Dusty your rainfall is up here in the Northeast *growls*

Yes the thump/clunk of the compressor kicking on, and your vac moving down towards 17 instead of the 19-20 area, is 100% normal.

 

i dont think the loud grinding and white smoke is though. lol

 

well i took my car in today and to my suprise when i picked up my car in the afternoon they had replaced it no money out of pocket. i thought there might be issues but there wasnt i thought there service was awesome this ac is colder then the last one.