Welp, I'm pretty sure it's the strut mount (or the strut itself). I confirmed this with my Chassis Ear.
Basically, it has an inductive "microphone" that is a clamp. You clamp it onto a piece of metal, and if that piece is making noise, you hear it through the attached headphone. But if the noise comes from someplace nearby, you don't hear it. To verify how it works, I put the clamp on the very top of the strut (around the Koni's adjustment knob, to be precise). I then gently whacked the knob with a plastic-face hammer, making noise in my headphones. Whacking the nearby strut tower itself made no noise.
After running the wire up the top of the hood and through a slightly-opened passenger window, I drove around the block, hitting every manhole I could find.
"Clunk clunk" went the headphones.
So the noise is definitely coming from the strut. I'm guessing the stock GT isolator failed, or the bearing in the CC plate.
I was really hoping I'd get out of this for only $160 in new end links.
Basically, it has an inductive "microphone" that is a clamp. You clamp it onto a piece of metal, and if that piece is making noise, you hear it through the attached headphone. But if the noise comes from someplace nearby, you don't hear it. To verify how it works, I put the clamp on the very top of the strut (around the Koni's adjustment knob, to be precise). I then gently whacked the knob with a plastic-face hammer, making noise in my headphones. Whacking the nearby strut tower itself made no noise.
After running the wire up the top of the hood and through a slightly-opened passenger window, I drove around the block, hitting every manhole I could find.
"Clunk clunk" went the headphones.
So the noise is definitely coming from the strut. I'm guessing the stock GT isolator failed, or the bearing in the CC plate.
I was really hoping I'd get out of this for only $160 in new end links.