Hi Scotty! I have a 2007 toyota yaris sedan with 160k Km. It clunks randomly on low speed 10-60 kph but doesnt clunk on 90-100kph. Sometimes it clunks a lot sometimes just a few times.I checked the ball joint, tie rods and struts by lifting the car and wiggling the tires and theyre solid, no cracks on the boots. No noise when turning the steering wheel. Just today going home from work I felt that my steering wheel doesnt handle as usual, like it was heavy and not aligned. I own this car for 10 years now. I attached a link to the pics of my cars lower control arm bushing.I hope you can help me Scotty!
Joe from Canada.
Well that sort of cracking & rot is normal for a worn out 10yr old rubber bushing.
I’d first take the car to a reputed front end shop with pro technicians, to check out what’s going on as a heavy steering wheel may point to other problems too.
Depending on their diagnosis, you may need just a change of both lower control arms, or some additional work to fix your heavy steering, as in my experience, the lower control arm bushings will clunk when going over potholes & broken patches of tarmac, but won’t affect the steering feel.
Keep us posted with the diagnosis & good luck!
Turned out it was just a loose nut on sway bar end link. I remembered replacing them last summer and not torquing them to specs, just Scotty torque like "ahh". I was about to give up and go to the dealership for diagnosis and hand them my hard earned money. But Im too proud and I watched a lot of Scotty youtube videos to just give up easily like that and how simple and uncomplicated they engineer the yaris.
Good on ya mate, well done!