Ok, so my car bumps and thumps at times. When I hit bumps (sometimes) it makes a thumpy bumpy kind of sound that you can also feel. I can feel it on the floor. Today on my drive to town it did it for the first 5 miles or so, but then did not do it after that.

I did a lot of search on here, and found lots of things to try. Here is what I have done.

-Checked the steering box area. Everything seems tight there.
-Checked lug nuts, everything seems tight.
-Used the 12 and 6 position to check the wheel bearings...all good there.
-Used the 3 and 9 position to check the tie rods. It would make logical sense that this would be the problem for two reasons. My car does seem to want to follow ruts/grooves in the road. Second, A couple times when going around curves it feels that the car tries to go straight even though the steerering wheel is turned...then I can feel like a thump and I start turning. But I checked the 3 and 9 and all seems tights. I get a little bit of motion when I really reef on it, but not much. Shouldn't it wiggle with little effort if they are shot?
-Visually checked the endlinks. They all seem present and accounted for, and APPEAR to be in one piece. But to be honest I don't know the real way to test them. I have not noticed any washers rattling on bumps, but its cold outside and I drive with the windows up.

Also note that when I tested my tie rods, only one wheel was off the ground, this is OK proceedure correct?

Any ideas? Don't tell me to go to the nearest member...its not that important to me, just mildly annoying. Also, I am trying to test as much as I can, because I really don't want to spend money throwing parts at it (not that I would understand the proper way to put them on anyway).

What about strut bearings or the struts themselves, or lower control arm bushings? Just throwing out more ideas.

Is there a way to simply/cheaply test these things?

Bounce the car, two bounces good, three bounces bad.

Realistically I would check the motor mounts, LCA'* and strut bushings.

This is the part that concerns me. This is not normal! Sounds like maybe the coupling to the rack is loose or there is other play in the steering that should not be there. I would advise you spend the money to have a good mechanic diagnose this. Could save your life. Steering and brakes are things you want to have right.

turn the stereo down.

Seriously though, it definately sounds like a problem with the steering rack. Take it to a shop and have a mechanic look it over.

Shawn

i think im in the same boat as you Logan....i have an audible thunk in the front only when going over bumps...its reeeeealy bad in colder weather...i think its my upper strut mounts...and my struts are still good...just getting a little tired

It could be that all the important stuff is OK, but, like 1993 SLE said, your strut bearings are dry and sticking. They are essentially the top pivot point when you turn your wheel, while the bottom is the ball joint. There was a member a while back that popped the cover on the top of the strut and got his to quiet down with gear lube (90-140W oil). Let me see if I can find the post.....

here it is:

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...=strut+bearing

my 93 SSE made a thunking noise similar to what you describe and it was the strut bearings. That'* where i would look.