Buddy Club Race Spec Coilover Problems on Problems on Problems
 

I just installed a set of Buddy Club Race Spec coilovers about a week and a half ago. About a day after install I started hearing some clunking (coming primarily from the front right coilover) when driving slowly over bumps or over larger bumps at normal speed. I kept an eye on it over the next few days, and it started getting louder and more frequent until one day I had to pull over and pull the wheels off in a Walgreens parking lot. I found that the lock rings on the spring had come loose. Reset the preload, tightened everything up, and also tightened up the top nut.

The noise went away for another day or so, then sure enough it started coming back. Pulled the wheel off again, top nut was still tight, the lock ring on the spring was still tight, but somehow there was now no preload in the spring (about 1/8" gap between the spring and the top perch with no weight on the suspension). Thought maybe it was due to the spring sagging since springs do that right after install, but to get 1/8" in a day or two after they've already been on the car for 5 days seemed unlikely.

I pulled the coilover off the car, took off the top hat, removed the spring and dust boot to visually inspect everything. Everything looked good, put it all back together, put more preload on than before (Could barely turn the spring with no weight on it, then turned it a little more for good measure), double checked that the top nut was tight (also put locktight on the top not), then reinstalled everything and tripple checked that everything was torqued properly.

The sound went away completely and the world was wonderful...for another day...Now the sound is coming back again (not as bad and not getting worse as quickly as before though). Removed the swaybar end links just to try and rule that out- made no difference.

I know there are a bunch of threads similar to this on this forum, and I've read them all. I've tried everything that I've read from end links, to preload, to the top nut, to locking down the lock rings with a mallet and a punch.

I would just accept that this is life now :bonk: if the noise never went away...but there have been times when, very briefly, there was no noise at all which leads me to believe that there's got to be some fix.

If anyone has any ideas PLEASE let me know because I'm about ready to yank these off and sell them if I have to pull the wheels once a week just to make sure it's not all going wrong.

BONUS QUESTION: Does anyone know the best way to tighten the top nut on Buddy Club coilovers? They are inverted, so the adjuster is on the bottom. I've used an impact up to this point (even though I know some people have said not to) because there's nothing I can see to grab hold of with a strap to keep it from spinning. There's a spacer around the main shaft going up to the top hat, so that wouldn't keep it from spinning, the top perch isn't solidly mounted and could turn as well. If I put a strap on the threaded part of the shock body underneath the lower spring perch, it remains still, but everything above the lower perch spins away once you start to wrench it. I don't really see any way other than an impact

:iono:

Oh and also- the rears started making some noise today... so there's that

I have the same issue. Ive come to the conclusion that its the pillow ball mounts. All the honda guys have solved this issue by replacing the top hats. I also called buddy club and they said the preload should not be set. the spring should be at 150mm, and the top nut should be torqued to 35-40ft/lbs. but I have no idea how to do that without the strut spinning lol. A possible solution may be adding some sort of lubricant to the pillow balls? but idk, Im in the same boat as you.

As for the rears, I have no idea. I have no problems with the rears.. yet.

the top mounting point doesn't have a hex insert in the middle of the shaft? that's pretty poor planning unless they want you to ruin your shocks as you tighten it down lol. as for your lock rings loosening up, try putting some loctite on the threads where you want it and see if that holds.

I'm not sure how the inverted shocks look, but is there a hex on the bottom of the shock? maybe you have to hold it there and tighten the top

Way there's no hex insert in the middle of the shaft and there's a nut at the bottom of the shaft but it won't hold the strut in place :/

the only option I can think of in that case is to have the top nut finger tight and then drop your car onto the garage floor so that it is under load. then tighten the top nut until it is tight even if the shock tube spins a little. as long as the top nut is tight and won't work itself loose, I doubt it will pose a problem even if it is not at the recommend torque specs. having the shock tube rotate a little won't harm it either, but if it rotates like 180 or 360 then you might have some problems

But I have a feeling the the top nut is currently at or near the recommended torque specs. I think their pillow ball mounts are just garbage

I havent had any major issues with my coilovers that i havent been able to fix myself. Ive tracked them(once a month or twice) and daily on them and have 45k miles on them.

Ive had the locking nut spin loose but ive hit it with a mallet so it wpmt come loose.

For the top nut i used a torque gun(not a compression with air gun). Dont care if that isnt recommended. Its not coming loose.

What are you hearing in the rear? Maybe you need to check your torque on the bolts/nuts??

Thanks for the replies everyone :cheers:

I spoke with the technical guy at BuddyClub last night and he told me the same thing. I'm going to go back and double check it, but I don't think that 150mm is going to do the trick. I remember the spring being compressed to about 5.8" total length and that's about 150mm :/

Even with it on the ground it'l spin around and around if you use a wrench on it. So far using a 20v impact is the only thing I've been able to do to keep it from spinning. I'm pretty positive they're at the required torque for those bolts

It doesn't look like anything has loosened up. I marked the threads and the lock rings with a sharpie this time so I can see visually if anything has shifted. It looks like it's just starting to make noise even though nothing has really changed :iono:

The rears pretty much are starting to sound like the fronts. It's the same sort of clunk in the same type of situation. I'm about to drive to work with the back seat down to get a little better listen, so I'll keep you posted about that.

How long have you had yours on the car? Did they make noise from the start or did it develop over time?

Ive had them about 30k and the noise developed over time. Have you checked that everything is tightened and secure in the rear? because Im pretty sure they dont have pillow ball mounts and thats the only thing that moves up front.

As I turn the wheel back and forth i can see the top nut moving around, so im wondering if theres a way to just replace the pillow ball or grease it. My theory is that over time it collected dirt and lost its original lubrication.

I haven't been able to check the rears yet. It sounds very similar to the front, but unfortunately my wife and I rent a town home at the moment, and while my car always gets the garage it's only a one car, so I have to wait until the weekend when I can get to my parents house to take a good look. The only time the rear makes noise is going up the curb into the driveway. The front makes noise a lot more often.

I don't know enough about Buddy Club's design... but can you just wrap a chain wrench on the silver surface here (maybe with a thin towel to prevent damage), and tighten with an impact followed by a torque wrench?

http://www.subispeed.com/media/catal...lubrsfrs-7.jpg
https://cdn2.ridgid.com/resources/me...=US&type=image

If that doesn't work, can you lower the spring perch and move the spring down... then strap onto the shock shaft with a strap wrench or chain wrench (with padding)? Same process of impact + torque wrench.

https://cdn2.ridgid.com/resources/me...=US&type=image

Except mine have been on for 60 miles and we seem to be in a similar boat lol...Actually when I removed the front right last weekend and removed the top hat from the coilover I thought the pillowball had seized because it didn't move at all without some decent force behind it. I actually thought I didn't know the design of the coilover for a few minutes because I thought it was solid.

Talked to BuddyClub USA last night, but the main guy, Albert, isn't really the "let me listen to your issue and lets's figure this out" type. He more just asks questions without listening to what your issue is and if there's one thing you don't know the answer to he tells you to check that and then call back... Tried to get around that by sending an email early this morning while providing the answers to everything he asked last night and semi-acting like this might be a new issue from someone he hadn't already talked to...just got a response "please call us when you can- thanks".... so great:bonk:

I thought that may be the answer as well, but after I removed the tophat I realized that the silver that you see in that photo is just a metal sleeve that goes around the actual shaft, so you can grip that, but you're not actually gripping anything that's part of what the nut is threaded on to.

Your second idea may actually work though... I'm going to try that :cheers:

Set your preload. Tighten the ish out of the jam nut. Then put a zip tie as tight as you can under the jam nut. It may not work with that fine pitch thread but its worth a try. Maybe put some blue loctite on the thread the jam nut will be covering after setting preload.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Yeah their customer service is terrible :sigh: I'll probably give them a call soon and tell them that my pillow ball won't stop making noise, and I'll stick to my guns. They definitely are not the friendliest, but I'm hoping they can offer a solution. So far I haven't found a solution on any other car forums other than new top hats :/

The fact that they set "preload" at 0 speaks greatly as to the quality and testing put into them. Let me guess. They use the bottom mount to set ride height?

Yeah, I'm not sure the zip tie will be able to grab anything because of the threads, but like you said, worth a shot.

I've read about a lot of people using the stock top hats. Do you know if it's just a simple swap or do you have to modify it in some ways? Obviously a big downside to doing that is that you lose camber adjustment, but do you know if there are any other big downsides to doing this?

Yes sir you do. While I'm sure it doesn't sound like it in this thread, on the surface at least, they do seem like a quality product. The guy who helped me install them is used to building 1000+ hp drag/track cars, so he's seen some pretty high end set ups, and he was impressed with how they looked for a $1500 coilover. Just hoping this is all installer error and not something wrong with the coilovers themselves.

We will see though. Tomorrow morning I'm going through everything front and rear, so I'll make sure to post my findings

Using the bottom mount to adjust ride height puts them in a lower instantly in my mind. You set shock length so nothing can rub and adjust height with the spring seats. Functional, will never rub and if the suspension is designed well it has as much travel as you can possibly use.

check the lower control arm bolts. they may be loose. but while you are there check the lock rings also.

at one point, i thought everything was tight and come to find out that one of the lower control arm bolts wasn't tight. so that may be the issue.

another solution for the top nut, maybe go to a shop you know and use there air compressor and hit it at a high torque. eventually it'll be tight enough even though it is spinning.

http://ft86speedfactory.com/images/buddyclubRSFRS.jpg

how do these differ from

http://www.evasivemotorsports.com/mm...20_425x356.jpg

i don't understand what you mean "bottom mount to adjust ride height puts them in a lower 'category'"? are you trying to tell me that ohlins are at a lower category? please explain.

i have had these exact coilovers with no issues (at least nothing major)

When I checked the rears about a week ago I looked at the LCAs too and they were still good. I'll definitely look again tomorrow morning when I go through everything again. I actually have an air compressor, so I won't need to take it anywhere for that. I've just tried not to use it because I've heard so many people advise against it. I did hit it with my dewalt 20v impact because it's not quite as powerful as an air impact. It definitely got them pretty tight. I also marked the nut and bolt to see if they were moving at all, and so far it hasn't budged, so I don't think the noise in the front is the top nut since it started off quiet and started making noise a couple days later without any movement from the top nuts.

are you running aftermarket sways and endlinks. i remember mine hitting the lower control arm and i had to put a washer to clear. (whitelines front and rear sways with their endlinks)

The bottom mount on most shocks is there to make slight adjustments when you change things/have different wheels etc but should not be used for general lowering. Thats what the spring seats should be used on. I don't know if the ohlins are any good honestly. But put it this way. No-one runs them here. In Australia it's a 90% MCA dominated market for a reason.

Does anyone know if there's some sort of coilover lock somewhere on the market? From reading around I've heard a lot of people with many different types of coilovers say that the lock ring has come loose on them before.

I would think someone would have made something to address this- something as simple as a metal clamp with a rubber inner lining so the threads wont be damaged would do the job nicely.

Even if the lock rings aren't the issue I'm having right now, I'd buy them just for peace of mind.

I've got stock sways front and rear, stock end links in the rear, and the end links that came with the coilovers in the front.

I'm not too concerned with the rear at this point. They have started making a bit of noise, but it almost never makes noise while driving around. It's mostly when going up the curb to enter the driveway or going slowly in particularly bumpy parking lots. I'd rather they made no noise at all obviously, so I am going to go over everything in the rear again, but my main concern is definitely the front.

The front end links are something has puzzled me a bit though. I know that they have hit the control arm at least a couple times because there was a mark on the control arm from them. I've since shortened them a bit more to get a little more clearance . The thing that really doesn't make sense to me is this:

At stock height with stock end links, the swaybar is neatly nestled in between the control arm and the tie rod. Obviously nothing hits on anything because the car was designed to work that way.

When you lower the car, the strut/spring length gets shorter (raises up higher in relation to the swaybar mount). So if you also use a shorter end link (which the one that came with these coilovers is, even at its longest setting), it causes the swaybar to raise up and due to the shape of the bar and where it is mounted to the chassis, also move forward, closer to the control arm.

It stands to reason that to keep the swaybar in as close the stock orientation/angle/location between tie rod and control arm, you would need a LONGER end link since the upper mount raises higher and higher the more you shorten the coilover and lower the car. Obviously there's a point when you would have to worry about hitting the tie rod, but it seems like you'd have to drop the car quite a bit before that would be an issue.

Does that make sense? Clearly I'm wrong because everyone either uses the shorter end links provided or cuts and welds their stock ones. I just don't understand why.

So your two Locknuts are loosening even when they are locked together. They shouldn't really move. If you are having troubles though wind the bottom one down, add a little loctite (one of the lower strength ones that don't need heat to break) and snug it up. That should do the trick. That'd be what I try first. Easy to do and easy to clean up if it doesn't work.

They did come loose once. The first time I had issues and had to pull over in a parking lot and repair it was because both front lock rings had come loose. After I tightened everything back up I used a punch and a mallet to tap them and make sure they were good and tight. The next time I started hearing noise and I yanked the wheels off again, I had to use the bar from the jack for leverage to break it loose. I used the punch to tighten it again after I disassembled the front right coilover, so I'm thinking that's probably not what's causing the noise this time, but I don't know yet for sure because I haven't had time to yank the wheels again.

I just thought another lock would be nice peace of mind. If a coilover managed to come loose after the lock ring coming undone and a rubber clamp underneath the lock ring coming loose that would be pretty amazing.

When you installed these coilovers. Did you adjust the endlink? I ask because the sway bar has to parallel to the ground when the car is back to the ground (not lifted in the air). If not, the sway bar will hit the lower control arm and also your car will handle slightly off. Make sure both are the same length.

Yup, I had the car on drive up ramps when I adjusted them, so the full weight of the vehicle was on the wheels. I couldn't adjust the end links long enough to get the sway bar back to parallel. At its longest setting it's almost touching the control arm. The only way to go is shorter switch brings it further away from the control arm because it's raising it up, but it also brings the sway bar further away from parallel. That's why I'm thinking putting the stock ones back on might be good to try.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

keep me posted on what you discover

Went through everything this morning. Everything was torqued to spec and still tight from before. Added a little wd40 to the pillow ball because it seemed almost stuck. Took a little preload of of the fronts because they were just a little shorter than 150mm. And now there's no noise for the most part. That's happened before and then it comes back after a couple days, but fingers crossed!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

Sweet, keep us updated

Hows the clunking after a week?

To be honest I haven't driven it a lot, but I can report that it's still clunking over bumps at slow speeds. Not nearly as much though. Driving normally it hasn't made much noise at all. I'm at the point where I think I need to accept that it will make some noise from time to time. I think it's at a tolerable enough level to live with

EDIT: drive it around today. Clunk still there for sure... Everything is still tight, nothing has shifted. I give up

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

Usually really cheap spherical bearings can be swapped out with better quality ones. If you pull the mounts and know what to measure you can get NHBB bearings put in.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

I've never needed to measure spherical bearings before, is that something you could tell me? Does buddyclub use cheap ones? Everything else seemed pretty good quality.

Also the rears seem to be making a majority of the noise now (although the fronts still do some). I don't think the rears use spherical bearings don't they?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

From the pics in this thread it looks like the rears have a spherical on the top but I'm not sure. I'm fairly certain BC uses very cheap bearings. Doesn't mean that's your clunking problem, just saw you felt the need to spray wd40.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

They did seem pretty stuck, and I do think the wd40 helped. They aren't BC, the $800 set though. They're buddyclubs that list for $1700, so I would think they at least use decent components? But then again I've never bought coilovers before so what do I know lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk