Evolving clunk or rattle from passenger-side front end -- ideas?

[everybodyever]

I've been hearing this noise coming from in or near the front passenger wheel well of my '99 Camry for months now (I posted about it then), and it's recently changed and become louder. When I brought it to my usual Firestone ages ago, they found no explanation and nothing wrong - but the current sound's driving me crazy.

The noise occurs when I drive on sort of rough streets at medium city speeds. It's an uneven banging/clanking noise, not too hollow or low. It sounds sort of like something hard and heavy flapping up and down against another hard surface (one of my first checks was to see if my wheel cover were loose; it wasn't). If it weren't for where it's coming from, I'd think that maybe some panel was loose and knocking against something as I drove. I hear it at least once pretty much any time I drive the car on pothole-y city streets -- and almost constantly if I'm driving on cobblestones or weirdly paved roads. It almost sounds as I'm driving like it's inside the cabin or floor, but passengers say it's definitely around the wheel.

The sound used to be more frequent, not so loud, deeper in pitch, more hollow, and more like a subtle knocking or rattle -- like a foreign object was stuck in the wheel well (which it wasn't), or like something swinging back and forth and hitting something. THAT noise started last fall, and my replacing the front passenger wheel bearing and inner tie rod ends in December didn't affect it.

Anyway, now it sounds like what I first described; the new noise has replaced the old one. What could this possibly be? Would be it a problem with my strut or strut mount, which were replaced almost a year ago? (If it could be, I'd like to deal with it ASAP since I imagine the mount has a 12-month warranty.) What else? Any advice is much appreciated.

Oh, and finally: Assuming it isn't the strut mount, are other potential problems (stabilizer links, sway bar bushings, control arm bushings) things I really need to fix ASAP? Are they things I could easily fix with my Haines manual while parked on the street? (I live in the city and, while not mechanically experienced, up for learning.)

[Cranky-Condor]

Sounds like a bad strut or maybe the strut is coming loose? .... My 96 Camry and 01 Solara both did that and I have replace then all...

[everybodyever]

Hmm, okay. Even though the front struts were replaced a year ago? (They were Monroe Quick Struts, I believe.) I wonder what the likelihood that the mount is involved and, accordingly, whether I should take it to the place that did all the work originally (to which I otherwise wouldn't return).

Did you have the same change in the noises you were getting?

[Schuy]

The upper strut mounts are know to make noise on these cars

[93celicaconv]

Yes, those upper strut mounts do tend to develop this kind of noise when they age.

Just to test, get yourself a can of white lithium spray grease (or a longer term solution) or a can of silicone spray lubricant (short term solution) and spray the top of the strut mounts visible from under the hood, on top of the strut towers. If the noise is gone, you know your strut mounts are doing this. Then you can fill the cavities of these strut mounts with spray white lithium grease, which should eliminate the noise for at least a year or more.

Try it and see if this helps.