Another front end clunk mystery

[jeepster666]

I just picked up a one owner 87 325is. 170k overall, with only 112 miles in the last 3 years! Anyway, it had the M-tech suspension with factory bilsteins. They were destroyed. The right front had a crazy loud clunk with any size bump. When I took the insert out, it only had about 2" of movement.

I replaced the springs with new vogtland and some new KYB struts with spc camber plates. I went cheap just so I could drive the car until I get the rest all sorted out. (not sure of my ultimate goal yet Stance...autocross....perfect daily....)

Now the car still has the same clunk in the right front. It is quieter and I have to hit a larger bump, but it still makes a suspension clunk only on the right front corner. I check to make sure the gland nut (shock collar nut) and the top strut nut is tight. No visible abnormal movment from the insert. Only clunks during compression. Is this common, what the hell is it?

Just to recap/clarify the current setup:
new vogtland springs
new kyb shocks
new spc plates
new centered E36 M3 lollipop bushings
Tie rods 5500 miles ago (prior records)
rebuilt ZF rack 12,000 miles ago
different wheels/tires

[DRTSRFR]

Check your sway bar bushings and endlinks as well.

[jeepster666]

Bushings are a little beat, and links were tight. This clunk is much "heavier" than an sway bar sound! Its sounds like it's bottoming out, but on medium sized bumps and only on the right front during compression. I re-checked the control arm and the joints feel nice and tight. No slop and actually fairly smooth & stiff feeling still.

[jeffnhiscars]

No one is proud of these cases but we've all done it...I had a similar heavy metal front end clunk after a rebuild. Turns out I had failed to tighten one of the CA to hub nuts so every time the suspension unloaded the ball joint dropped 1/2". When the weight came down...well you get the idea.

Then there was the time I forgot to tighten a RSM (EZ fix on the initial road test), the time I took my fresh front end for an alignment and was told one of the tie rods was about to come completely unscrewed and..believe it or not...I had a caliper bolt fall out causing the caliper to pivot until it locked up my wheel but not before carving a shallow but 1" wide groove in it.

I feel better now :)

[jeepster666]

I had a chance to go over the entire car again today. The CA to hub nut was not loose, but it was not torqued to spec either. All other things checked out for tightness. I even dropped the spc plates to make sure the strut nut was tight. I have not driven the car again yet, but I will report if it solved my issue.

[DRTSRFR]

Strut insert is tight in the housing?

Do you have bumpstops up front?

[jeepster666]

Strut insert is tight. I checked it twice!!

no bump stops. It does sound like its bottoming out, but is that really possible? It does it on such small bumps and humps and ONLY on the right.