I changed out the front Land Rover airr struts for the Arnott Industries air struts. I now get a thud noise whenever I get a small bump or pothole on the road. The new struts are much more stiff than the old suspension. Is this typical? If anyone else has changed their struts to the Arnott Industries strut please comment. Thanks

 

Check your swaybar bushings.

 

Here is a nice group of noise identification videos. Which noise matches?

jjvd21 - YouTube

 

Right Rear shock tower video is the closest. I don't hear it when braking only over a bump or a vertical movement of the suspension.

 

I did a video of the lower control arm bushing and it looks like the culprit.


Any suggestions on getting this fixed? Factory again or should I go with a poly bush. FYI these are only 20k miles old.

 

I guess the question is how did you take the video? It was steady and better yet, informative. One could really see the movement.

About the only question I have is did you take a picture of the other side which I presume is good?

I do not know much about bushings but I think with the 3, the factory rubber seems to be the least worst - others may disagree.

Anyway, a picture of how the camera and how it was mounted would be nice - the video was well done and beats blaming Arnott right off.

 

You said that these are only 20.000 miles old.Even a brand new installed arms with bushings have a play in this particular area, they are not tight and you can move arm with your hand, pushing on it.Mine are more that 70.000 miles old and don't clunk like that at all.
Maybe you should start with ARB/sway bushings and see if it helps, it is certainly a cheaper approach to start with..

 

I used a magnetic mount I have at work to the frame and duck taped my phone to it. It did not look as good as the video!

 

I don't understand what replacing the sway bar bushings would do? Can u explain?

 

Now, a phone, I did not think of; the duct tape I did.

I figured the camera might be one of those windshield cameras; I never thought of using a cell phone. It certainly worked well.

I was particularily intrigued near the end of the video when you parked in front of your garage and walked in front of the 3. It was kind of a cats eye view of life.

Well done.