Rattles after coilover installation
 

Hey guys,

I have recently installed a set of MCA blue series coilovers on my 86 and since then I have a clunking/rattling sound at low speed. The noise seems to only happen going slowly and happens over even the smallest bump. To describe the rattle imagine you have a piece of hard wood in your wheel well chilling out and rolling around while you are driving.

I have checked over the coilovers and bolts myself and also had them all checked by a suspension shop when I got my alignment done and they are all tight and correctly installed, the car is about 1.5" lower than stock, though I could not find any evidence of things rubbing or hitting anything they shouldn't. I believe my preload is also correctly set and dampner adjustments are as they were set by MCA.

I did not notice the sound before installing the coilovers though it's possible that the stiffer ride has amplified an existing problem.

Any help is greatly appreciated as this sound is driving me crazy.

Put in diff LCAs? Camber plates or bolts? Check endlinks or anything that could be connecting etc....

I had what sounds like the same problem after installing mine. I took everything off and made sure my strut rod bolt was tight enough, which fixed the problem.

Hey mate, Just wondering what you are referring to by strut rod bolt? Do you mean end link bolts? as in the ones that are missing here? or the actual nut on the top of the strut?

http://tinyurl.com/ndznrmc

Cheers

The top nut on the coilovers that is exposed in your engine bay (or trunk). I had to take mine out, use a spring compressor and tighten that top nut pretty tight. After that all noises ceased.

I recently installed coilovers too and had this rattling sound on low speed. My mechanic and I couldn't find the problem. So i removed them completely and changed it back to stock.

Just wondering, is it something like this?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaC6-sojxn4"]clunking sound - YouTube[/ame]

Not quite that bad, I wouldn't drive it if it sounded like that :P Mine is more annoying than anything. If nobody has come up with a solution by the weekend I might try and make a video and post it up. Cheers anyway

Did you receive any new endlinks with your coils ? I had the same noise as in the video and it was coming from the endlinks I installed that came with my HSD coils. The problem wasn't the end link itself it was actually me not being able to tighten them properly at the part it connects to coils. The reason it was loose is because there was a gap in thread on the endlinks after it sat on the coils. So I just bought some washers and was able to reduce the gap just enough to have those end links tightened.

Also, if you didn't relieve any endlinks it could be that the stock endlinks are too big and hitting against the LCA. You can check on your LCA for marks if that is happening.

Hope this helps.

First question did you do aftermarket camber plates? if so you can expect a little metal on metal contact as you lost the rubber bearings in the stock top hats. And make sure the top not holding the coilover to the top hat is tight. I had to re-tighten mine a few times after being installed.

Clunk = something loose.

Assuming proper install, could be bad pillowball bearing.

Assuming functioning parts, could be loose strut top nut. This happens more often than you think.

-alex

Hey guys, just thought I would get back to you about the rattles. I took my car to a suspension shop and they found that the locking nuts on the adjustable end links on the front had come loose. Apparently the small amount of backlash in the thread was enough to make it sound like my car was falling to pieces because it did the trick.
I only have a small noise in the rear now but I think that is only due to the stiffness of the coilovers, possibly all the junky foam in the boot.

Cheers for the help anyway.