Hello all,

My buddy has a 71 cutlass supreme and he has a knocking sound coming from the drivers side wheel area.We only hear it when he drives or when the car is parked and you bounce the drivers side up and down with your hand.
What could that possibly be?
He just had new front bushings put in the lower and upper control arms and also new ball joints about a month ago when I got mines done.

 

Sounds like it could be a bad shock. If not check front sway bar bushing. I know from an embarassing mistake that I made when I did my upper and lower ball joints and bushings, I somehow put the sway bar in upside down!Once I flipped it it solved the problem....and if anybody else has never heard of anyone beside me doing that then you aren't being honest!

 

We changed out his shocks last weekend.We thought that was the problem also but after driving it for 5 minutes the problem was still there.
The bushings were also replaced for the sway bar as well as new end links.
Getting a little frustarated.
Anything else?

what about the bearing? Would that cause the knocking sound?

 

Jack the front of the car up and grab the wheel and try to shake it with some force. If it jiggles it could be a bearing. Just make sure you put a jack stand under it before jiggling it.

 

This probably sounds too simple, but did your friend grease the new ball joints?

 

Could be.

Do you have a Chassis Service manual projectheaven? It shows how everything should look and be and how it should be done.
You can get a bunch of those parts in backwards as stated before, tightened too much, too loose, all kinds of things. Disc or drum brakes? Factory suspension and wheels? Did you bounce it with the shocks off to check?
I had one that had a spring not indexed in the pocket correctly and would bind up and pop, drove me nuts until I found it, and I didn't install it either. My inner fender bolts were loose and those things sounded like a suspension knock.
If it's making noise when you push on it while sitting half the battle is won. Better than driving around having somebody lashed to the front of the car or riding in the trunk to isolate it.

 

X2 and it drove to to drink til I figured it out. [But it was a short trip]

 

I had the same knocking noise and I changed the upper control arm and the noise is gone. Hope that helps.