Got my '00 XKR back on the road after doing some suspension work. When I got the car it had a nasty audible clunk up front and the strut mounts were all but collapsed. The clunk was clearly from a swaybar endlink as I could replicate when under the car and moving the bar by hand. I replaced the end links, upper strut mounts, and front/rear lower shock bushings. Car drives much better now and going over bumps is all but silent, however at lower speeds when turning there are clunks/thumps that I can feel through the steering wheel. You can't really hear them, just feel them. At anything over 20mph I don't notice it at all.

Searched through some older threads and looks like two possible causes:

1) Sway bar bushings. When I had the links off I moved the bar around and there was no noise or looseness so figured they were good enough to keep for now.

2) Lower steering column shaft.


I know there is a service bulletin that Bob has posted relating to the column shaft on the X100 platform. I have a feeling its the shaft as I've had that issue in multiple GM vehicles, but curious who's had this issue and what you guys think. The real issue is that the steering shaft seems to be no longer available and I feel like buying a used one would not guarantee a fix. I'm tempted to just swap the sway bar bushings and see if its still there after that, but if I end up needing a new shaft where would one go about finding a good one?

 

l would lean toward the sway bar bushings. You moving it around while under the car does not equate to the work it will be doing. I also think they are a bit of a weak link and have looked flogged out when ever l have had them out.
Fiddly job but not difficult or expensive, certainly good place to start.

 

Agreed, and definitely worth a shot considering finding an intermediate steering shaft looks to be next to impossible...If the sway bar end links are any indication the bushings themselves are probably gone as well. Drove the car for about 40 miles yesterday and it really does drive fantastic, but that low speed knocking/clunking is awful. Already ordered a set of bushings and will do that before I go any further. Thanks for the input.