Weird Sound After Coilover Install (when moving steering wheel left and right)

[infinite012]

Originally Posted by Calum

It confuses me to no end why they designed the sway bar like this. They could have kept the arms straight, and had shorter endlinks. It would have saved materials in productions, made the sway bar two bends easier to produce, and cut a little weight front the front of the car. Not to mention eliminating this issue. I'm also surprised that RCE doesn't offer a straight arm bar and endlink combo yet. In an aftermarket application it would also make the adjustable bars actually able to adjust the rate of the bar without needing extreme endlink angles.

Aren't the sway bars/most of the suspension off of the Impreza chassis?

Cost savings = using what you got instead of tooling for what you want.

[empower-auto]

Originally Posted by qoncept

There are 5 bolts per strut. It's not rocket science. Get all those in place and torqued and you aren't going to have a catastrophic failure. It's really one of the easiest installs you can do.

You also need to set the preload, match the ride height side to side and get the car properly aligned.

This isn't something a kid does in the driveway.

I know kids that have done this in a driveway .. then they bring their car to my shop with cupped tires, issues from incorrect preload settings and complaints about their handling.

My coilovers were installed on a hoist and then properly aligned on a good machine so that all specs were to my liking and ride height was perfect side to side. The car feels great.

[qoncept]

Originally Posted by empower-auto

You also need to set the preload, match the ride height side to side and get the car properly aligned.

This isn't something a kid does in the driveway.

That's exactly the sort of thing a kid does in a driveway. This dude just wants to lower his car. He'll bolt them on, set the ride height (which you can do with a yard stick), preload is out the window since he's using his perch adjustment solely for ride height, then take it in for an alignment which he'll absolutely need. The car won't handle like if he'd had it corner balanced and expertly performed every other bit of setup possible, but it's going to drive just fine and he's not going to care.

The implication that one is in dire need of having a "pro" bolt on some coilovers, like there's going to be some sort of catastrophe is unreasonable.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by RAWR BRZ

Not preload. I think its your endlinks binding. Mine makes a grrrr sound when i turn it and its my endlinks for the swaybars. You have to make sure it can pop in and out easily when car is lifted. When it is lifted it should be neutral/no load on the sways.

This is my EXACT issue. What do I need to do to remove that pre-load on the endlinks? loosen the sway bar, then re-tighten?

[Carlitoz3]

Originally Posted by empower-auto

You also need to set the preload, match the ride height side to side and get the car properly aligned.

This isn't something a kid does in the driveway.

I know kids that have done this in a driveway .. then they bring their car to my shop with cupped tires, issues from incorrect preload settings and complaints about their handling.

My coilovers were installed on a hoist and then properly aligned on a good machine so that all specs were to my liking and ride height was perfect side to side. The car feels great.

I WAS that kid with my old car.....
NEVER again. One of the many reasons why I don't want aftermarket coilovers/ spring for my car now.

[SMOKETREES]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

This is my EXACT issue. What do I need to do to remove that pre-load on the endlinks? loosen the sway bar, then re-tighten?

Same. Sub to see what answer is so I can attempt it

Sent from my HTC One

[SLICVIC]

my car makes this noise toooooo i hate it. any definite solutions for this? Really dont feel like reading all the posts since somehow this thread turned into "coil install difficulty level"... typical FT86club. :/

[RAWR BRZ]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

This is my EXACT issue. What do I need to do to remove that pre-load on the endlinks? loosen the sway bar, then re-tighten?

You'll need adjustable sway bar endlinks. OEM ones are probably too long in your case and it can result in just extra tension when turning the steering wheel or sway bar touching your control arms when turning, etc.

[SMOKETREES]

Originally Posted by RAWR BRZ

You'll need adjustable sway bar endlinks. OEM ones are probably too long in your case and it can result in just extra tension when turning the steering wheel or sway bar touching your control arms when turning, etc.

I do have adjustable end links in the front but can the same noise be produced in the rears also? My fronts have never been a problem. Never made any noise but my rears do. Called manufacture and they said that they do zero preload but still getting, to my intentions, spring pop?

Sent from my HTC One

[qoncept]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

This is my EXACT issue. What do I need to do to remove that pre-load on the endlinks? loosen the sway bar, then re-tighten?

What you want is no static load on the end links, so you really need to adjust them at ride height. Here's what I did:

1. Measure the height of the center of the passenger side hub with a ruler and write it down. (You could actually do either side - you really only have to adjust one side or the other)

2) You'll need 2 jacks to do this safely. First, jack the car up (with "jack A") at the front center jack point and remove the wheel at the corner you just measured.

3) Put the second jack (jack B) under the control arm (I put mine right under the ball joint) and jack it up until it is bearing the whole load.

4) Lower jack A a little bit to give it some clearance, then jack B as far as you can without taking any load of it. You're trying to get the center of the hub to the same level it is at normal ride height, and jack A is there because the car is kind of precariously sitting on jack B. Keep doing this till you're at the right height.

5) Adjust your endlinks till there is no preload. I unbolted one end and adjusted until the stud could slide in and out of the sway bar without any finagling.

This isn't absolutely perfect - your car isn't going to be exactly at ride height without compressing the suspension a bit, but I wouldn't recommend that with the scary jack setup. Good enough.

[RAWR BRZ]

Originally Posted by SMOKETREES

I do have adjustable end links in the front but can the same noise be produced in the rears also? My fronts have never been a problem. Never made any noise but my rears do. Called manufacture and they said that they do zero preload but still getting, to my intentions, spring pop?

Sent from my HTC One

I thought it was coming from the front for you... isnt this what the thread is about? and the rear should be making any grinding noise if you turn it at full stop... if you disconnect your rear sway bar completely and it is still making noise then it may be something else in the rear that is making that noise. but turning the steering wheel should not make noise in the rear whatsoever.