Well my girlfriends Sunfire is having an awful rattle in the front end....sounds exactly like the one in that occurs is in the 95-99 cavy rears. It only happens when I drive over bumps or on a gravel road. Does anyone know what this is and what I can do to correct it?
probably strut mounts - try this open the hood and get someone to turn the steering wheel and listen at the top of the strut mounts to hear any rattling there or squeeking, this will tell you if they need to be replaced.... very common problem.
Another common failure is the control arm bushings - the rear ones mainly. They look somewhat like a puck, and tend to shift in their bore in the control arm. Once they have shifted enough, the control arm can begin to touch the frame, and make lots of noise.
You would need the car off of the ground, or with the wheel off to look closely at these. Unfortunately they're not an easy thing to change - they would require being pressed out, and new ones pressed in properly. I've heard someone mention that entire control arm assemblies (including the ball joint) are available from GM - but I wouldn't expect them to be cheap. If you find that this IS your problem, it may be worth looking into though - as the labor to change the other parts won't be free either.
You can usually tell by where the noise seems to originate from whether it's the strut mounts or control arm bushings. The strut mounts are up high, where the the bushings are near your feet, and you'd probably feel the vibration in the floor if they're starting to fail. If your car has a sway bar, the bushings on that can also make lots of noise if they are deteriorating or a link has broken. If you're lucky, that would be your problem. Much easier and cheaper to fix.
There's also the volume control on the radio...
Thanks for the response....... Im betting on the strut mounts as well. Just hope its not the control arm bushings. Bad enough to do them on my lifted jeep, but on a car would be even worse.
Another possibility is that the bushings/strut mounts (front). I had a wierd noise in the front of my 01 Cavalier. I was getting the rear brakes done and had told the mechanic about it. He sprayed some wd 40 on the front end bushings and the now no more noise. My noise was more or less over small bumps and road impefections and at low speeds.
2001 Cavalier 5sp
