Thaik

Hello fellow members.

I have made a similar thread about a popping noise whenever going on rough surfaces and when turning that has finally been solved after several years of ordeal. Not that it was that hard to find, but because I overlooked it assuming that because the part was changed, it surely wasn't it.
It ended up being a steering knuckle that had a worn out ball joint socket that became plainly obvious with the wear and tear it sustained during 3 years that I feel so dumb for having not discovered myself, had a shop who diagnosed it for me.

During that time, some other noise started appearing, first it was the passenger tie rod end, then the passenger end links, then the ball joint and the vertical bushing that started having some play.

After replacing both ball joints, vertical bushings, and strut mounts, driver side steering knuckle and control arm worn out hole where the ball joints passes through the control arm due to excessive play between the ball joint and knuckle).

There is still a noise coming from the passenger, although less obvious, it is prominently there.

Went to the shop for a second diagnostic, although not as conclusive as the first one, they showed me there is a play in passenger ball joint, a very slight play but doesn't not totally justify the hard clunking and knocking noise, or does it? It's a brand new part from MOOG. They found the play with a pry by resting it against the inner side of the rim and prying the ball joint right below the castle nut. The knuckle assembly has a slight play not much, but there is.

They told me it could either be a defect or a bad installation where the stud may have been crushed, but I told them I took extra care to make sure the receiving cup I used was deep enough.

They thoroughly checked everything and that is mostly likely the culprit. The rack does exibit some noise when wiggling from side to side when the var is stationary and with the engine off but they said it should be coming from the center and not the center of the car if that was actually the cause.

Whenever I kick the passenger tire, I can hear the noise, but it's difficult to tell where it is coming from.

They even tightened the sub frame bolts.

Another thing is that before replacing the passenger ball joint, the clunking noise was there, only very much looser than it is now.

So my question is, can a brand new ball joint with very minimum play cause such a loud noise? But then again, ball joints are supposed to have 0 play in them. They work mostly on Porsches and they had absolutely no play, the mechanic showed me.
What do you guys think?
Does a small play justify such an noticeable noise? Although not as loud as the previous ball joint, you can't ignore it.

Star1967

Could be hitting against something like a loose wheel well cover.

mikey1

hell yes,

a new ball joint should have ZERO play,

a loose ball joint can be and is very dangerous,

there is a honda bulletin out there about replacing ball joints, you need to measure the hole before you can press in a new ball joint, if the hole is too big you need to replace the entire knuckle,

i will look for the bulletin later on, right now im too lazy