Weird noise in rear suspension

chwast

Member
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2008 Mazda 3 HB
About 5000 miles ago I replaced my spring with Eibach sportline. At the same time I changed rear sway bar for ms3 one and camber arms for spc.. Since then I have that weird noise in rear. Every bump or pothole you can hear that noise like metal is hitting metal. I tought that is coming from rear endlinks since the bolt on sway bar is bigger in ms3.. Endlinks were changed today and the noise is still there. Any ideas what that could be? There was no noise prior to changing all the mentioned parts. My toughts are maybe thats coming from springs since shocks are oem and there is some difference in lenght/travel time. Attached are two pictures of rear spring as the car is sitting now. They look kind of squeezed like the coils are touching each other.. is that normal? Any other mz3 hb owers with those springs and same problems? Any help will be appriciated since I would like to avoid spending $800 on new shocks/struts jus to find out thats something different is making that noise. My car is '08 mz3 60000k miles ( 5k miles on lowered springs) Also last week during 60000 seervice at mazda dealer I've been told taht shocks/struts are ok


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hey man im running sportlines with Koni Yellows and SPC camber arms. no aftermarket sway bar for me kept it stock.

the springs are suppossed to look like that so thats fine as far as the noise? make sure your SPC are still tight. if that doesn't help id say tighten up the top hats of the rear shocks ( the two small bolts at the top of the fenderwell) then the bottom bolt of the shock on both sides!
 
Did You cut Your bump stops? I didn't touch mine. Any chances that this might be a problem?
 
I cut the bump stops on the shock it self, the white foam thing. i can see the bump stop next to your spring on the left of the picture that needs to be there.
 
there are certain combinations of springs and rear sway bars that cause a "clunk" noise. If this is what it is, check out this page:
**link didn't work, search "rear sway clunk mazda 3"**
I think this may be your problem.

The best and cheapest solution is to uninstall and reinstall the bar.
 
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Ok I'll check all the bolts are re-torq them to specs during the weekend.. Hopefully that will solve the problem...
 
Ok so last weekend I've checked the end links once again. I put the car on the ramps loosen and re-tighten the sway bar and end links once again...still no change. Next try was to take out the end links to check if the sound still will be there. at the same time I removed everything from trunk, including jack and spare wheel. Still no improvement... After few hours of checking every bolt and nut I decided to check the springs. I went to Home Depot get some 3/8 inside diameter vinyl piping. I wrapped every other coil of the spring to eliminate metal to metal contact. After test drive sound is gone... I'm thinking about contacting eibach and ask them if that's normal that the coils are touching each other...
 
Wait a minute. do you have the rubber silicone cover that came on the springs? From the look of the pic it doesn't seem you have it.
 
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