Buddy Club Race Spec Coilover Problems on Problems on Problems

[mpross]

Originally Posted by Northwest86

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.

[Alain]

Originally Posted by mpross

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.

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.

[mpross]

Originally Posted by Alain

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

[Alain]

Originally Posted by mpross

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

[mpross]

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

[Estey]

Sweet, keep us updated

[Estey]

Originally Posted by mpross

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

Hows the clunking after a week?

[mpross]

Originally Posted by Estey

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

[RBbugBITme]

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

[mpross]

Originally Posted by RBbugBITme

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

[RBbugBITme]

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

[mpross]

Originally Posted by RBbugBITme

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

[RBbugBITme]

Originally Posted by mpross

They're buddyclubs that list for $1700, so I would think they at least use decent components?

Don't think that.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[mpross]

Originally Posted by RBbugBITme

Don't think that.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Well ok then lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk