My wife purchased a 2007 Aura XR a few months ago. That car has about every option known to man! It has about 30000 mi on it but feels new. I belong to a corvette forum also and found many helpful hints on that forum. Although the Aura is a great car, it does have an issue with a "clunking" noise when turning left or right. Hopefully a forum member may have an idea as to the cause. I look forward to this forum very much!

 

OK --

Is it just a single "clunk" as you go into the turn, or is it a repetitive sound all the way through the turn ??

 

A quick guess and then waiting for your answer to how clunky, sway bar connections loose as the body rolls when taking a turn, single clunks. CV joints on front wheel drive cars on the half shafts to the drive wheels from the transaxle. U got'm in the back on the vet, makes lots of clunks when in failure mode while turning. Usually last a long time but some don't.

 

The clunk feels like a ball joint or something binding up. It only does it when you BEGIN a left or right turn. I actually think I can feel it on accel. Or brake just briefly.

 

Not familiar wit front suspension on an Aura, or how to spell it with out looking it up,
Assuming Strut front suspenstion with lower control arm.
I usually look something up so I don't appear too stupid, trying to get ready to go to church.
Previously mentioned. Sway bar mounting pieces, generally to lower control arm althugh my Chrysler Town and country has them going to a bracket halfway up the strut. New to me desighn. Has been mention at times on Saturn Threads and I think other than S models.
Lower ball joint loose. Some are mounted by bolts through a mounting plate, others by one big nut as it fits in a tapered whole. The one that I have had probems with is the one that mounts in a straight hole that the mounting hole has a seam in it and the bolt that holds things together comes in from the side through a small ring in the surface of the straight ball joint mounting stud and then clamps the hole tight. The bolt loosens up or was never really tight and the ball joint pops up and down in the mounting hole.
The Strut it self sits in a location at the top and can be seen when you open the hood. There is a bearing there the car rests on as part of the strut mount. The bearing wears and starts to clunk. Only happened a couple of times to me, on high mileage neglected cars. Specifically a Van I bought from a junk yard for $500.00 that ran and the A/C worked with over 300,000 miles on it. And the physical appearance was that the last owner was white trash.
Also the carriage that makes up the front sub assembly and holds the engine transaxle and front suspension pieces is bolted to the car with generally 4 bolts from the bottom. Something can be loose down there and pop when loading shifts.
I'd grab a bag of wrenches and spend a couple of hours trying to tighten things that had nuts and bolts on them. It's possible also you have a broken engine mount. I have seen as many as 5 of them in odd places. I've never broken one on anything I ever owned except a new Lincoln and broke every one of them that held the engine in, 25 miles before the warrentee ran out. Which was the last thing that damned car ever broke for me. I sold it right after that was fixed. The new owner was upset when I saw him 3 months later, he had spent 4 grand on it since he bought it.
I have changed though a number of them for friends.
Hope this helps, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.

 

Welcome to the Saturn Forum

 

.........................

 

Thanks for the input! The car goes to the shop in two weeks. I like having ideas before going in. My son has a 2008 Chrysler with the same noise. His dealer has basically replaced the entire front end including the intermediate steering shaft and it still has the noise. They told him he would have to live with it. He now hates Chrysler and will never buy another. I do not want the same experience.

 

The dealer replaced the intermediate steering shaft. Problem solved.