Hey guys:
My brother and I are both happy Protege owners. We both bought them cheap for different reasons and couldn't be happier with them.
His is a DX with 140K that swiped a mailbox, causing some damage. Mine is an ES that broke the factory timing belt at 179k. I fixed it and have added 28k more so far.
The issue is this: Both of these have clunking front ends to varying degrees. My brother's car is the worst by far, even making a noise when leaving a stop light and anytime the wheels encounter bumps.
Mine is not near as bad even with much higher mileage, but sharp bumps provoke a deep clunk somewhere up front.
I don't know about his car but I've been over the front-end of mine completely looking for something worn out and found nothing. I had it apart 3 different times to do axles and wheel bearings and nothing seems worn..ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, nothing. I've heard about strut bushings going bad, so has anyone replaced those to eliminate a clunk?
My car drives fine, other than I noticed it tends to wear the inside of the RF tire a bit prematurely.
Thanks for any advice.
My brother and I are both happy Protege owners. We both bought them cheap for different reasons and couldn't be happier with them.
His is a DX with 140K that swiped a mailbox, causing some damage. Mine is an ES that broke the factory timing belt at 179k. I fixed it and have added 28k more so far.
The issue is this: Both of these have clunking front ends to varying degrees. My brother's car is the worst by far, even making a noise when leaving a stop light and anytime the wheels encounter bumps.
Mine is not near as bad even with much higher mileage, but sharp bumps provoke a deep clunk somewhere up front.
I don't know about his car but I've been over the front-end of mine completely looking for something worn out and found nothing. I had it apart 3 different times to do axles and wheel bearings and nothing seems worn..ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, nothing. I've heard about strut bushings going bad, so has anyone replaced those to eliminate a clunk?
My car drives fine, other than I noticed it tends to wear the inside of the RF tire a bit prematurely.
Thanks for any advice.
