camaro1185

After the new suspension/steering and SFC, my car is SOOOO tight and handles like a dream, but everytime I go over anything that makes the suspension move/compress even a slight bit, i get a sound that sounds like a loose bushing moving around on a bolt (metal moving on metal). I it sounds like a noise that would happen if you didnt have the A arm mounting bolts tight and the bushing was moving around on the bolt (I have never heard that sound, but I imagine this is what it would sound like).

Heres the kicker, I had this same noise prior to doing all the suspension work to the car, so that makes me think its something NOT suspension related. what can it possibly be that would make this sound, but is NOT suspension related.

It sounds borderline unsafe, but I know its not since I know for a fact all the parts I have replaced are tight and torqued down.

FWIW, i replaced:

Sway bar mounts
sway bar end links
ball joints
a arm bushings
brakes
spindle
shocks
springs
strut mounts
center link
tie rods
ETC, EVERYTHING that had to do with the suspension or steering

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

Which brand strut mounts do you have?

Spohn, and possibly others, use a snap ring to hold the bearing in place. This quickly pounds itself loose and makes for almost exactly the same symptoms you describe.

Pop the hood, put your hands on the car and compress the suspension back and forth and look closely at the bearing. You will see it moving if that is your problem.

camaro1185

Thanks,
I got them from hawks, but I think they are the J&M design.

BTW, I only have about 50miles on all these parts so I doubt anything wore out. I did all this during the winter while the car was put away.

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

Mine were loose enough to make noise out of the box. I don't know how J&M locates their bearings but it's something to consider.

camaro1185

Interesting, im gonna check those out, although I doubt thats my problem since it happened prior to installing them and it was the same sound.

rlewi771

In the same area as Pablo, how did you tighten the large nut at the top of your front struts? Its almost impossible with hand tools because as you tighten, the strut shaft starts to spin. Unless you hold the shaft with pliers and a bunch of rags to keep from scratching/damaging the shaft (probably still not advisable), it's hard to get that top nut tightened all the way which will definitely make a noise similar to what you are describing. An impact gun works best... that'd be my guess for ya

edit: sometimes jacking up the car and letting the front suspension hang will put enough load on the front struts to allow you to tighten it enough...not always the case, but it is something you could try.

camaro1185

I thought of that exact nut when I heard the noise. My shocks have a place for a box wrench around the shaft and then a socket on the large nut. I guess its possible I didnt crank it down tight enough...i will check that as well when I get home.

Thanks guys.

camaro1185

Pablo, you were right, my DS bearing moves up and down about 1/32".

What have you done to fix yours, or do you just live with it??

I also tried cranking down the nut, it was as tight as can be.

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

I haven't fixed mine yet. RBob said he fixed his with a custom made shim under the snap ring.
I looked for something off the shelf at McMaster carr and they don't have anything that will match the I.D. of what we need. They do have something with the O.D. but you'd need a way to open up the shim.
That said, I don't have a lot of faith that a shim is a good long term fix, it would seem to me that it will just keep beating itself loose and eat up the shim.

It's a shame that these companies didn't put much R&D into these strut mounts. I have an idea to fix it but it would require a very large tap, a very large die, a little bit of welding, and some safety wire.

EDIT: I forgot to say that it will get worse, and the other side will probably start doing it too. It started with my pass. side just very lightly, progressed to now both sides knock real bad. Enough to where bystanders look at me funny when I am driving slow.

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

Just wanted to bring this back up from the dead,
I managed to fix the problem with the spohn mounts with parts from McMaster-Carr

I went ahead and ordered both a standard shim set and a metric shim set. Neither are an exact fit but the metric shim is only .5 mm smaller in overall diameter than the opening. Overall thats only .25 mm on each side. A tiny amount smaller.
The standard shim set was a little bigger. It turns out the metric shim was the winner. The standard shim would not fit without really screwing it up.
The I.d. of the metric shim will touch the rim of the spherical bearing but I think it will be fine. If you want to get crazy I suppose you could open up the I.D. with sandpaper or something. I didn't bother because the bearing actually doesn't move that much, on my car they don't turn with the wheel even without the shims and I figure the tiny bit that is touching will clearance itself.

I also ordered new snap rings.

To install I just jacked the car up and let the front suspension go to full droop. The strut pulls the bearing all the way down. Popped out the snap ring and had to try different shim stacks until I got it set up to where the snap ring would just seat with a good amount of prying. The goal was to get it as tight as possible. You want to make sure it's all the way seated unless you want a strut coming through your hood. I suggest putting the snap ring in there with no shims to see what it is supposed to look like. I also caution you that at least on the spohn mounts, the groove is not of equal depth all the way around. I arranged the ring so that the thinnest part was placed where the groove was shallowest.
It worked like a charm. No more knocking, and surprisingly the ride quality is improved at speed as well. It probably cut back on a lot of high frequency vibration I was feeling.

Here are the shims http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/3246/=h3d84o
Snap rings http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/3276/=h3ddio

98055A251 1 Pack Metric Spring Steel Shim - Din 988, 0.1mm Thick, 25mm Id, 36mm Od
99142A530 1 Pack Black-finish Steel Internal Retaining Ring, For 1-7/16" Bore Diameter

You'll want the retaining rings, the ones that were in there were worn and had taken a beating.

Hope this helps others battling this problem