Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

So last weekend I decided to heighten the front coilovers a bit as it turned out the tyres would rub the underside of the guards on certain occasions. So I took them out, raised them up 5mm and bam; problem solved. After doing a test drive I noticed a variety of clunks and occasional noises and now I'm unsure if they have been there all along and I didn't notice as I always run the stereo, or is it to do with the work I just did. I don't believe it to be related to the past weekend work as it was a simple enough process and I put it all back together tightly.

Even more confusing is that most of the suspension related parts are in good condition or relatively new. A quick run down...

coilovers - around 15,000kms

front sway bar - aftermarket, new polyurethane bushes 700kms ago

swaybar links- 1300kms old

tension rods - solid, 8,000kms

steering ends - solid, 8,000kms

LCA - standard

tower brace

I know that a set up like this is conducive to NVH but this is something else.

The clunks seem to happen at lower speeds and usually when I'm just minding my business going in a straight line. Its not set off by any specific road conditions or driver inputs. The vibration of the clunk I can even sense through my feet, but I think its coming from both sides. Also there is one from the right rear of the car sometimes too.

I did jack each corner of the car up and did a basic check to see if there was any play in the ball joints, but they seem ok. I did notice about an inch of sideways play in the front wheels, equally on both sides, and put this down to normal play in the L/R motion of the steering system (would that be right?)

So yeah, I'm kinda concerned as I feel like I have the obvious stuff covered, but that said I don't have much confidence in tracking down these clunks. Has this happened to you? What was it? or what have I overlooked?

Thanks!

It could be anything really. I have a clunk that only appears in the wet and its from the Diff bushes. I noticed it after I did all 4 diff bushes and we got a bit of rain, it disappears when it dries out

I know its not much help but just shows it could be anything, even if you have replaced it with something new. Because you think its not a new problem since the coilovers it makes it a bit harder. The Coilover bolts/nuts are all done up nice and tight? coilover bottom mounts on the right way? (They do only go one way, but usually they wont fit the other anyway)

Sorry its not much help

yeah, other threads seem to suggest a variety of things. I guess if it moves, it can make noise. Im wondering if it could be the swaybar touching the control arm, but that's a long shot too. Im hoping for a magic bullet solution, but don't think I'll find one.

have you checked your ashtray for earings??

I have a clunk in my ute...drove me nuts for a few days I thought something was seriously broken in my suspension or something...

well as it turns out

the cable has come off my guard side indicator and it the plug knocks against firewall as i drive...i can feel it through my footwell and it sounds horrible ,clunk clunk, clunk, but now I know its nothing...I ignore it ;)

I chased a noise for ages, had a weird noise from the front of the car. Checked everything and couldnt find a thing

Then one day with the car over a pit, I noticed that for some reason there is a bracket on each front hub that holds the brake line and both had no bolt in them. These had been hitting against the hub. Funny how I never noticed it the first time I looked

Do you have access to a pit? Put it over there and carefully try and take off with the handbrake/brake on to try and put some load on everything while someone stands under the car and looks/listens for noises

Be careful obviously

UPDATE

So I got the front end on stands and got in there to see what I could find. I was half way through fitting standard front suspension as a test when I noticed some movement in the swaybar. it turns out that the swaybar links I bought were a combination of a little loose and a little ill-fitting. I taped the thread (for where it goes through the hole in the swaybar so as to eliminate any play), and also added a washer to all connecting points with a nut, then tightened them all up solid.

I also noticed a little more play than I would like with the tie rod ends where they link up with the knuckle, so I tightened this up a bit more too.

Then went for a test drive and, yey, clunking noises are gone!!

Just an occasional clunk at the rear to follow up. Some other day.

Good to hear you found something.

Sway bar links are a common culprit, usually noticed going in & out of driveways.

Was going to say an inch of sideways play in steering is no good, there should be zero play. That much play will chew out tyres big time!

Yeah, im going to keep an eye on it all though. Tyres are fine, and I put it down to also being off the ground when I checked.

In other news, I was looking at the many underbody pics I took yesterday while there and noticed a turbo dump pipe bolt hanging on right at the end of the thread. Great I saw it and can act on it before it falls right off, but sucks as it means I gotta get out and under the damn car again today...

Unsurprisingly, got under the back of the car and the driver side rear swaybar link has a bit of a creak in it when you move it about (same location as the noise when I drive) so that might well be the cause of that noise too.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Even more fun, leave all the ADAS stuff plugged in, but in different locations, hopefully avoid any codes!   And honestly, all these new cars with their weird electronics. Pull all the electronics out Duncan, and just shove an aftermarket ECU and if needed a trans controller in, along with a PDM. Make it run basic but race car styled!
    • To follow up a question from earlier too since I had the front bar off again (fking!) This is what is between the bumper and the drivers side wheel And this is the navigator side, only one thing but its a biggy! So basically....no putting coolers in the wheel arches without a lot of moving other stuff. Assuming I move to properly race prepping this car I'll take that job on and see how the computers respond to removing a whole bunch of ADAS modules
    • So I prepped the car for another track day on Wednesday (will be interesting to see coolant temps post flushing out and the larger reservoir, with a forecast of 3-14 being 20o cooler than last time I took it out). Couple of things to mention; since I am just driving the car and not taking a support vehicle, I took the rear seats out and just loaded the back up Team Trackday style. Look at all that space! To cover off removing the rear seat....it is weird (note the hybrid is probably different because it wouldn't have folding rear seats) Basically, you remove the lower seat base, very similar to a r series but it is a clip that pulls forward to release the base rather than it being bolted down. Easy Then, you need to remove the side section of the rear seat on each side. There is a 14mm head nut at the bottom of the side piece, the it slides upwards off a hook at the top to release; you also need to unhook the seatbelt from the loop at the top. Then the centre piece is weird. You need to release/fold the seats forward with the tab in the boot on each side From there, there are 2,x12mm headed bolts holding the rear of each seat to the folding bracket, under the trim between the rear seat and the boot (4x christmas tree clips there, they suck). The seat is out but you can see where the bolts attach to the bracket
    • As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
    • I would put a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail, see if it's maintaining good fuel pressure at idle going up to the point when it stalls. Do you see any strange behavior in commanded fuel leading up to the point when it stalls? You might have to start going through the service manual and doing a long list of sensor tests if it's not the fuel system for whatever reason.
×
×
  • Create New...