The Lumina has mad swag -- I mean sag

[DesertEagle50]

I have a couple of issues with the 1995 Lumina LS front suspension.

 

There is a even-parts clunk and squeak noise coming from the right front during braking. The timing of the noise is very specific and reproducible. The noise only occurs after braking has halted the car's momentum when the front suspension unloads and returns the weight of the vehicle towards the rear. I recently replaced the ball joint at that location. An alignment was done and the only correction needed was to adjust the toe to within spec. At the time I discovered the bad ball joint, I also removed the three nuts holding the strut to the tower to remove the cover plate and take a peak inside but I didn't notice anything obvious. The vehicle was not on completely level ground at the time, but nothing was disturbed except what I mentioned. The nuts were reinstalled to spec with a torque wrench.

 

Also the front of the Lumina sags, and the wheels are recessed a bit up into the wheel wells. I always assumed the front coil springs needed replacment, but when I searched this forum, I did not find any discussion of front coil springs being replaced to correct sag. This make me think the problem is not common and unlikely to be responsible for the sag. The struts are not quiet when going over speed bumps (I hear a "shhhhh" noise on the incline and decline), but they seem to work fine.

 

The clunking needs to be fixed. The sagging is something I planned to address when I had another reason to work on the struts. I am a little frustrated, because I had planned to replace the gas tank filler neck (pin hole in vent tube) and all the lateral rods since Firestone requested I replace one of them before adjusting toe. Given the age of the vehicle, my maintenance strategy has been to upgrade something every 3 or 4 months as long as no unexpected repairs arose. I could really use some help diagnosing the front suspension and prioritizing maintenance. My only experience working on struts is removing one of the rears from the Lumina to treat some rust in the wheel well.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Schurkey]

I have a couple of issues with the 1995 Lumina LS front suspension.

 

There is a even-parts clunk and squeak noise coming from the right front during braking. The timing of the noise is very specific and reproducible. The noise only occurs after braking has halted the car's momentum when the front suspension unloads and returns the weight of the vehicle towards the rear. I recently replaced the ball joint at that location. An alignment was done and the only correction needed was to adjust the toe to within spec. At the time I discovered the bad ball joint, I also removed the three nuts holding the strut to the tower to remove the cover plate and take a peak inside but I didn't notice anything obvious. The vehicle was not on completely level ground at the time, but nothing was disturbed except what I mentioned. The nuts were reinstalled to spec with a torque wrench.

 

Also the front of the Lumina sags, and the wheels are recessed a bit up into the wheel wells. I always assumed the front coil springs needed replacment, but when I searched this forum, I did not find any discussion of front coil springs being replaced to correct sag. This make me think the problem is not common and unlikely to be responsible for the sag. The struts are not quiet when going over speed bumps (I hear a "shhhhh" noise on the incline and decline), but they seem to work fine.

I don't know what an "even-parts clunk and squeak noise" is.

 

First Guess:  Defective front struts.

 

Second Guess:  You're right, the front springs have sagged.  There's also the potential that the subframe mounts have collapsed, so the body sits lower than it should, and so it appears that the springs are weak.  It's worth inspecting the mounts, but my money is on the springs.