Springs Bad?

[Prltlme]

I have a 95 Avalon with 124,000 mile on it. I am having a major noise in the front end when going over cracks in the road, and pot holes. (In Oklahoma pot holes are a way of life) I replaced the all the struts, and replaced the mounts in the front, rears didn't need it. I am still having noise and still is hitting hard in small cracks in the road. My husband and I have looked at all the suspension in the front and nothing is worn or any boots split. So Could this be a sign of the springs being bad in the front? I am the 2nd owner of this car and it sat for 2 years before I bought it. That I am used to driving Hondas and Acuras, and never a family car. So any help will be much appreciated!

Tracy

[Kingdom934]

Originally Posted by Prltlme

I have a 95 Avalon with 124,000 mile on it. I am having a major noise in the front end when going over cracks in the road, and pot holes. (In Oklahoma pot holes are a way of life) I replaced the all the struts, and replaced the mounts in the front, rears didn't need it. I am still having noise and still is hitting hard in small cracks in the road. My husband and I have looked at all the suspension in the front and nothing is worn or any boots split. So Could this be a sign of the springs being bad in the front? I am the 2nd owner of this car and it sat for 2 years before I bought it. That I am used to driving Hondas and Acuras, and never a family car. So any help will be much appreciated!

Tracy

The next thing I would look into the front end 'sway bar link'. These tend to go bad and start making a 'clunking' or a muffled 'clunk' over minor bumbs (or even cracks over road). Rears do also go bad and start making them noise also. It shouldn't really affect daily driving, but it can be quite annoying

[grap112ler]

my thumping noise was finally solved after replacing the front strut mounts. sorry it didn't work for you

[Jack Deth]

Originally Posted by Kingdom934

The next thing I would look into the front end 'sway bar link'. These tend to go bad and start making a 'clunking' or a muffled 'clunk' over minor bumbs (or even cracks over road). Rears do also go bad and start making them noise also. It shouldn't really affect daily driving, but it can be quite annoying

the end links went bad on my 91 tbird, which is admittedly a different animal, but the symptom was a clunky rattle when going fairly slowly over small bumps. i would have sworn the noise was coming from the exhaust or tranny mount because of the way the sound traveled.
btw, i replaced them with moog brand end links. the moogs sucked bad, i replaced them 3 times before the car died. kudo's to rock auto for honoring moog's lifetime warranty, though.

[Prltlme]

Well, I checked all the sway bar busing and links and there really isn't any play in them. That is what makes me wonder about the springs. Even after replacing the struts and upper mounts, the front ends still hits really hard over small bumps and pot holes. Lets just put it this way,m when I changed my struts, the old struts had absolutely no recoil at all on the fronts, so the weight of the engine and all was on the springs. So wondering if those are the culprit to the noise?

[Jack Deth]

it doesn't take much play to make noise. they are tough to check because it's hard to get the load off of them. if they have grease fittings, pump them up and see if things quiet down for a few miles.

[jbfrench]

I had the same problems. I replaced the sway bar bushings in the front and back and the sway bar links. Worked like a charm.