Alright,

So Monday as I pulled into the dentist office (to pull my tooth) I ran over a dip. Was turning left into the business parking lot. Had to beat the three lanes of traffic heading my way so I entered the parking lot at ~10-15mph. Unknown to me there was a small dip between the road and parking lot (Think of a reverse speed bump). Upon hitting it my Z bottomed out pretty hard. Don't really think anything of it. Got my tooth pulled and heading out. Leaving the parking lot I take a look at the dip that took me by surprise. Whole enterance was carved up by lower cars like the Z. I'm sure I did a little carving myself. Anyway, drive home and nothing out of the norm.

Next day drive to work. Went over some bumps/ dips and the car is making a knocking sound from the front end. If I go over a speed bump on either tire no knocking sound. If both tires go over I get a sound. Car drives straight.

Kind of stuck on this as I don't know what I should look for. Have already taken off the front plastic skid sheet and see nothing out of place. I tried down the battery hoping that has the noise but no such luck.

Any ideas what it could be and how to check for them? Might have to take it to a shop if I can't figure it out. Any good ones in the Central Phoenix or Scottsdale area?

My Z is a 2008 Base 39.5K non modded.

Thanks in advance for the help,

Mason

 

Have you looked at the plastic parts under your car yet?

 

No but I will check that. I also just noticed that my bumper has pushed up a little around the passenger headlight. I 'pushed' it back into place. Suspecting the bottoming out caused my bumper to become 'out of filament'. I might take the whole bumper off and do a test drive w/o it on. Is it possible to drive the car without the plastic bumper (asking if do-able, not if it is legal)? Any guilds to its removal. Also, I can't tell if the sound is a plastic or metal sound.

 

Possible, yes, legal yes(it's not a bumper your removing, just a bumper cover) and last make sure you remove fendeliners if you do decide to drive with the bumper off, they will flex onto the tires and get torn up.

 

lol. i drove my car w ZERO body parts aside from hood hatch and doors for 6 months down here.. w huge spacers and cut out fenders while i was waiting for body work to be done lol.. was a BLAST btw to drive it w zero regard for curbs and dips etc.. talk about throwing the car around while driving lol..

your sound could be many things.. if its a suspension knocking sound, you may ahve damaged a compression rod bushing, maybe a sway bar end link etc.. what part of scottsdale are you in? Theres plenty of guys/shops around here that will charge you veeeerry little to look at this for you, perhaps for free.

Hit up Chris at Rev em Hard Motorsports..its in Mesa but the drive is pretty low key.. hes on my local forum we created and has a very small shop, but I have him do all my incidental work on my daily driver etc.. he builds drift cars etc.

 

I live down on Central and Camelback and work in the Scottsdale Airpark. Worried that it is a suspension component but hoping that the bumper is making the noise. Hoping it is something minor as I don't have much $$$ for car repairs at this moment. I will know better when and if I pull the bumper cover off.

Mason

 

Hit up.vitaly at pitstop.motorsports then
Indian school n 7th Ave..tell.him.McCann sent u

 

I will give them a call in a little bit. Is vitaly the owners name?

 

So,

Today I took the bumper cover off. Could not see anything wrong myself so I took the Z to Pitstop Performance. They took it for a test drive. He said he heard the sound once coming from the divers side. They put the Z on the rack and could not see anything wrong. I drove it home and the noise is still there when I go over bumps kind of hard. Not sure what to do now but sucks that I can't find the source. I put the bumper cover back on so I can continue to drive it. Here are some pictures to entertain...