Clunking Noise After LCA Install
 

I just recently installed my isc v2 rear lca and I'm getting some clunking noise passenger side. The pillowball of the lca is completely lubed up, everything torque to spec, and I even took out the sway bar w/ the end links to see if it was those that were making the noise but it wasn't. It can only be heard while driving at any speeds but there's no noise when rolling the body side to side or the trunk up and down. Any ideas?

Bump now it kinda sounds like a popping noise.

Not sure if I understood right you said you disconnected the sway bar with end links and drove around and the noise still happened? I've read(and always do it this way) the control arms have to be tighten with the suspension loaded, car on ground or on ramps.

Yes. I disconnected the sway bar with the end links and drove around the block and the noise is still there. It was torque'd down on the ground (on my drive way, it's somewhat of a ramp), the weird thing is that only the passenger side is making noise, not the driver side. Gonna re-do the lca's and see what happens.

Hmm..odd.. really shouldn't be making any noise.. just look it with a cool head and make sure all nuts and bolts are tight. best of luck.

That typically only matters when talking about stock control arms because the rubber bushings can end up binding. It shouldn't matter on most aftermarket arms.

Bump. Now instead of the passenger side making noise, it's the driver side after I redid the lcas.

Mine did this twice, it was the jam nut on the adjuster not being crazy tight. I put lock tight on them

I guess I'll take it apart for the 3rd time and do that. Hopefully 3rd's a charm. It's going to be taking it off the car, tighten the jam nuts, install, lower the car onto 2x4 wood planks, then torque to spec on all the bolts.

Just put these same LCAs on my car and had the same problem. It got a lot quieter when I fixed one of the pillowballs that was cocked to the side instead of being straight, and went away completely when I took it in for an alignment, where I'm assuming they tightened all the nuts that my tools wouldn't fit.

If you have a bad spherical heim or ball joint on the LCA, there could be play there even if its properly lubed. Its not uncommon with aftermarket arms, but usually that doesnt happen until later with wear.

Did you check for anything binding? I know you said everything was properly torqued, but is there anything that may have been overtorqued that's causing binding like somewhere involving a bushing or bearing?

Just re-did the driver side LCA. Still clunking with the pillowball straight. Everything tightened and torqued. I have no idea now.


I don't think it's a ball joint on the LCA. The driver side didn't have any noise until I re-did both the LCA's (should have just re-done the passenger side). I did check for binding. Nothing was over-torqued that can cause binding in the bushings or bearings. I just re-did the driver side again in-case of that, but nothing. Same results except for the clunking happening more frequently now. Here's a video of what I recorded yesterday before I re-did it (best heard around 1:10 as I was neutral coasting down my hill so barely any exhaust sounds). Also tried pushing the car left to right and bouncing it from the trunk, no sound produce. But if I sit in the car and bounce myself in the driver seat, the noise is noticeable.

Bump. Seems like the pillowball joints are making the noise. It was torque'd down to spec at the time of the noise. The noise is still present but it happens once every so often and I don't want to try to loosen it anymore (actually feels more loose than the passenger side). Any ideas to actually fix this without having to keep loosening the nut?

Just wondering, what LCAs are these?