Eibach Pro-Street Coilover Issues

[DarrenDriven]

On June 8th I installed a set of the new Eibach Pro Street coilovers on my friend's car and the install went smoothly, pretty much like every other brand we've bolted in. (I've installed KWs, DCs and D2s) We cranked the height to where he wanted it, which was just about as low as they would allow. I would estimate it was near a 2" drop. (photo here)

The next day he called me and asked how my D2 coilovers rode... these new Eibachs were making his back hurt! Apparently the springs were far too stiff and the ride was just ridiculously bouncy. Eibach must have agreed, because when my friend called them, they told him that they had redesigned the assembly and that he should send them back in to have them "fixed". It wasn't under warranty, though, since Eibach didn't consider this a defect, just an update. This was important, because Eibach would not ship out a new set to install when we removed the "pre-updated" set, even though my friend was willing to charge them to his credit card and have it refunded when the first set arrived back at Eibach. Grrr. So we reinstalled the stock suspension and the coilovers were shipped back to Eibach.

Some time later, the updated coilovers arrived. The helper springs and intermediate perches had been eliminated, and new springs were installed... and possibly new shock valving? So we installed the "new" coilovers, although now they didn't lower the car as much. In fact, with the fronts cranked as low as possible it looked like about a 1.3-1.5" drop. My friend wasn't too happy about that, as he wanted the car just a little lower, but he could live with it.

Unfortunately, he could not live with the clunking noise that was now coming from the front of the car. Every bump or turn caused a noticeable clunk to emanate from somewhere in the front of the car. He brought the car back to my shop and we double- and triple-checked every nut and bolt that we had touched. All was good. The one concern that I had was the 22mm nut at the very top of the strut.



You see, while Eibach was thoughtful enough to top the stud with a 10mm hex, the 22mm nut itself is encased inside of the OEM rubber top hat material. This means that the only real way to tighten that nut is with an impact wrench, which has been known to cause issues on the OEM struts -- and therefore is a little worrisome on ANY strut as far as I am concerned. If you put a deep 22mm socket on the nut, then you can't get a 10mm wrench on the stud... and if you put a 10mm wrench on the stud then you can't get a 22m socket on the nut! I looked at the strut itself and short of putting vice grips on the shaft (no way!) there was no obvious method of preventing the stud from spinning while tightening the top nut. Whew. So as far as I can tell, the only causes of the clunk could be that this nut is not tightened correctly, or the struts themselves are defective.

So we called Eibach! Of course they could answer this, right? I explained the situation to our first contact, Mark, and he told us that he would have to contact the guys downstairs. (dungeon?) His first bit of advice (based on the fact that my friend thought only one strut was clunking) was to swap top hats from side to side to see if the clunk moved. I persisted, and said we need to know how to torque the top nut before we start swapping parts, etc. After guessing at a 30-something lb-ft torque spec and something about using a crow's foot attachment on a torque wrench, he called back down to the dungeon and now I have been transferred to David.

I asked David the same question about torquing the nut and he seemed frustrated. You just put a torque wrench on it while using a 10mm wrench to hold the stud. Duh! (I added the duh, sorry David) I'm not sure if they have actually installed these things on a car... seriously. I explained why that wouldn't work, and he then added (seriously) that it would only work before you install them in the car. WTF? I told him that I could barely tighten the nut with a 22mm thin-wall socket because the tolerances are so tight. I literally had to WD40 the socket so it wouldn't bind on the rubber top hat. After that he said that if I used an impact wrench that they are probably just tight enough and I shouldn't worry about it. (shaking head)

Now that we have moved to the unverified assumption that the top nut is tight (but it probably is) we can pretty much guarantee that the front struts are making the noise. When David found out that we had the coils adjusted at max low, he told us that it was too low. TOO LOW. He said crank them up so that there is about 20mm of exposed thread below the bottom collar. You see, when you lower it THAT much, the strut is probably bottoming out and the bump stop is unloading the spring, causing the clunk. So...



Now the car is near stock height in the front. (pic here) Looks like a damn prerunner truck, ready to tackle the Baja 1000. We took the car out again and we could still hear the clunk, although I thought it was a little quieter.

So at this point we don't have any solution. The saga continues and this topic will be updated when we get more info.

[cnk]

Just a suggestion, but you could always use a rubber strap wrench to hold the shock and prevent it from twisting inside the shock body while using a torque wrench on the top nut.

[DarrenDriven]

That is a good idea. I've never done that, so didn't think of it.

[simpleisbest]

22mm pass through sockets are pretty rare. Most sets only go up to 19mm.

You can try to find one like this at a specialty tool store near you:

http://www.reedmfgco.com/index.html?...screen_id=6518

[DarrenDriven]

Yeah, that would work... assuming that the wall thickness of the socket is thin enough to fit into the space allowed. If Eibach would have gone with a slightly smaller nut (20/21mm?) then things would be much easier.

I'm fairly certain that the nut is tight, I was just a little shocked that Eibach just kind of threw their hands in the air when I asked how THEY torqued it.

[DarrenDriven]

Removed Eibach's and they are going back. Installed Suspension Techniques coilovers and no more strange noises.

[tokiokun717]

Originally Posted by Old Man FRS

I'm new to this forum and have been reading about all the coil-over issues on here. I've heard a lot of very good things about the Eibach products and have ran a lot of their stuff on most of my cars and have never had any issues. I've been a professional mechanic my whole adult life and have read a lot of stuff people complain about with their issues on these forums. I have found that 99 percent of these issues are install errors and that people don't know how to fix them. It sounds like you need to use an 3/8" impact gun to tighten the top strut nut with the car under its own load. I really don't like to get on here just because a lot of people that like to bitch about anything and everything.

I don't think you can say that since about half a dozen people installed the Eibach coilovers and are all experiencing similar issues. All three types that they sell have similar noise issues even after the rebuild. Really hate to say it because I like Eibach too and I'm still running on the R1s while I save money to get a different coilover, but they messed up on these and they would probably have to start from the drawing board to get it resolved.

[DarrenDriven]

Hey @Old Man FRS, I too have installed and used many Eibach products and have had success. I generally feel that they are a top tier company... which is precisely why I was so shocked at the service that we received for this particular product. I like Eibach, but a failure of product development (and then of the support provided for that product) at this level is really baffling.

I hoped that this story would have a happy ending. Eibach took notice and contacted my friend, promising to follow up with him. Unfortunately, they never called him when they said they would, and a full day later my friend began the dispute process with his credit card company and ordered some Suspension Techniques coilovers.

We installed the ST coilovers and there are no noises and the ride is great.

[Fizz]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

Yeah, that would work... assuming that the wall thickness of the socket is thin enough to fit into the space allowed. If Eibach would have gone with a slightly smaller nut (20/21mm?) then things would be much easier.

I'm fairly certain that the nut is tight, I was just a little shocked that Eibach just kind of threw their hands in the air when I asked how THEY torqued it.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I came across this am I'm in the market for a set of coilover atm. Im really surprised to read that so many ppl are getting issues with the eibach c/o....its just not something you'd expect from a company like that.

Anyway, Darren, I was wondering if the issues you faced (to tighten the nut) would have been avoided by using a pass through socket set?

[DarrenDriven]

Yes, a pass-through socket set would work IF the 10mm socket could fit through the center of the 22mm pass-through socket. You would have to check that.

It wasn't so much the design that turned me off as much as it was Eibach's indifferent response to the situation and the fact that the solution was to run the coilover settings so the car rode at stock height. Not much of a point to spend money on coilovers if you can't even lower the car with them.

[Fizz]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

Yes, a pass-through socket set would work IF the 10mm socket could fit through the center of the 22mm pass-through socket. You would have to check that.

It wasn't so much the design that turned me off as much as it was Eibach's indifferent response to the situation and the fact that the solution was to run the coilover settings so the car rode at stock height. Not much of a point to spend money on coilovers if you can't even lower the car with them.

I see....well I can already see another problem...assuming the 10mm socket will fit through the pass-through socket, most sets (including mine) only goes up to 19mm. Well done Eibach

[zc06_kisstherain]

I like Eibach but this isnt promising.