Front End Rattle/Clunk 2007 Charger:

I'm hoping someone like a dealer tech sees this post & can respond, or someone that has experienced & fixed this issue.

Anyway, my car has about 70,000 miles on it & has developed quite a noise coming from what seems to be the RHF. It sounds like something is loose & it makes all kinds of noise on even the slightest bump - it does not seem to matter if you are turning or going straight. There does not seem to be any steering play or shimmy, & no vibrations at speed. It sounds to me like a strut or strut mount problem, or possibly ball joint(s).

The car was in for a routine trans service at my local Dodge dealer in Dec. 2009 & the mechanic said he inspected the front end (ball joints & tie rods) & he said everything looked good.

I want to determine at this point if there are inherent problems with the front suspension on these that would result in these symptoms. I called a local auto repair shop & the owner of the shop told me his wife has an '07 Charger also that developed a clunk & they cannot figure out what it is from. He said they replaced the struts & made sure the BJ's & Tie rod ends were good & everything looked tight. He also said there are 2 lower ball joints on these cars & one is serviced by the dealer only & is mega expensive - like in the $750.00 range. He has done several of these cars in service that had ball joints that were about to fall apart.

Anyway, let me know if y'all have any experience with this. I don't know whether to go to a Dodge dealer or a good front end shop to have whatever work done. It's my company car, so I don't wrench on it at all!

Try riding the brake pedal slightly while hitting a small bump.

If the noise disappears when the brakes are applied, then it probably needs a hardware kit for the front brake pads. Kit costs about 10 bucks at rock auto.

It might not be the answer, but I've seen one do it at 65k miles so maybe that'll help. The metal loses it's 'spring' qualities after a bunch of hot/cold and being beat up over time

Well, I'm going to take it to a front-end shop tomorrow morning. I called the place & they thought it might just be the sway bar link or bushings - I didn't think of that but it sounds feasible!

I saw something on Challengertalk about the swaybar links needing a washer,when they start clunking,I believe Chargers use the same ones.

My Magnum needed sway bar frame bushings and links. Grab the sway bar and have someone grab the roof by the upper window area and rock the car from side to side. If anythings lose you'll fell it in the bar.
Doug

My sway bar bushings wore out and clunked around like something was falling apart. The bushings themselves are cheap and they ware easy to do. And i am pretty sure moog makes the lower ball joints now. Cause the dealer wants you to replace the whole spindle just to do the ball joint. The sway bar bushings are fairly common to wear out on these cars.

Someone E-mailed me this tonight - hmmmmmmm:

I work for a city we have chargers in the fleet cop cars I have replaced just about every cars lower control arm for just the same rattle you are talking about from what i see on the charger cop cars the front susp. is junk and the dealers say sorry out of warranty Crown vics next year im thinking

Harold's Frame Shop tomorrow AM - I'll post what they find. If it is sway bar link/bushings, I'll probably replace them (myself if I have to) with poly bushings, unless Harold's has the poly bushings. If it needs lower control arms, I'm gonna be pi$$ed!

FWIW, my 02 T&C mommy van was making noises going over speed bumps and rocking over the smallest road bumps. Replaced the sway bar end links (look like dumbells with studs on each end)and problem solved. Old ones were loose as an old Pac-Man joystick! They were like 9 bucks a piece at Rock-Auto, my new favorite parts site. Might be applicable.

G/F has an '06 Charger that makes a clunking noise. I told her from the start it was the brake calipers rattling. She had it to 2 dealers and 3 independents. They all told her the brakes are fine. Had sway bar bushings, tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. replaced. It still clunks. The noise goes away when you drag the brakes.

IMHO, this front end design is a wad of crap. Way too many pieces in it for what it does.

Chargerforums. Read till you bleed.

Probably not the same issue, but a few month's ago my wife's 05 300C started rattling a little over some bumps. I got it up on the rack and discovered the brace that runs under the exhaust was only clearing the pipes by about 1/16", so I dropped it and slid a washer under each bolt. No rattle anymore. Of course, last year I had to replace both outer tie rod ends at 70k, so I agree with what was said earlier about the front ends being junk on these cars!

Notorious. Lower ball joints now made by Moog - 35.00 each. Mine has eaten in/out tie rod ends, strut rods and lbjs.

Had the swaybar bushings and links replaced on my wifes 06 Magnum RT, also had the lower steering shaft replaced at the same time.
This cleared up a lot of the clunking and rattling from the front end, and the steering became a bit tighter feeling.
Also have had both tie rod ends changed previous to this.
I haven't been under there to take a good look on how things are put together, but all these parts on a car with 60K KMs, (40k miles) and 99% highway use makes me wonder how many more times am I going to have to replace them.

OK, results are in - sort of. Harolds drove it - 2 different guys - one is the GM of the place. They both heard the noise plain as day, pulled the front wheels off & checked everything out thoroughly. Everything is tight. These guys have been doing front ends for over 20-30 years (each tech that looked at it) & they said the control arms, ball joints, tie rod ends, susp. links, etc. are all tight as can be. The GM guy said there was a LITTLE play in the bottom strut mount MAYBE & that could cause some noise, but they were actually baffled. I just wanted to verify that I wasn't looking at a potential major component failure while going around a curve on the highway! Anyway, next it's my turn to pull the wheels off & take a look. I've been known to find stuff that other "experts" have missed!

I wonder if Dodge has a TSB on this complaint???

Thanks for the input guys.

-Eric

Go here http://www.lxforums.com/ do a search for front end clunk & check the posts that come up,D

Check what I said earlier,on Challengertalk. All they did was add a washer,and the noise went away, There were pictures in the thread,of exactly what to do to fix it. The thread was a few months back,you may have to dig for it. I am going to do this fix to my wifes Challenger,before the noise starts.

Without taking the strut rod off the knuckle there is no way they could tell if its worn or not. Same with the LBJs, they share the knuckle, so unless disassembled, almost impossible to tell whats going on with it together. I almost gurantee the ball joint side of the strut rod is bad, along with the lower ball joints. Thats the most heavily loaded area on the front end.

The lower front strut mount, sway bar frame mount bushings and outer tie rods are common on these.The sway bar slop is hard to see without dis- assembly.

Check the bushings in the tension struts.
They run from the lower ball joint area forward to the frame/crossmember.

Odds are the rubber bushings are shot.

Pics from online.


On Kayse's car they were causing a rattle and shudder when the brakes were applied.
Kayse's car the bushing were waaay worse than the ones in the pics (about 100k miles).

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Chargerforums. Read till you bleed.

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Yep. The factory-installed front end parts on the Charger/300/Magnum are junk, junk, junk.