Ball joints are good, struts are good, but the bumps are hitting hard.. always knock around the tires .. no suspension on the bumps. Regarding a 1997 oldsmobile cutlass supreme maintance

Sounds like a strut issue. If knocks when hitting a bump. You can remove the strut. If you can close it by hand relativly easy. Strut is out

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/david_66a56a0239b6ab32

Thats called a shimmy. And you have shocks instead of struts.
Chances are you have a ball joint or tie rod end about to fail. Something is very loose in the front steering or suspension. I'd put money on it being a ball joint.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/villagerquest/ Ball Joint Removal

1. Remove the wheel and tire assembly. For additional information, refer to Section 204-04 .

1. Remove the suspension lower arm ball joint cotter pin.

1. Remove the suspension lower arm ball joint nut and separate it from the wheel knuckle.

May have to leave nut partially on and hit the nut hard with a hammer to knock the tapered stud down and out. May have to hit side of knuckle to help get it to drop. or rent a pickle fork to drive between the bal joint and knuckle.

1. Remove the suspension lower arm ball joint to suspension lower arm nuts and remove the ball joint.

hello,if it only does it when going over a bump,then its going to be in the suspension,will be bad/loose shock/strut, or a bad ball joint,( a bad ball joint will cause your tires to wear more on the inside edge of the tire also) if its a bad steering part (tie rod end,idler arm,ect.)you should have play in your steering back and forth? if you have a mechanic you trust, just swing the suv by his shop and with a minor inspection on a lift he can tell you which part is bad...yz-maniac

It could be a couple of things.
Loose or worn out strut - (jack up car, remove tire and shake the strut really hard to see if it's loose. Check for signs of leaking or damage to strut)
Missing rubber isolator under front spring (visually inspect the suspension while tire is off).
Broken sway bar mount or missing rubber in the mount on the frame. (Lay under the front and look for where the sway bar mounts to the frame. Make sure everything is tight and the rubber is still in it.

See if you can bounce car and replicate the noise. If you can, you should be able to find it, and put your hand on it. Stabilizer bushing are a place to look, both at the lower a arm and on the frame. If you narrow it down to the strut, it will need to be replaced. The front trans mount also goes bad, try putting it in drive with your foot on the brake and give it some gas and see if the engine moves an excessive amount.

There are a couple of things that can cause it. The first and easiest to diagnose, is the strut. BMWs sometimes get "creaky" struts...diagnose this my pushing down on the car on each corner, and when it moves, see if it makes any noise. If this doesn't yield anything, then the next step is to look under the car at the rubber or plastic bushings at the pivot points of the suspension. while you're under there, look at the ball joint boots as well and see if any are torn. If so, they will need replaced. If you still haven't found anything, place a jack on the suspension arm at each wheel, one at a time. if the tires slides out a little when it just starts clearing the ground, you likely have worn ball joints.

Upper strut mounts aren't prone to rattling or knocking as they are usually under load all the time. Very few cars do not have a swivel bearing - a few old Fords are all I can think of. Most current models have the swivel bearing integrated into the strut mount, the main job of which is to insulate road noise from the body. Some cars use a swivel bearing fitted between the strut and lower spring cup.

Worn shock absorber internal valves can be very noisy over small bumps and road undulations and wear in steering rack components can make similar noises especially the rack slipper bearing, the rack end support bearing and the rack end joints.

Many track control arm ball joints have an internal spring to compensate for small amounts of wear. When such a joint has worn significantly it is not always possible to detect free play with hand pressure but they are liable to make noise on the road.

Struts that are housings fitted with shock absorber cartridges retained by a single large nut - the nut can sometimes be loose by a small amount causing the cartridge to knock inside the casing.

The strut piston rod and bush is subject to a great deal of force from the reaction of acceleration and braking and considerable wear can take place between the rod and it's bush. The trouble is any free play cannot be detected when the vehicle is jacked and the wheels clear of the ground and similarly cannot be detected with normal force when the vehicle weight is on the ground. I find lifting the car until the suspension is only compressed an inch or two gives the best chance of detecting wear though considerable strength and energy is still needed.

This noise is likely caused by swaybar end-link joints. Newer cars use solid rods with ball and socket joints, to connect the ends of the swaybar to the frame. These ball and socket joints at the end of these rods, create an amazingly noticeable and annoying noise in the car when you go over the slightest bump. There is no way to test these things unless you disconnect one end and check to see how tight the ball is in the socket just by wigging the with your hands. If they move around at all without pressure, they are no good. Go to ebay and search "bmw endlinks " for a picture.