Clunk from front wheels - bearings or struts?

[jgatl]

2013 MS RWD, 108K miles. Have replaced all control arms (upper, lower forward and lower aft, all had worn bushings) and stabilizer control bars. Still getting a sound from the front left wheel well. Seems to most often occur when going over bumps or uneven surfaces. Sound is consistent from low through high speeds. See 2 min video, sounds starts at 0:05 and the best samples are between 0:33-0:50. All components are torqued to specs and nothing rattles when testing the suspension for rattles while on jacks.

My next thought was bearings or struts. Air struts function normally, can raise and lower with no issues. Any assistance troubleshooting would be appreciated.

 

[DerbyDave]

Excellent video. The big black cover on the left -- maybe rubbing when the arm is going up and down? If not, everything else looks good. Maybe something is loose or rubbing at the top of the suspension?

 

[jgatl]

Good idea @DerbyDave. That cover on the left is loose because I have removed the front part of the wheel liner so I could attach a gopro to the fan shroud, in order to get a better view of the control arm linkage. The noise still occurs when the wheel liner is re-attached.

 

[beatle]

Bad ball joint?

You mention testing the suspension while on jacks. Not sure if that included shaking the wheel while at full droop and with a load by jacking up under the control arm. Trying both may reveal something. I think the top mount of the strut is also suspect. I'm not sure of the struts on the Model S, but some cars have spherical bearings at the top of the damper, another place where play can develop. Or a bolt/nut holding the top of the strut to the chassis is loose.

 

[jgatl]

@beatle I’ll check the play again fully down and under load. It doesn’t sound like bearings which makes me think it’s the strut. Plus the noise happens as the suspension flexes.

 

[Gtech]

@beatle I’ll check the play again fully down and under load. It doesn’t sound like bearings which makes me think it’s the strut. Plus the noise happens as the suspension flexes.

Is there any noticable difference in sound when the car is in high or in low?

 

[beatle]

I watched the video again. Check the end of your your sway bar at 0:53. You can see the endlink bolt moving inside. This happens again pretty dramatically around 1:07 as well. It looks like the hole in the sway bar is far too big for the ball joint stud on the endlink and it's rattling like crazy. You may be able to address this by tightening the nut, but I think it may still flex and rattle.

 

[DerbyDave]

You got it @beatle!

 

[jgatl]

Thank you @beatle I see the movement now. I will check them for tightness, I don't recall them having that much play when I installed them. They are aftermarket so perhaps the hole size is the issue. Worst case, I have an appt with Tesla on 2/14 and I will replace them with Tesla parts at that time. Appreciate the quick diagnosis.

 

[jgatl]

@beatle great advice and thanks for your keen eye. Pulling the wheel off and shaking the suspension seemed solid. An open ended wrench and hex bit revealed a 1/4 of a turn was fully tightened. No more clunking! It's hard to believe it made that much noise.

I need an open ended torque wrench.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Before you shake the suspension, remove the air line from the top. Without pressure in the bag, you'll be able to get a lot more motion to replicate what's happening going down the road.

I had some rattles from my brake pads that I couldn't track down...i had forgotten to grease the sliders when I replaced them and they were rattling over bumps. Could be worth a check as well.