So I'm swinging back over to this thread since this is about the issue I'm working.

I went through and retorqued the top bolts on both strut towers. One bolt on the passenger side was slightly loose. The knuckle nuts were good on both sides. The brake caliper bolts on the drivers side were slightly loose. I greased the sway bar links. The sound is more of a creaking than a pop/knock now. And I heard it while just driving which is new. Mostly I still hear it when I brake. It's pretty consistent. Seems like it happens when I would expect the struts to compress. So I'll probably order new struts. Hopefully they get here before I head out on a road trip Thursday.

As always, thanks for all the help here!

 

Are the caliper slide pins loose? Are they lubed and slide easily?
are they sloppy and loose in the caliper bracket?

 

I put grease in the zerks on the calipers a few weeks ago. If it was an issue with the pins, wouldn't I hear problems if I pumped the brakes? (But this could very much be a case of I don't know as much as I think I do??) New theory. Could this be the rack? The reasons I'm bringing that up. 1. The creaking/popping started almost immediately after having the outer tie rods replaced. 2. Last night I had the issue twice while backing up and turning to the left.

 

Zerks on calipers????? I( hope you didn't put grease in the caliper bleeding valves.
The slide pins are greased when installed. There are NO zerks on the calipers.
Everything you describe sounds like LCA bushings to me. Maybe hubs. Way down at the bottom of the list is CV joints
If any of the bolts you checked were loose then ALL bolts and nuts in the car are suspect.

 

🤣 And checked the blinker fluid too ?
Honestly. Find a good shop/technician. You shouldn’t touch that poor car again.

 

Oh boy...hehe. so about that I think I know more than I actually do. Let's assume that I made the very amateur mistake of putting grease where it didn't belong. How bad is the trouble I just created for myself?

The CV joints. I seem to remember reading in a post that a sign of a bad/worn CV is getting a clunk when you shift from park or change direction (drive vs. reverse). If that's a sign, I get that thunk too.

 

You might be right, but its not in my budget to pay someone $125 or more to do the work for me.

 

The bleeders are supposed to be sealed, so hopefully all of the graese plopped on the ground and not on the pads.

 

The caliper pins can wear out the caliper bracket



This kit includes boots

This one doesn’t

 

Notes to self:

• There are no grease zerks on the calipers. 🤷‍♂️ (but why does it look just like one??)
• Watch the helpful videos more than once because you probably missed things.
• If Don says it's the LCA bushings, just look at the damn bushings. 🙄 (I did check them, just not the right way.)

Somewhere along the way I got someone's comment instructions and the video instructions overlapped. On the way to the parts store to get a new bushing. I'll let you know how it goes. 🤞