[JamesNoBrakes]

With a bit of suspension background, I doubt some grease is causing a clunk. If you lost damping fluid (oil residue) then maybe, but you'd have to loose a considerable amount and typically, it doesn't cause a big clunk, but usually a lot more bouncy-ness unless it's rebounding (top out) hard, but there are unusually bumpers that help prevent this. You'd usually notice this. Otherwise, if it's clunking, something is mechanically broken, this is where a piston could have become loose and separated from the shaft or something similar, possibly a stuck valve or other issue. The last knock issues I had were due to mounting parts that are press-fit together coming a bit loose and causing some play, which in turn caused some creaking and knocking, which in turn totally destroyed the suspension action. The one before that was shock mounting hardware. Instead of the shock bushings wearing, the pin that goes through the shock bushings to mount the shock wore down significantly, so I needed new hardware in addition to new bushings. Mounted it up, good to go, everything back to solid.

My point is that clunking and creaking is rarely the shock itself. Grease does not provide damping, so it should have nothing to do with the action. If you lost suspension fluid, there should be indicators of this, just like if you were losing power steering fluid or something similar.

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

Are the 3 bolts on the top of the camber plate tight? if you have play there that may make the sound don't forget on this car all the mount points are solid mounts, look at that first.

[seanblurr]

Update Part 2:

After more digging, turns out a control arm bolt was not fully torqued. Clunk went away after that. So completely unrelated to the strut, hub, or endlinks.

With that said...
I still had the dealer look at it a second time and due to the excessive amount of grease in and around the knuckle area, the dealer is going to replace both the hub and the entire strut under warranty.

[TLSTWIN]

Originally Posted by seanblurr

Update Part 2:

After more digging, turns out a control arm bolt was not fully torqued. Clunk went away after that. So completely unrelated to the strut, hub, or endlinks.

With that said...
I still had the dealer look at it a second time and due to the excessive amount of grease in and around the knuckle area, the dealer is going to replace both the hub and the entire strut under warranty.

Good to hear, glad all the issues got addressed and getting fixed

[waterman]

Originally Posted by seanblurr

Update Part 2:

After more digging, turns out a control arm bolt was not fully torqued. Clunk went away after that. So completely unrelated to the strut, hub, or endlinks.

With that said...
I still had the dealer look at it a second time and due to the excessive amount of grease in and around the knuckle area, the dealer is going to replace both the hub and the entire strut under warranty.

Good news. Thanks for keeping us posted. I will keep those items in my maintenance check list.

Sounds like the problem has been resolved to your satisfaction. Hopefully it doesn't create too much down time for you.

[5thgear]

Myself and couple other friends (Mine 2019 and two 2018) were planning a track day so we took the cars in for oil change and brake fluid replacement. I suspected a clunk noise from DSSV or front suspension assembly. Short story all three cars low miles with two track days. All three have blown RF DSSV. Excessive amount of grease on bottom of strut and damper oil leaked out on all three. My 1LE clunks bad when going over bumps so I am suspicious that there is more to the clunk sound but dealer stoped checking as soon as they saw the blown RF strut. They check and solve one issue at a time. A new strut will be installed today which was overnighted from Michigan to CA. We were told that this was the last Strut available nationwide and DSSV is now on backorder so my friends have to wait few weeks. I will find out later today if my LF strut is ok or if it also needs replacing. I hope this is not a chronic problem with ZL1 1LE.

[SFV1LE]

Damn, my next event is in November and don't want that to ruin it. Rain may start ruining events after.

I should have my DSSVs checked now in case I need to get in the queue for backorder--seems like RF is the one to check first.

[cdb95z28]

Originally Posted by 5thgear

Myself and couple other friends (Mine 2019 and two 2018) were planning a track day so we took the cars in for oil change and brake fluid replacement. I suspected a clunk noise from DSSV or front suspension assembly. Short story all three cars low miles with two track days. All three have blown RF DSSV. Excessive amount of grease on bottom of strut and damper oil leaked out on all three. My 1LE clunks bad when going over bumps so I am suspicious that there is more to the clunk sound but dealer stoped checking as soon as they saw the blown RF strut. They check and solve one issue at a time. A new strut will be installed today which was overnighted from Michigan to CA. We were told that this was the last Strut available nationwide and DSSV is now on backorder so my friends have to wait few weeks. I will find out later today if my LF strut is ok or if it also needs replacing. I hope this is not a chronic problem with ZL1 1LE.

See this thread. Grease coming from the breather on the DSSV's is normal.

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...t=strut+grease

[travislambert]

Yep, my DSSVs vented a ton of grease. 100% normal.

[5thgear]

Update:
RF strut was replaced this morning. Kindly requested that the lead tech who is very knowledgeable to test drive the car and inspect LF strut. I got a call after to inform me that there is still a clunk and it’s coming from LF strut although it’s not leaking and hardly any visible grease at the bottom of the strut externally. Luckily dealer had LF strut in stock (left and Right are not interchangeable according to dealer and are different part numbers). Dealer replaced the second Strut. Performed alignment and told me I am good to go. Just picked up my ZL1 and what a huge difference. Zero clunks and the massive bang sound over rough bumps is gone. I now realize that I had this issue for a long time thinking it’s just how the ZL1 1LE is but the clunk got worse overtime. Hope this will be behind me for a long time.

[5thgear]

Originally Posted by travislambert

Yep, my DSSVs vented a ton of grease. 100% normal.

Thanks for the info and yes I understand having some grease coming out of the breather is normal. My situation is different above and beyond the grease .One damper lost the oil and both struts were clunking / rattling internally which is not normal. Same situation with my friends.