Seriously - more suspension noise
 

I know these are rampant in here, but this is an odd one that I can't figure out myself and cannot find a solution searching.

I've had the HKS Hipermax IV GT coilovers on my car for about the last three years. I finally got tired of the understeer from ~-1.2* of camber so I ordered the SPC camber bolts and installed on Saturday. First time I did both the camber bolt in the lower hole and the 14mm bolt into the upper hole. Too much at ~-3.6*. So I took the 14mm bolt out and returned the 16mm bolt to the upper hole. Now I was back to ~-2.8 and I could play from there.

I'll interject and mention that I also swapped all of the lug bolts on the driver's side at this time. I had done the passenger's side in the fall after I had a few nuts seize.

Before redoing the alignment to get to -2.5* I took it on the road to make sure everything felt good. It immediately sounded like something was loose on the driver's side. I went back and checked everything and it was all tight. Back out and it sounded the same - like rattling around due to loose nuts/bolts. But it drove on rails with no slop. Confusing. I again came back and checked everything by loosening and then retightening everything I'd touched and even the tops of the coilovers and the mounts on both sides. Same thing.

So at least I'm convinced that there is nothing loose, but I'm still concerned that it sounds horrific at low speeds, I drove to work this morning and over about 35 mph it loses all of the rattling sounds. But in the parking lot, it sounds like it's going to fall apart.

I did not touch the shock settings or the pre-load or height at all. Those haven't changed since I got it dialed in a few years ago. The angle of the coilover isn't significantly different from the last few years - only 1.5* different and the weight and height haven't changed. What could this new noise be?!:bonk:

Thanks

Maybe you forgot to take out one of the lug studs after hammering it out and it is sitting in there between the disc and dust cover?

Did you have the car realigned after making the camber change? (I assume you did, since it will change your toe as well...) Perhaps the alignment tech forgot to tighten something up?

Interesting thought on the lug stud sitting in there. I'll check it, but can't imagine it would survive without falling out. I'll check the trash can tonight to make sure there are five studs.

I'm doing my own rough alignment using the Tenhuzen alignment tools and did adjust toe but all of that is snugged up along with all of the other nuts and bolts.

The more I think about it, the more I think it has to be spring or pillow-ball related. If it continues without resolution I'll figure out a way to mount a GoPro down there to record what I can.

Get an in car recording of the sound at parking lot speeds...might be obvious to someone else who's had the same issue.

Are you 100% sure the wheel studs are fully seated?

I'm 99.9% certain the studs are seated all the way. I get no play there (by hand) and I measured their depths the last time I had the wheel off yesterday and they were all equal. But I will tear it all apart sometime in the next few days to check on any missing studs and to ensure the new ones look right.

I still think it sounds like the spring, but I checked it and it was solid. I could spin it by hand (while in the air) and repositioned it to see if that would change anything. It didn't.

I'll try to get a sound file tonight if it's not pouring rain again.

It sounds like you need to add more preload or tighten the strut shaft nut..

Double check the endlinks as well.

OK, so I took it all apart again last night and did the following:

Added some pre-load to the driver's side spring
Lowered both sides to see if the end-link was hitting the control arm (whatever it's called)
Reduced negative camber to ~2.0*

Nothing. If anything it's worse today. I took some audio on the way to work. https://youtu.be/R6rXYSwuUh8

The end-link doesn't appear to be hitting the arm, but it's pretty close. No evidence of rubbing or rattling. I hit everything with a rubber mallet last night and everything seems solid with no rattling or odd noises.

Blown shock?

Edit: I also did look at the lug studs and they are fully seated. I also counted the old studs in the trash - all accounted for. The noise is beyond a bolt rattling - the whole assembly seems to be rattling around.

Noise can transmit easily so it is not necessarily coming fron where you think. It sounds more creaking that rattling to me but its hard to tell, your video has no video so unsure of speed or steering input.

If it were my car I would get everything gorilla tight that has less than 100ft/lbs rating. The rest i would get a 1/2" breaker and extra gorillabtight them. Like the 2 bolts connecting the strut to the spindle are rated at 180lb/ft if i recall.

Then i would give the top strut bolt a 1/2 second of impact at 3/4 to full beans. Just enough you see the shaft move but don't spin it like a dreidel.

But yea it sounds creaky. How low are you? Did you have this sound before you added camber? You used oem studs or what. Take a 1/2" breaker bar and tighten your lug nuts hard, more than the 89 lb/ft spec. When i put in my ARP studs i set my impact to the 200 lb/ft setting. I didnt wail on it but it takes some force to get them seated.

As a casual DIY I found most of my noises were user error and not bad parts.

It is a decided rattle. No creaking. I can also feel the rattle in my feet but my son couldn't feel anything and he could hear it much less in the passenger seat. I put the phone in the footwell to get up close to the sound. Video/audio was at speeds of 10-25 mph. You can hear my turn signal as I turn into the parking lot, so pretty low speeds.

As I mentioned, I have taken all of this apart repeatedly over the last 3 days and tightened and retightened everything, including things I didn't touch when replacing the lower bolts with the SPC camber bolts. The only thing I haven't touched yet is the top of the strut, so I'll hit that next. But I changed NOTHING on the coilover at all when this noise started. Only swapped in the camber bolt. So after 3 years it sounds like the strut is broken.

I believe I found the problem - the top strut nut was several turns loose! I drove it at lunchtime and it started to make me nervous. When I got back to work I looked under the hood and happened to have a 22mm socket that worked well enough to tighten the nut. I think I got about four full turns on it without trying hard! I'll look at it again tonight and tighten both sides with the proper tools and hopefully I'll be done and get back to the alignment...

My questions that will never get answered: why did it start rattling when it did - I never even touched the top nut? Was it getting loose for a while and the camber change simply exacerbated the loosening?

I had a similar issue and it was coming from the jam nut on my adjustable swaybar endlink bc it had come lose but since you bolt checked everything that just sounds crazy. Good luck brother

Ive seen top hat nuts come loose due to camber plates binding when turning. Just keep an eye on it and tighten every time you check your tire pressure/torque wheels.