[s-cars] Front Suspension Question (a bit wordy)

[Douglas Landaeta]

Well, I'm getting to some of the much-needed repairs on my Pearl ride and
ran into this situation:

The front driver's side was rumbling, clunking, sounded like a loose shock
or something not moving together as it should, only over bumps, both slight
and greater - basically whenever the suspension needed to flex. So the
mechanic said that the subframe bolts were loose and he tightened them up.
Problem solved ... except now the same noise, only slightly a bit less so
has moved to the passenger side, I'll take it back tommorrow for a quick
look before the shop's usual operating hours. Seems odd, why would the sound
move? Shouldn't suspension bolts be replaced if they work themselves loose?
Bentley seem to say replace, replace, replace.

My question is what could this sound be? What might I be expecting at about
82K miles in the front suspension? If there is a known failure of tie rods,
bushings, or the like, would it be prudent sense to have the front
suspension rebuilt once, with all new of these wearable parts, or should I
continue on this route of finding a specific problem, and fixing only that.

My new job will have a 40 mile one way highway commute, so I'd rather err on
doing more now, that waiting for, perhaps the inevitable - besides, doesn't
this save on bad tire wear and not having to pay for more alignments than
necessary if it's all done now.

Car has been well cared for and I'm confident that the problem is a result
of *really* driving it, like vibrations and heat, rather than abusive
potholes and crappy, mismatched tires.

Oh, and the fan bearing was just replaced, new A/C compressor, but I still
hear something not quite as smooth as it should be related to rpms and the
compressor kicking in. Could the bad fan bearing be a start and now the fan
clutch should be replaced.

Thanks for all your thoughts!

Doug L
94 S4, 245/45 Proxes on OEM
MTM 1+, Scorpion exhaust that won't drown out the front end rumble