2020 Honda Accord, 120k miles on it.
I hear a scrape and pop sound when going over bumps and a metal scrape when turning. Sound appeared to be mainly coming from the front and back on both sides. Dealer had said it was front struts, bearing within the mounts, and also listed an line item for “sway bar link kit (front) - Replace ADD SWAY BAR BUSHING” for ~$600.
The sway bar bushing is molded to the sway bar, so you can’t replace just the sway bar. Replacing the sway bar on this car requires lowering the front subframe. So I am not exactly sure what that line item was referring to. I assume it was referring to the front sway bar end links only (not the bushing), as I assume two sway bar end links + sway bar + labor would likely cost more than $600. I know most dealerships replace the end links when replacing struts.
Anyways, I wiggled around the front sway bar and end links with all might, and could not make any clunk of pop sounds.
Replaced both front McPherson Strut assemblies in the front. The scraping sound is gone and the pop sound went away for a few days and came back, but not as loud. Now it sounds like it’s coming from the front passenger side only as well as the rear. Metal scraping sound going away seems to align with the top bearings in the mount for McPherson strut assemblies going bad causing the scraping sound.
The front outer tie rods seemed extremely loose. I could wiggle them around with my hand and create clunking sounds. Boots were not torn. Replaced both outer tie rods. Sound persisted.
Replaced rear struts. Sound persisted. Sound after the repairs can be best described as a “clunk” or “pop” sound when going over bumps. There are no “squeak” sounds when turning the steering wheel
At this point I’m thinking a pop/clunk sound could be a control arm bushing or engine/transmission motor mount. However all the bushings look great. Extremely smooth looking with no cracks or tears. The motor/transmission mounts look good as well.
At this point I’m not sure what else it could be. Thanks for any help in DIAG this further. At this point I’m tempted to just buy some chassis ears to get a better gauge on where it is coming from.