Weird Popping noise from Driver side

[Mels21GT]

Has anyone experienced some sort of popping noise when turning the steering wheel all the way to left or right when making a U-turn for example.

I have a 2021 GT with performance package and have been getting a sort of "popping noise" when making a turn that requires a full turn of the steering wheel.

This has been happening to me lately when leaving early mornings, it feels like the tire is going over rocks or some bumps when I turn my steering wheel all the way to the left. I only feel this coming from the front driver side wheel. Any ideas of what this can be? Tires look like they have some decent tread left, maybe at 65%-70%. I don't have a lift for the car so cant really get under the car, any thing I should look out for or mention when I take the car to the dealer for an oil change next week?

Car is not lowered nor have any suspension mods been made. Car has magneride suspension

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[junits15]

Have the same thing

Took it in under warranty, they replaced strut mounts, and both halves of the steering linkage. Slight improvement but didn't fix the issue. It does it on and off, but never gets worse. My warranty expired so I've decided to let it get worse until its obvious.

Honestly I have no idea what it is, mine only happens at full lock to the left. My current guess is a shoddy ball joint, which should eventually reveal itself fully.

 

[Mels21GT]

This is interesting, maybe it happening to others as well? Did your warranty cover strut mounts and steering linkage? Just so I know when I take into Ford next week as my full warranty expires some time next month. They tried charging me last year for a airbag restraint it clearly stated covered on their warranty.

 

[KingKona]

This dude is under your car;

 

[junits15]

This is interesting, maybe it happening to others as well? Did your warranty cover strut mounts and steering linkage? Just so I know when I take into Ford next week as my full warranty expires some time next month. They tried charging me last year for a airbag restraint it clearly stated covered on their warranty.

They covered everything they did, and told me to call back if it returned. However the warranty was out and they said their next step would be to replace the entire steering gear. Knowing that was the next step I expect that if I take it back I would be footing a $3k+ bill for a steering gear and install. I truly don't believe that is the issue as the steering is fine.

The car drives fine otherwise, its just a weird thing. I inspected everything under there that I could see, nothing is loose, nothing is broken, everything looks installed correctly. I'm stumped.

 

[Cobra Jet]

If you have "Summer Only" tires and temps are 45* or lower, and tires are stone cold when you go to turn the wheel, you WILL get a popping sensation and/or "crackling" sensation through the steering column/wheel.

It can and will feel like you are on a bed of gravel - OR like if you have a bad ball joint. You may also experience the tire "skipping" as you are turning.

Those noises and sensations are because the tire compound is no longer pliable and becomes extremely hard. The tire will actually skip or jump across the pavement because it is loosing grip.

This is very common - and yes, as weird as it sounds, that sensation or "pop" is the tire.

Even if it's in the mid 50's you still might experience that type of event... the colder it gets, the worse it gets.

---

IF you're in a region where temps don't get that low, then look for the upper strut mount TSB I had posted on here a while back. That was a common issue with the GT350's, but affected other S550's too... premature failure of the strut mount.

I know thread is focused on "turning wheels", which is front relater but also check torque of rear axle nuts. Huge thread on here about those making popping or creaking noisee.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Spring insulators don’t serve any other purpose than to isolate the metal of the spring and the metal of the spring seat or spring perch from NVH (noise, vibration, harshness). The isolators could rot away and the spring/suspension will still function - albeit being more harsh and hearing creaks/groans from the metal to metal contact. There wouldn’t be any safety issue if the spring isolator has deteriorated.

If you replace the isolators go urethane for longevity. They will be just as good as rubber for NVH and yes, they will remain pliable too, they just last longer.

If lowering the car and using urethane isolators, just keep in mind the urethane adds back between 1/8” and 1/4” to the ride height (depending on suspension manufacturing thickness of the isolators). So if you’re expecting a 1/2” drop, add back in 1/8”-1/4” to your equation…

 

[Mels21GT]

I unfortunately have the Perreli's the car came with.
These are all great suggestions thank you! I'll bring them up to the dealer when I take the car in next week and share what the dealer finds here.

 

[1SLwLS1]

Just throwing this out there.

On my wife's 2016 explorer, there is a metal washer on the steering rack, associated with the steering rack limiter, and it had come loose and float all down the geared rod and when she would get close to lock, it would get caught in the gears and pop as she turned more. From a dealer these are usually non-serviceable replace the entire rack type events. I just told her to take multi-point turns and quit he-maning the wheel at full lock.

 

[Mels21GT]

Have the same thing

Took it in under warranty, they replaced strut mounts, and both halves of the steering linkage. Slight improvement but didn't fix the issue. It does it on and off, but never gets worse. My warranty expired so I've decided to let it get worse until its obvious.

Honestly I have no idea what it is, mine only happens at full lock to the left. My current guess is a shoddy ball joint, which should eventually reveal itself fully.

Do you happen to have notes from the dealer on what was found? Took mine to the dealer to get this looked at along with other fixes it needed and they ultimately said no issue was found. They had the car for a month and I kept asking if the issue was looked at and would get the "nothing yet" response. Finally told them if you're not going to look at it then I want to pick up my car and take it elsewhere, 40 minutes later I get a response saying the technician did not find anything wrong. I'm getting the feeling a full inspection was not done for this as I kept bugging them. Horrible experience thus far with Ford service department.

 

[involutions]

Has anyone experienced some sort of popping noise when turning the steering wheel all the way to left or right when making a U-turn for example.

I have a 2021 GT with performance package and have been getting a sort of "popping noise" when making a turn that requires a full turn of the steering wheel.

This has been happening to me lately when leaving early mornings, it feels like the tire is going over rocks or some bumps when I turn my steering wheel all the way to the left. I only feel this coming from the front driver side wheel. Any ideas of what this can be? Tires look like they have some decent tread left, maybe at 65%-70%. I don't have a lift for the car so cant really get under the car, any thing I should look out for or mention when I take the car to the dealer for an oil change next week?

Car is not lowered nor have any suspension mods been made. Car has magneride suspension

Did this ever get resolved? I have a 2022 Mach 1 w/o handling package. When turning full stop backing out of parking spots it pops, sounds like my right front, but it's hard to say exactly. I've also noticed this when making left turns from a complete stop. Don't want to bother with the dealership. They seem to be hit or miss...

 

[involutions]

The car has 6000 miles on it. The noise was present when I bough it 3000 miles ago.

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