QuestionQUESTION: There is a bouncing in my front end. Sometimes when you hit a bump you hear loose things move in the trunk. That's kind of what I hear when I go over a bump in the front. My front end was always kind of tight, but now it feels slightly loose. I have a 2000 Sonata 4cyl. Aprox. 104,000 miles. I try to stay on top of everything as far as maintenance.
ANSWER: The noise you hear could be coming from the sway bar links, ball joints, control arms, struts, tie rod ends, motor mounts, or a few other things. Since I cannot hear the noise, and many of the previous items make the car unsafe to drive if they're worn, I recommend having your car checked by a good suspension shop.
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QUESTION: I had the front end checked out and I was surprised. The noise was actually coming from the rear! I was told that I need to replace and remove the rear stabilizer bar, the stabilizer links, and replace the pivot bushings, sway bar link and bushings. Close to 300$ Now is all this necessary? It's not that I'm being frugal, but a second opinion helps confirm things. Also, having an inspection done should any of these things have been checked? Thanks again.
ANSWER: Without inspecting the car, it's difficult for me to determine whether all the repairs are necessary. I will say that it would be rather uncommon for the sway bar itself to have a problem-- it's little more than a shaped metal rod. The links and bushings, on the other hand, are subject to wear, so it's not surprising that they'd be recommended.
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QUESTION: I had the work done on the rear and I was surprised. The car feels like it has more life. It takes curves much more tighter than before. And I hardly feel any bumps. But it's funny though. The mechanic checked out the car on Saturday and all that was wrong was what I wrote you about. On Tuesday after the work was done he tells me that there is a noise in the rear hub. Am I being set up for another or future repair?
AnswerI think the mechanic is telling you that you'll need to replace one of the rear wheel hubs soon. This was a common problem on Sonatas of your age, so I don't think there's anything shady or dishonest going on. The issue is that the original wheel hub didn't have a dust cover over the inside end of the spindle, and water eventually got inside and damaged the bearing. A new factory hub comes with a dust cover to prevent this from happening again.
You'll want to be listening for a humming noise from the rear of the vehicle that varies in loudness and frequency with the speed of the vehicle.
