Annoying noise

[Babygirl]

Hey BLACK....

I know thats the problem in the back.. with the plates...i've posted that here but no one wanted to listen to me.. i didnt even get a respone from anyone!! lol.... and i knew it couldnt be a nut turned the wrong way... anyways.. thats not my problem....the back i can deal with..i dont drive over that many bumps...my problem is with the fronts... the adjuster seems to be banging around against the strut... so we fixed that with double sided tape... then my car started doing it again...so yesterday we took of the wheel and jacked up the car.. and the adjuster is snug!! we were like WTF!!! so we figured that its the bottom of the adjuster hitting the bottom of the strut... in that big cup part.. ya know what i am talking about...lol.. anyways... im thinking about wrapping the bottom of the adjuster in some kind of rubber tubbing.. you got any suggestions on how to make it stay...also... do you know how to take out the struts?? or more importantly what tools... we couldnt get two or the bolts off in the wheel well.. hope you or anyone can help... thanks again

 

[blackp5ca]

Hey babygirl...
The only thing I can think of is to wrap the bottom of the strut tube in something...thick foam tape maybe? rubber o-rings..even electrical tape wrapped around ten times..anything to prevent metal on metal..but I'm sure you know this...might be a dumb idea dont flame me here...but if you dont want to remove the strut maybe you could use some caulking or rubber gasket maker and try to squeeze it down to the bottom of the strut inside the adjuster? just make sure it sets up? Dont know how long it would last or even if it would stick but...quick band-aid? Another ghetto idea..cut some rubber corks in half and shove them into between the strut tube and coilover sleeve...push them down to the bottom with a screwdriver or something?? I know, I know..pretty sad ideas but beats removing the struts and getting ANOTHER alignment!! $$$$
As for removing the strut, if my memory is correct...14mm bolts on the top of the strut (under the hood), 17mm are the big bolts attaching to the front spindles, need to really crank on these ones! (try a big piece of tube on the end of a Johnson bar or ratchet so you can get better leverage) front end links are 12mm I think..also a b**** to get undone...ended up replacing mine and cutting off the old ones.
Anyway..good luck...sorry I wasnt much help!

 

[Babygirl]

Thanks for you help black... those are good ideas...i've thought of them all... but since the adjuster is taped to the strut now.. i cant move the adjuster up or down... so the strut needs to come out =( ....we tried and tried to get those bottom bolts off but they wouldnt budge!!! My bf couldnt get enough leverage in there.. it was a b****!! so we gave up and put it back to gether!! you know whats weird though... everytime we jack up the car and take the tire off ( of course lol) and mess with the spring...then we put lower the car back down and put the tire on... the noise goes away for about 2 days... lol!! So i told mike ( my bf) that he is just gonna have to do that every couple of days til i can think of fix!!lol thanks for you help... ill let you know how it goes.

 

[garretts77]

Hey Razor. You started this thread, did you ever get your problem resolved? My was 100% the rubber piece that fits between the spring and the upper spring seat. It has been a couple of weeks now and it is perfect. I guess it just moved around a little once it was back on the car, and the spring made contact with the metal. I was just curious if yours was fixed.

P.S. Eibachs are good. Some day when I can afford the Tokiko Illuminas, it will be even better.

 

[Matthew]

you know let me tell you how busy ive been lol...the only days i could check it out, its rained...and i think it might have fixed itself...either that or i cant hear it over the exhaust...possibly mine was the rubber piece and it situated itself? i dunno, when i paint my calipers next weekend and have my wheels off, im gonna check it out for sure.

 

[J_Naoto]

has the washer trick worked for anyone else?

i just tried it and it worked for me!!!

 

[eepr5]

I wish I'd found this thread earlier. I have been having what sounds like the same problem with my teins. I'll have to try this.

 

[ounkny]

Reviving an old thread, yes, but I just had Tein S-tech springs and Tokico HP struts installed in my Protege, and I think I may also have this R/R rattle/bump sound. I am wondering whether garretts77's problem is the same as what mine is.

I am really curious as to why everyone had the problem in the R/R side of the car. It can't be that everyone just "happened" to install them incorrectly at that corner.

 

[garretts77]

Some people seemed to have luck installing the washers on the studs. I did it on all four corners, but that wasn't my problem. It would probably be the first thing that I would try though, because it is easy. You can slip the washers on and re-tighten in just a few minutes. If that doesn't fix it, then take the RR wheel off and check out the rubber piece with a flashlight. My problem was pretty obvious once I got inside there.
Hope this helps.

 

[Matthew]

whatever i had done wrong, mine fixed itself (wierd)

 

[ounkny]

That's the odd thing. This is a case where many people have had the same symptom but with different causes. But why does it occur in the R/R for almost everyone?

The thread has a lot of suggested fixes, and of course I will look into them. Thanks guys.

 

[walight01]

i've got spool and i know its from not being able to get the sway bars tightened up correctly, i had a wrench and a tiny allen wrench so i know they aren't tight. i'm getting some socket style allen wrenchs soon this way i will know its tight.

 

[ounkny]

The washer fix worked for me.

 

[JAC]

Ok, this might be a dumb question, I installed eibach's last week and I also got the clunk, I want to give the washer soulution a shot but, do I have to jack up the car to remove the nuts?

thanks.

 

[eepr5]

when I did mine I didn't jack the car up, just made sure there was some weight in the trunk and took the nut off SLOWLY to make sure the piston didn't try and retract.


and as to getting the swaybar linkage nut tight, I got one of those ratchets with a hole through the head, and put a big allen wrench through the hole. made it so I could grip both allen and ratchet in one hand like a pair of pliers and squeeze the s*** out of it. it worked when everything else I tried didn't.

Ok, this might be a dumb question, I installed eibach's last week and I also got the clunk, I want to give the washer soulution a shot but, do I have to jack up the car to remove the nuts?

thanks.

 

[garretts77]

Ok, this might be a dumb question, I installed eibach's last week and I also got the clunk, I want to give the washer soulution a shot but, do I have to jack up the car to remove the nuts?

thanks.

You don't have to jack it up. In the rear, remove the seat belt cover and seat belt assembly. Then that black cover that covers the top of the strut tower. Unbolt the big nut on top of the strut, insert thick washer, and retighten nut. In the front, you can see the nut. Just unbolt the nut and insert a washer.

I hope it helps. It seems to have helped a couple of people on here, but it didn't help me. But it would be the first thing that I would try since it should only take 5-10 minutes... Good Luck.

 

[Mike R]

Don't remove the seatbelt, you don't need to. Just the two bolts that hold the seatbelt guide down over the strut top. I found that I installed the washer upside down. All quiet now.

 

[JAC]

Thanks for the replies guys, I hope to have some time during the weekend to do it.

 

[Scooter_TO]

From reading through this and checking people's signatures,..the washer trick seems to have worked for everybody running the Tein S-Tech's.

Luckily that's what I have too, so I'm going to give it a shot within the next couple of weeks and will post if it works for me too.

 

[macklum]

Great tip ,thanks ,I just did this and no more clunks . Mine however did look ok but i put the washers on to see what would happen . Without the washers the nut may look ok but it bottoms out on the threads . the rubber bushing isnt compressed enough otherwise .