just do it at the same time.

For suspension related parts, well, it's kinda the same. Even though one side may seem fine, but the vehicle goes through the same mileage for both sides. Sometimes you change one side and then the other side also start to be problematic. Well, that's understandable. Let's said the left side worn out more than the right side, that means the left side has more freeplay thus you will tend to hear more sound from that side. Once you replaced the problematic left side, it will be tight and nice, which means it's now the right side which will have more freeplay and may start hearing sound from that side as well. Hence it also depends on the mechanic himself, whether or not he wants to spend some time replacing one side, do some test drive and then decide if the other side is also affected or not. Some would rather just advise you to change both sides since it would means less troubleshooting time and more work done for higher revenue.

This post has been edited by andrekua2: Feb 4 2023, 08:09 AM

Ok thanks for the tip. Car is Ford Focus mk3 sedan. I'm not sure if the front anti roll bar is using link or attached directly to the control arm. I don't know if it has an anti roll bar or how it looks like anyway.

Thanks for the comprehensive post. That makes a lot of sense and is comprehensible. I agree it is advisable to change several parts together even though not all are problematic due to age and wear and tear. In other words the non-problemstic part may fail in time. This is particularly useful if the cost of the part itself is not too costly to replace.

I'm just a bit wary of workshops that may recommend to replace irrelevant parts, parts which do not contribute to the problem at all even though they are old.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Feb 4 2023, 11:29 AM

A note is when I was at the workshop servicing my car, an owner was there to change his suspension for the first time. I was shocked when he told me the mileage of his car - 400,000 km. He replaced his suspension at this mileage. My car is only 80,000 km. I guess I have to drive a bit more get the suspension to show more wear and tear before I replace the whole thing. Perhaps I'll just live with the minor noise of the front suspension. The sound will only come up when driving over speed bumps at moderate speed of say 20 to 30 km/h. If driving at 5 to 10 km/h over these speed bumps, the sound won't be heard when the car is driven really slow.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Feb 4 2023, 11:36 AM

Long time ago same similar issues as TS. For a old waja. Get workshop replacing all stuff, bushing, absorber link etc, but problem still unresolved. Turn up the absorber itself is the issues. After replacing it, quiet as new car

If u wanna safe money, get shop that repair or refurbish your current absorber to be as new, at much cheaper price. Can get survey for shop in FB. Most I know, satisfied with that refurbish practice for absorber. Jimat a lot

Thanks. Will check it out. Any recommendations in Klang Valley?

How much is the cost of refurbishment for a pair of absorbers at the front?

Depends on whether your absorber can be refurbished itself. For coilovers, I remember paying around RM900 to service the front pair.

Distance does not meant anything much. High mileage due to lots of highway drive probably less abusive compares to a town with bumpy roads

Front coilover service for RM900. Must be premium car I guess. If service front and back together, the cost would be higher than replacing all the front and rear suspension of my car.

I see. Yes, the guy travelled a lot interstate journeys so he managed to clock up to 400k km on his 9 year old car. My car is also 9 year old but mileage is 80k km which is a stark difference.

Its not about the car but rather the absorbers themselves. So agian, you don't provide enough information for anyone to give you any proper guidance. Good luck in trying to guess the cost

my car got sound when hit humps and diagnosed lower arm

mazda car? if it is, then its normal

toyota altis

Guys, just an update. Replaced the front absorber (L & R) and the noise is all gone.

Chose the original version as was informed that there are many complaints for the Monroe absorbers after they were fitted onto the car. The Monroe absorbers are cheaper than the original absorbers.

The old front absorbers in poor condition:-





New absorber replacement (original) :-




The guys at work:-



This post has been edited by SportyHandling: May 3 2023, 04:07 PM

No noise from rear absorbers yet so will leave it as it is.

For those who have replaced the absorbers for your car, do you do it all at once for both front and rear, or the front first and rear later on? What are the symptoms that caused you to change the rear suspension? Noise, handling or something else?

Depends on car. If for Honda, the absorber parts kinda reliable and long lasting. Back then with Waja, the stock absorber is low quality, always kong after 7-8 month.

Look like the absorbers are not returning (extending).
The nitrogen gas inside leak out, can cause noise.

The fine dust which is brownish in colour, that is from the absorber cover or something. Something has decayed and turned to dust.

According to the boss of the workshop, he said he hasn't seen anything like it before. I wonder if that's true as if the worn absorbers are the worst he's ever come across. Anyway, it's all good now. No sound and quiet, and drives a bit like new. Rear absorbers still holding up well so won't replace it unless there's noise coming out from it.

Fine dust would be the bumpstop, once those turn to dust, it can enter the absorber and leak oil, clogged the mechanism and leak nitrogen gas.
Seen bunch of it to this level.