[mbardeen]

The car is on the ground, full weight resting on the wheels. My passenger's side wheel moves slightly and emits a distinct metal clunk when I wiggle it with my hands horizontal.



I think this would be a tie-rod end but I'd like to get some second opinions before I rush off and order parts. Is there anything else I should check?

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[tamathumper]

Put your fingers into the tread on the top of the tire and push/pull the tire in and out pretty hard. If it clunks then too, you may want to check and adjust your wheel bearings.

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[mbardeen]

Thanks Tama, that was a good call. Definitely movement and the same "clunk" when I do that. Since I just redid the bearings, it seems the most likely culprit. I'll pull it apart and check it tomorrow!

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[tamathumper]

Check this video at about 2:30 to see how he does it, spinning the hub while turning the nut with a screwdriver. This isn't how I read the Workshop Manual, but that part isn't really clear unless you've seen it done either. I'd be interested in someone else's comment on this video.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2lUqvga0n0

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[mbardeen]

I followed that video and tightened both front wheel bearings down properly. The passenger side was still clunking but it was coming from the castor block. I tightened the bolt there and it stopped, so one mystery solved. Still some movement in both the wheels with my hands placed vertical -- ball joints? Also there's a hint of clunking on the driver's side with my hands placed horizontal -- tie rod end?



With my hands placed on the diagonals, there's no movement in either wheel.

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[flash]

your vertical movement could easily be the struts. put your finger at the top where the shaft goes into the strut housing and see if you feel play there while somebody grabs the top and bottom of the tire and moves them in and out.

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[MB968]

Regarding the video, and the nut tighening technique: You do want to rotate the rotor while tightening the nut for two reasons. One is to remove all the grease down to a microscopic level that is between the rollers and the raceway. During operation it will run this way. Failure to do this will result in too much clearance once the bearing runs in. The second reason is that the cage needs to be pulled all the way into the taper of the outer race (as it lifts the hub). The rotation helps this.



Lastly, and this is just my own comments. I like to put a fairly high preload on the new bearing assembly (while rotating the hub) and then back off from that. As you increase the preload by tightening the nut, it will take more force to turn the hub. I usually load it until it takes f fair amount of force to turn the hub by hand. Wish I could quantify this better but been doing it too long, and just to do it by feel. In the odd chance that one of the races isn't seated all the way, this method helps to insure proper seating.

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[mbardeen]

There is play where you described in the struts, Flash. Is that normal or should I start thinking about strut inserts? (please say it's not normal, I want an excuse to upgrade to Koni inserts <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/clap.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> )



I also have a knock on the driver's side inner tie rod end when jolting the wheel horizontally. When I rebuild the power steering rack I'll also take care of that.

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[flash]

lol - thy wish is granted.

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[mbardeen]

So last night while reading about alignment problems here, it dawned on me that I had tightened the control arm to sway bar bolts with the car in the air, thus I probably had an incorrect pre-load on the bushings. Silly really, because when I did the Jeep's suspension I knew that. I don't know why I didn't think it applied to the Porsche. Anyway, with the car on the ground, I loosened the bolts up and then torqued them properly.



The result is the car feels much smoother on the roadway and both sides seem to respond equally to cornering. The gangster lean that the car had developed disappeared as well (the passenger's side was a good centimeter lower than the driver's). Strut inserts and other suspension upgrades can wait a bit longer now. Maybe Santa will bring me some Koni goodness.



Thanks for all the advice!

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[Cloud9...68]

Glad to hear! How did you tighten the bolts with the car on the ground? Did you lower the front tires onto blocks of some kind? Or did you go through a shrinking machine to get yourself down to about 3" tall before you started? <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.png" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[mbardeen]

Yes, Disney stole my invention for the "Honey I shrunk the <blank>" series! <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/icon_lol1.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



There's actually enough room to get at them lying on the ground and reaching around from in front of the wheel. Getting my torque wrench on the bolts blind was a bit of a challenge though.

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[tamathumper]

Do you have a reference to what you were reading?

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[mbardeen]

It was this thread here that jarred my memory:

http://www.968forums.com/topic/2348-gene...confusion/



On the second page there was a post from someone asking about installing the sway bar.

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[tamathumper]

Thank you. Read it. Not sure I'm getting the point about asymmetric pre-load from the suspension hanging, and not sure I see any difference in torquing the bolts either way?

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[mbardeen]

Basically... If I understand it correctly, with the suspension unloaded, you're torquing the nut against both bushings surrounding the control arm. With the suspension loaded, you're only torquing against the top bushing (since the bottom already has it's load).



In my case, I think when pulling the bottom bushing up on the unloaded suspension, it got off center and didn't settle into the receptacle, thus was pressing against the control arm and caused it settle higher than it normally should. When I loosened the nut, it popped into the receptacle and ride height corrected. But that's just my suspicion, surmising from the change in handling and ride height. I could very well be wrong!

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[tamathumper]

Interesting, thanks. Did this take care of the clunk you had? Also, how hard were those bushings - mine are quite hard and I'm wondering if they're supposed to be squishy like the bushings along the sway bar itself?

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[mbardeen]

My inital clunk was definitely related to a loose control arm to castor block bolt. I could twist the passenger's side bolt by hand -- scary! The other bits I've been chasing are just a general suspension checkup.



I don't really recall exactly how hard they were. I'll check over the weekend and let you know.

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