Clonking sound from suspension when turning

I've got an uncomfortable clocking sound from my left wheel when turning at low speeds. Typically parking manouvers. It is relative to the turning of the wheel not the wheel turning. Sounds and feels like metal giving againt metal. I can feel it vaguely in the chassis.

First I thought it was the top mounts, as a seized top mount would result in the spring releasing tenstion agains the strut tower when turning. But as the supras damper/spring isn't turning and only have up/down motion that is out. Annoyingly all symptons fitted very well with that.

I have all new suspension arms, relatively new CW suspension and no apparent movement in any knuckles.

Any ideas where to look?

Subframe bolts

Front or rear mate? Could be suffrage bolts or a worn bush. Have you checked for any play in the arms?

Subframe bolts

It's always subframe bolts

Yup my money is on subframe bolts. Get them torqued up. I done mine. Only 1 was "loose" on the near side. It literally required about 90-180 dehree turn to click off on the torque wrench. Solved my clonking noise

Front or rear mate? Could be suffrage bolts or a worn bush. Have you checked for any play in the arms?

Front. Arms all seem good after a visual inspection. They were installed from completly new a few thousand km back

Subframe bolts

Sweet! Thats worth a look. Don't remember.. are they directly accessible with the car on a trolley jack? I'm guessing we are talking about these:

http://www.mkiv.com/manual/manualtt/general_maintenance/mo14.jpg

@ 125 nm & 200 nm, right?

Yeah that's the ones mate. I done mine with a trolley jack and axle stands, you don't want to run a risk of the jack failing and having a supra land on you

Yeah that's the ones mate. I done mine with a trolley jack and axle stands, you don't want to run a risk of the jack failing and having a supra land on you

Thanks mate, I'll try it out asap

Ok, I've tightened my front subframe bolts up according to specs. 125nm for the "small ones" and 200nm, for the rest. Still get the sound. The 125nm was no prob but the 200nm was an issue with the torque wrench. It never clicked, so I just tightned all I could.

Is there a specific way this should be done that I might have missed? I loosend each bolt, then tightned it and moved to the next.

The sound can be gone for an entire day and then be back the next. For example yesterday it was really bad all the way to when I parked. Even driving into the parking spot. But this morning it was almost gone.. Really weird. I'm parked in a basement so temp are more or less constant. The drive yesterday was just regular city driving..

You need to go over everything, a loose suspension arm bolt/nut can cause the same symptoms. Whilst under the car check the condition of all the suspension bushes and joints, check the wheel bearings for play, gearbox and engine mounts and check the exhaust hangers for movement. I'd also do a thorough check of the brakes.

Thanks. I agree. Must be the way forward. I replaced everything last year. New OEM suspensionarms and all. I will try to tighten everything again. I'm sure there is no play in anything but re-torqing would be worth a try.

I've also had a sound like this one from the rear for years. It shortly dissapeared when everything was replaced but re-appeard. Really annoying.

Any chance it could be the bushes for the steering rack, that gives a bit, as I only have it when there is a twisting motion from tyres turning at low speed?

My mr2 used to do this. Turned out to be the top mount but you said you have checked this. I had to remove the actual strut to see where the problem was on mine though.

Yeah, not top mount. I've even replaced it to be sure and then retorqued the entire LHS suspension. So I can only think of the rack or subframe. But I have loosened and tightend the subframe bolts one by one...