Ive got a 97 cavalier 2.2l and when ever I hit the brakes theres a clunck coming from the front pasenger side, sometimes when im on the highway and hit the brakes it makes a repeated clunck. also if i go over a speed bump slowley it makes the same noise but if i go over it a little faster it doesnt make any noise. I took a look at it the other day and nothing really seemed wrong there was no marks where something would be rubbing back and fourth or anything does anyone have any ideas on what it might be. Thanks

Control arms more then likely. Maybe you have bad bushings? Its hard to say really, does it have any impact on the steering of the car at all? Pulling to a certain side?

My 97 did the same thing but was the drivers side!

I bought complete strut kits and installed them on both sides. $500 for parts and I did the work myself. That replaced, struts, springs, strut bearings, strut mounts. Didn't work.

I then took off the lower control arm on the drivers side. One of the rubber bushings in that was worn out. It has a steel bushing in it that can wear. I bought 2 new rubber bushings (with the steel inserts), and a new ball joint. I could NOT get the rubber bushings installed. I took it the machinist at work and they could not get them in. I took it to the dealer since they had some special tool and had to pay them 45 mins labor to get the things in and they said it was a PAIN!.

If I were to do it again, buy the complete control arm with new bushings and ball joint already installed! In the end, I saved a whopping 10 bucks and had to go thru ALOT of meaningless crap. Getting the whole assembly back in was sorta tricky alone but I got it. Noise gone!

Oh, and while I was in there I replaced the stabalizer linkages on both sides since they were cheap to replace.


99 cav 2.2L 212,000 miles
97 cav 2.2L 110,000 miles
91 cav 2.2L 236,000 miles RIP
04 Silverado Z71 Ext.Cab 55,000 miles
01 Suzuki SV650 22,000 miles
97 Arctic Cat ZRT 600 6,000 miles

I was thinking it was the control arm bushing i pryed on it with a crow bar and it was moving quite a bit but i wasn't sure. Are the bushing that are in there a press fit or something why was it so hard to get the new ones in?? thanks for your guys help.

^ There is 1 larger rubber one with a metal ring around it. The other one was a rubber one with a metal insert down the center for the bolt to go thru. The rubber is mushroomed on both ends making it damn near impossible to get in.

It took the chevy dealer 45mins to an hour to get that one in. The bigger one went in with no issues. He said "Man I really hate doing those".

They tried charging me 100 for labor just to press it in. I went nuts and he charged me 50.

Total cost was (these are approx. It was months ago and I forgot)
20 bucks for the bushings
25 for the ball joint
50 to press the rubber in

Of course I had to chisel and grind and drill out the rivits to change the ball joint also. That took a little time and was not fun.

Then when I was all done with the job, I found out I could have bought the hole damn thing assembled brand new with all them parts new and already in it for 100 ish.

And just for reference, I am a mechanical designer/engineer. That mushroomed bushing blows.



99 cav 2.2L 212,000 miles
97 cav 2.2L 110,000 miles
91 cav 2.2L 236,000 miles RIP
04 Silverado Z71 Ext.Cab 55,000 miles
01 Suzuki SV650 22,000 miles
97 Arctic Cat ZRT 600 6,000 miles