New suspension installed: creaking from front.

[Mikecivic78]

Just installed Koni sport and Eibach pro kit. front drop is 2"

All good, but I'm getting some creaking from the front at times.

1) When I'm backing in to my garage at weird angles on sloped ground.
2) On hard cornering left turns from the right strut. In all honesty I haven't noticed or had a chance to corner it hard on right handers.

I never had this problem with my stock sussy. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks in advance

Mike

[trism]

So would it be when the front is fully compressed?

Could be the springs binding, or trying to twist on the perches.

[dougie_504]

Bushes? And are all the nuts/bolts tightened to spec? I re-check mine after driving for a bit on new sussy.

[Mikecivic78]

Pretty sure everything is tight, I've re-checked it


So would it be when the front is fully compressed?

Could be the springs binding, or trying to twist on the perches.

Yes, it seems to be when they are fully compressed. It does sound like it might be trying to twist.

Any way to fix this?

[dc2r-0636]

my rears were doing this on my coilovers. fixed its self. i think they just gota be worn in. (around 300kms of driving)

[mao]

Your problem is very common but is not something that affects the safety of your ride, Unfortunately the creaking is annoying.We install a lot of coilovers and what you have is a spring rotating slightly on turns and sometimes on turns going up or down a slope.

1) did you grease the rubber tops where the centre bolt of the top strut bolt in?
2) check by loosening the top bolt and going on funny angles up a slope and see if noise goes away. if it does, lubricate the top rubber or bearing with rubber grease or spray on silicon lubricant.
3) check that the top and bottom of the spring seat has a rubber insulation.

[Mikecivic78]

Your problem is very common but is not something that affects the safety of your ride, Unfortunately the creaking is annoying.We install a lot of coilovers and what you have is a spring rotating slightly on turns and sometimes on turns going up or down a slope.

1) did you grease the rubber tops where the centre bolt of the top strut bolt in?
2) check by loosening the top bolt and going on funny angles up a slope and see if noise goes away. if it does, lubricate the top rubber or bearing with rubber grease or spray on silicon lubricant.
3) check that the top and bottom of the spring seat has a rubber insulation.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I got a shop to do the shock assemblies so I'm not sure if the tops were greased. All I did was remove and install the assemblies into the vehicle.

How can I lubricate the rubber? I have a tube of rubber grease handy. Do I need to disassemble the shocks to do this?

[EK1.6LCIV]

I'd check over their work again and post pics of them

Bushes sound like they're getting old

[Mikecivic78]

I'd check over their work again and post pics of them

Bushes sound like they're getting old

Which bushes? Tophat bushes?

Also, it's hard to check over their work, as that means taking the shockies out and taking them apart. I might have to do it eventually. I'm sure of my work putting them out and in though.

[mao]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I got a shop to do the shock assemblies so I'm not sure if the tops were greased. All I did was remove and install the assemblies into the vehicle.

How can I lubricate the rubber? I have a tube of rubber grease handy. Do I need to disassemble the shocks to do this?

1) First of all, can you loosen the top nut off the shock slightly but do not totally remove it for safety and do a test drive. Is it still noisy? If yes, go to 2. If no, go to 3.

2) Also before removing the shock, try spraying a silicon lubricant on the top hat bush for the top to see if the noise goes away?

3) Remove the 2 front shocks, and dissemble the shock, unless your koni is set so low that by jacking the car up, there is no tension on the spring, you can apply rubber grease to the top hat and bottom mount.

[mocchi]

did you torque up bushes bolts with wheel on ground?

[Mikecivic78]

did you torque up bushes bolts with wheel on ground?

Which bushes bolts do you mean?

[mocchi]

fork bolt

[Mikecivic78]

fork bolt

Alright. I'll crawl under and check..

[Mikecivic78]

Fork bolt is tight.

Any other suggestions anyone before I start pulling sh!t apart???

[Mikecivic78]

So would it be when the front is fully compressed?

Could be the springs binding, or trying to twist on the perches.

Looks like you might be on the money there mate.

I've been checking it out and the right hand side is definitely binding.

Also, the orientation (clocking) of the perches is out of whack, which is probably causing the twisting. I'm going to take them out and Fulcrum is gonna re-align them for 60 bucks.

Now I hope this will fix the problem.

[trism]

:like:

[bennjamin]

OP

just read this - Because you have dropped the springs lower than their stated height , and that the lower perch can rotate - the issue is most likely the springs seating itself. The spring is not captive so it can move up down or contort under various geometry changes and stresses while driving.

Fix ? Either raise it , or install longer front springs such as oem or even oem ek9 so that the springs remain captive at such a drop

[Mikecivic78]

OP

just read this - Because you have dropped the springs lower than their stated height , and that the lower perch can rotate - the issue is most likely the springs seating itself. The spring is not captive so it can move up down or contort under various geometry changes and stresses while driving.

Fix ? Either raise it , or install longer front springs such as oem or even oem ek9 so that the springs remain captive at such a drop

I installed the springs on the stock perches (ie: higher perch at the front, middle perch at rear) on the Konis.

Its a simpe Koni Sport/pro kit combo.

What should I do?

[bennjamin]

I installed the springs on the stock perches (ie: higher perch at the front, middle perch at rear) on the Konis.

Its a simpe Koni Sport/pro kit combo.

What should I do?

Sorry - you said it's a 2 inch drop but pro kits are about 1.5inch drop - I just assumed you had it on the second perch at the front !

Regardless , do you recall when installing , that the spring was firmly held and no movement up/down or no rattle ?

Also did you knock off the stock fork mount-rings off the standard shocks and reuse them on the koni's? These will hold the fork on much better

IMO I would reinstall the fronts making sure each part is held properly , make sure the 2 x 19mm nuts onto of the shock hat are tight too

[Mikecivic78]

Sorry - you said it's a 2 inch drop but pro kits are about 1.5inch drop - I just assumed you had it on the second perch at the front !

Regardless , do you recall when installing , that the spring was firmly held and no movement up/down or no rattle ?

Also did you knock off the stock fork mount-rings off the standard shocks and reuse them on the koni's? These will hold the fork on much better

IMO I would reinstall the fronts making sure each part is held properly , make sure the 2 x 19mm nuts onto of the shock hat are tight too

No worries, it is strange that the drop is 2". Rears were the correct drop for the , Didn't expect the front to drop that much on the upper perch.

I didn't notice any rattle. Perhaps I should have checked it better.

I re used the stock fork mount rings and aligned them accordingly.

I'm planning to do a reinstall on Wednesday. I hope I can get it fixed.

[bennjamin]

Gl
As long as you even follow all oem torque specs - and dont forget to tighten when suspension is STATIC ( ie at compressed standing height ) all should be OK. Maybe even spray abit of lithium type grease in the upper hats to further cushion any creaking or noise from the shocks (temporary but tells u where it comes from)
Also try to dial in the springs to the same perch degree as OEM springs seats....you never know it might help !

[Mikecivic78]

Thanks mate. I'll make sure to follow your advice on that.

[Red_EG4]

How old are your bushes?
when I installed new suspension the bushes soon deteriorated and caused a creaky noise

[Mikecivic78]

How old are your bushes?
when I installed new suspension the bushes soon deteriorated and caused a creaky noise

Front axle bushes are as old as the car - 11 years.

but yours creak immediately after, and only under hard cornering like mine?

[vinnY]

how are your sway bar bushings?

also chances are, if they didn't have to remove the upper control arms, the bushings on those are being pre-loaded
and since your rear trailing arm bushings aren't clocked they're preloaded too, watch for wear

run it in for a while and see how it goes
if in doubt, loosen everything and retorque with the suspension pre-loaded

all the bushes are probably under a bit more stress than they were before as the stock shocks absorbed most of the bumps while the newer stiffer suspension is transferring it straight to them

[EK1.6LCIV]

jack the car up on all fours
remove the wheels
inspect every bush
re-torque all bolts

when I did my swap (as my car is just as old) I replaced
front control arms
rear camber arms
rear lcas
installed extended ball joints (improved the cars handling a lot even before the drop)
replaced every bush on the car

check your disc brake stone shield too, might need beating into shape a bit as they make shite sounds once they age

[Mikecivic78]

cheers for all the responses, I'm doing the re-install tomorrow.

[EK1.6LCIV]

youre in Brisbane???

[Mikecivic78]

I did the re-install on the front suspension today. It went smoothly, but unfortunately the problem still remains, but the sounds is not as severe as before.

I did the following things:

Removed the shock assembles and took them to Fulcrum who took apart the Konis and Eibachs and they:

1) dialed in the springs/perches to match the stock assembly
2) lubricated the top hat and made sure the spring was mounted correctly.
Cost me 20 bucks, bargain.

I also inspected the bushes (swaybar, control arms etc...). I'm no suspension expert, but I didn't find anything amiss.

I made sure everything was torqued to spec while static (with the car sitting on the ground).


What could it be? I have 2 theories:

1) Worn bushes (the car is 11 years old)
2) lower ball joints: I had my trusted mechanic check the car about 10,000Km ago and he said that there had been very minor play in both lower ball joints. Maybe the 2" front drop has effected them.

[Mikecivic78]

youre in Brisbane???

yea man, I'm in the Toowong area. If you can help out, that would be appreciated.

[Vvvtec]

Glad to see you're tackling this yourself Mike!

I'm just waiting for all the noises/creaks that appear once I put my coils in lol

[bennjamin]

Another important point


When installing ANY aftermarket springs or shocks or coilover combo - more stress is put on all surrounding suspension parts including the
Chassis itself. That is - less travel in the shocks movement
So , naturally bushes welds etc will creak as they are put under more force !

[Mikecivic78]

Glad to see you're tackling this yourself Mike!

I'm just waiting for all the noises/creaks that appear once I put my coils in lol

it's an annoyance, it's not speed related at all, just related with sharp turning onto downhill turns.

On spirited mountain drives, it's sick. Front 26mm and rear 22mm swaybar is the best bag-4-buck install, but once u put in new Springs/shocks, it takes you to the next level.

If ur install is done well, u shouldn't get creaks, but if you do, I think bushes will be the problem.

[trism]

Go to Repco and buy a tube of pbr rubber grease. Put a thin layer onto the top and bottom perches where the spring sits. Also grease the sway bar mounts and link bushes.

Sent from my custard cannon like Peter North.

[EK1.6LCIV]

yea man, I'm in the Toowong area. If you can help out, that would be appreciated.

could do, would be easier to understand in person

[Mikecivic78]

If you got some time, maybe we could meet up. Where abouts are you?