Bad creak and the occasional "thunk"

mysleeper6

Member
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2006 Mazdaspeed6
I installed RPM Street Springs on my 06 MS6. I like the drop, very subtle, and the progressive springs really retain a smooth ride, but stiffen up nicely under hard cornering. BUT...over the course of a few months I have developed a really annoying creak on the driver's side. I also get the occasional "thunk", like the suspension is exceeding its travel. I didn't cut the bump stops (one thought, but the thunk comes on rebound, not compression), and this definitely wasn't present immediately after the install. I installed everything to the correct torque, and rechecked everything for tightness once the problem became really annoying. My next step is to uninstall, reinstall. Ideas? Could it be a bad shock (only 24K on the car)? Maybe a bad end link and the thunk is deflection (although I'm not seeing any unusual wear on the tires)?
 
Define the conditions for the creak. I have the same thing (no mods) coming from forward of the cowl area on the passenger side. Starting, stopping, changes in momentum cause my creaking.

Same for you??

M
 
Mine is pretty much constant; anytime there is any suspension movement. I have a take-home car, so my MS6 is mostly a weekend car. I have noticed that the creaking is worst at the beginning of the weekend, and gets better (quieter), but is still present at the end of the weekend. Going to try to get to the uninstall tomorrow.
 
make sure that the spring is properly seated in the perches. i had a similar problem back with my old protege, and it ended up being that the top perch was slightly turned, so there was a gap that the spring bounced in.
 
make sure that the spring is properly seated in the perches. i had a similar problem back with my old protege, and it ended up being that the top perch was slightly turned, so there was a gap that the spring bounced in.

Wannabe: Did the problem you were having occur all of the time or just during changes is momentum??

M
 
OK, didn't get to it this weekend, but I will definitely check the perches. That sounds like it might be a possible cause for all my symptoms. Thanks.
 
Update: Finally got to the uninstall/reinstall. Not sure if it was because I didn't back the endlink bolt out when I should have, but when I lossened all the other bolts the entire assembly wanted to torque clockwise. Wondering now if I had a moment of super-human strength during the original install and caused the spring to be turned 1/3 of a rotation. In any event, I reinstalled, paying particular attention to the perches and the thunk and creak are gone.
 
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