Hello everyone, long time reader first time poster. I own a 2009 Mazda5 that has had a lot of usual issues people tend to talk about here; sway bar linkages going bad, struts and breaks wearing out after 25,000 miles, etc. There's currently 55,000 miles on the vehicle.

At about 25,000 miles we noticed a fairly loud rhythmic clunking sound that changed with wheel speed coming from the front right of the vehicle. If you were accelerating or braking it immediately stopped, you could only hear it when coasting. I'd just replaced the brake pads and rotors, but couldn't find anything wrong with them so we took it in. They declared it to be the strut mount and changed it out under warranty. After that we haven't heard it since.

Well, today it's back. Yesterday there was no sound at all, and this morning it was louder than ever. Since it's no longer under warranty I'll be doing the work myself, but I still have trouble believing that a noise like that is caused by a strut mount. Has anyone else had experience with something this, and if so what did you find?

Thanks

 

On my old Mondeo, I had something similar, I finally traced it to the UJ on the half shalft. Check both ends for play, even a little bit of play will cause a mighty racket.

Bit of a pain to change, although in your case it should be easier (newer vehicle, no rusty bolts to deal with), about 2-3 hours.

 

I forgot to mention that the sound doesn't change while cornering. If it was the universal joint I'd expect it to change tone or something when I turn. Switching the struts seemed to do it last time, but I still can't believe a strut mount can make a rhythmic clicking sound that would go away when braking. We love this car, bit the issues are starting g to give me a headache.

 

Still: CV joint is the #1 suspect.

When you did the brakes, did you clean and lubricate the sliders? Did you replace the hardware?

 

Yes, and yes. I agree that the CV joint seems like to most likely to me. It's also been gone for about 30,000 miles, so it's hard for me to believe the brakes would be doing it. Might be the strut mount, who knows. From our experience so far, 30,000 miles is about right for strut replacement on this thing.

 

if its doing it rythmically increasing with wheels speed then that narrows it down to driveshsafts, brakes or wheelbearing / tyre related items.

As has already been mentioned the brake channels if not cleaned and relubed can cause sticking which in turn can warp the discs giving the effect you say. Also check the tyres for damage / stones (unlikely but cheap to eliminate).

Aside from that jack her up and spin tthe wheels to see if you can relicate the sound