Today, while at a stoplight during a windy rainstorm today, as my iPod skipped songs, I heard a loud noise coming from the front of the car. As soon as I took my foot off the brake and let the car roll an inch, the noise was gone. No idea what that was. Drove and stopped just fine.

Now, I notice that when going slowly down a bumpy road, there'* a loud "chunk" sound from the left front wheel when I hit a bump. Drives and stops just fine. The car surges and shakes on the highway, as it has been for a long time, but I've assumed it'* been the transmission acting up (I know my TCC'* been acting up).

From searching, these are my best guesses: shocks, struts, wheel, CV joints, wheel bearings, axle. Anyone have an idea what to check and test? I don't have a jack or jackstands, only ramps.

Is the noise a metallic sound or a thud?

The only advice I can give is to go out and push down on the front of the car and see if you can hear anything. This is also a way to test the struts, when the car goes down and then comes back up and it should stay up, if it bounces up and down then the struts are bad.

Look under the car for anything right behind the wheels that'* not hooked up.

obviously not a Bonneville but the setup is similar. I would start by looking at the struts, sway bar and the steering components.

if it was making a noise while sitting still sounds like a CV problem

Justin: I'd have worried about it more had the noise not happened only once. With all of the rain, wind, and traffic around me, it could have been the ricer taking off in front of me.

Rockstar: It'* a thud. When I push on the driver'* front end, the car bounces down, comes back up, and then one more very gentle down-up. If you try to do it a second time, it feels like it should — down and the up, very stiffly, as if the first push compressed the shocks. For what it'* worth, Bill gave the car this test last summer, and said it was fine. (Of course, that was over six months ago.)

Based on Rockstar'* diagram, the sound seems to be coming from the strut area. Luckily, I can pick one up nearby for only $30. I watched one get installed at the last Enfield meet… didn't seem too hard, as long as my roommate and I can compress it.

So reworking what you said the sound sounds like a strut mount. or bad strut.

Well, I ramped it up, and my manager started bouncing the body around. Turns out it'* actually the sway bar link. My other manager, who used to run a local speed shop back in the day, said it'd be $10-$20 and half an hour.

The usual questions apply: what should I get, and how do I change it?

Though I can't imagine a sway bar link will change anything, it'* worth mentioning that I'd like to tighten up the suspension in the long run. (I've got the FE1 "soft ride" suspension.)

EDIT: Here'* a picture (attached). With someone pushing down on the car from above, this part separates across the circled spot.

Talk to bill he knows the after market parts numbers. Might as well do both sides. And and if bill can't help I'm back in New haven so I coudl help out if you come down here or I come up there.

Read this. https://www.gmforum.com/mechanical-134/sway-bar-end-bushings-replace-285040/

Good thing it was a simple fix!... I had something similar and it turned out to be the Motor mounts... Mechanic told me they were so bad if one failed they were all going at once!

I thought endlink on the first post. Had lots of experience once having a W body though.

Stiffer links will be urethane. Energy Suspension 9.8105 will be the part number. Add a G to the end for black ones, and R for red. Autozone usually stocks them.

If you really want it to stiffen up, go on Advance'* website and get the red urethane center bushings for your sway bar. The center bushings actually make more of a difference than the endlinks.