jtp1389

I appreciate that, hopefully it will be taken care of without it, but thank you very much.



It's getting looked at on Wednesday, thanks everyone for the tips and the links.

firemangeorge

Powertrain warranty in almost all cases will not cover suspension parts.

ChevroletCustomerService

No problem! Feel free to keep us posted on how things go next week. We'll be on the lookout for any updates.

Sincerely,

Eddie A.
Chevrolet Customer Care

Gravy

Chiming in to say check your universal joints they tend to slip and clunk with high mileage. I recently had a Hundyi (how ever you spell it). But , the trans had slipped a gear and the more it ran, the trans chewed itself. check for metal shavings. And correct me if I'm wrong I think that has to be scanned? That or your drive train is slipping and chewing itself. Check your oil for metal shavings. I am female and sometimes dont have a clue what the part is called but I can rebuild a dash cluster, pull a steering wheel and rebuild the carb on a 68 Plymouth Custom Suburban, talk about clunks it ate U joints. Have a mechanical inclined friend go for a ride with you. Sometimes four ears can find it.

firemangeorge

U joints are in rear wheel drive cars. Front wheel drives have CV joints.

Sorry,but your post in really confusing and inaccurate.

Check your oil for shavings ? No, that would be trans. fluid AND there is no dipstick to just "check" it.
Plymouth custom Suburban ? Thought a Suburban was a Chevy.
quote:"And correct me if I'm wrong I think that has to be scanned?" Huh ? Not even sure what you're talking about here.

Laco

The HHR is a car that has a lot of noises. There is a lot of road noise, engines are not exactly silent, and there is the infamous front end clunk, which my 2007 has intermittently. Like many of you, I have had it looked at by a very competent front end frame shop, all is well, nothing is loose or broken. They tell me they can eliminate it by replacing the sway bar bushings, which I will probably have done in the near future. Knowing that it is not dangerous, and there is no major failure looming in the near future, makes it a little easier to live with, at least for now.

suitcasejefferson

Unless you have a really good dealer service department, I recommend an independent shop. I don't have any good dealers nearby, including the one I bought the car from. I have a belt issue with my 2011. No way am I going to take it to the dealer. I am fortunate to have a good local shop to work on my late model cars, with things I can't handle. I am a very good vintage car mechanic, but newer cars are a whole different thing. I have never had a problem with this shop, and they charge about half what a dealer does.

Unless you have been off roading it, there shouldn't be anything serious wrong. Struts, ball joints, control arm bushings, CV joints, and steering parts last way longer than 48,000 miles. Sway bar bushings do tend to rot fairly quickly. My former 2001 Malibu, the car I traded for the HHR, had over 200,000 miles on it, had all original front end parts, and they were getting pretty badly worn. It would clunk, and had a pretty bad shimmy when slowing down from 70-75 mph. But that was after 200,000 miles.

Unfortunately, unlike older cars, new cars are designed to be maintenance proof. Old cars had zerk fittings that needed to be lubricated with a grease gun every so often. There is really no way to "maintain" the steering/suspension on newer cars, other than replacing worn parts.


EDIT: As far as suspension and steering parts go, the only ones that time will damage are rubber and plastic parts, like bushings and tires. Time has no effect on steering parts, struts or CV joints (other than the boots will eventually rot and crack) or ball joints. They wear out only with use. Tires will flat spot fairly quickly if you let the vehicle sit on them without being moved very long. Once they have developed a flat spot, they are scrap. You can't balance them, and if you drive with them like that, the plies will separate and the tread will come off. If you are going to let it sit for more than a week, put it on jackstands.