Noise from Coilovers
 

I purchased BC BR Coilovers and an SPC Rear camber kit.. about 2 weeks after having my coilovers installed, by a professional installer, my right rear suspension started making this really annoying noise. I have no idea what is causing it. I went back to the shop and they made sure everything was tightened down properly and checked everything and still the noise remains. I am very frustrated. The ride is superb, I was very excited about this mod, and here i am 2 weeks later and my car sounds like a rattling POS. :mad: Maybe its a bad shock? anyone have any idea what it is? here is a video i uploaded with the sound. its that persistent annoying rattling.

That sucks man im sorry to hear that. I almost pulled the trigger on these too. I was informed by Lou from Amplified that a lot of people have had noise problems with bc coils. Cant say for sure what that sound is but it almost sounds like its maybe your sways. Was everything tight on the sways where they attach to the endlinks? I know I read on here that someone was having a similar sound and it was their sway bar bushings. Just a couple of thoughts. Good luck bro.

After dozens and dozens of installs of BC Racing coilovers as well as pretty much every other brand.... I am almost certain that the coilovers themselves are not the problem. It is more likely the installation of the coilovers, or other parts rattling/knocking due to the install. As someone mentioned, the sway bars is a good possibility.

Now that you mention it, That is a possibility :tiphat:

Haha wow. :facepalm: That is ridiculous yet on par with what a vendor who doesn't sell BC Racing coilovers WOULD say, now isn't it.
I have nothing against Lou at AMP'd at all (in fact he is a cool guy)... Just stop and consider that it might be in a vendors best interest to steer you away from one product (which they dont carry) to try to steer you toward a product that they DO sell (which carries a larger profit margin). How do I know this???... Cause I carry over 30 different brands of coilovers....some I make more money selling than others.

As for the old, old stories of "BC Racing coilovers causing noise". :shakes head: Well that all got started by this....
In the very first small batch of prototype coilovers that BC Racing shipped out to the G37 guys they were using a solid, non pillow ball mount on the rear strut's upper mount. This, in some cases did cause a rattling noise. That's how this "BC coilovers make noise" crap all got spread and blown out of proportion. As soon as the noise was traced back to the rear strut upper mount, this problem was fixed right away with a softer, more pliable rubber pillow ball mount from there on out. Problem solved. The first few customers who received the first batch with the older mount were then notified and shipped out (for free) the new pillow ball version rear upper mount to replace it. End of story.


This ^^ is a good place to start looking for the noise.

For a second, third, or fourth opinion.... I have several customers on here now that have BC Racing coilovers on their 370Z..... ask any of them if they have the same noise :D;)

Scott, i didn't mean to imply that the noise was in fact a prevalent issue in all bc coils, I had just mentioned what I heard. Obviously Lou knows a bit more than me since hes been in the game for quite some time. I was not trying to put bc or any vendors down for what its worth. Thanks for clearing up the issue.

Oh of course, I understand. Glad to help clear things up. :tiphat:

That is just another one of the several old rumors I get tired of hearing and correcting... LOL
Sorry, In no way was I trying to bite your head off. :D

Thanks for the input. i had heard the same thing about 'noises' from bc coilovers, but i decided to take it with a grain of salt b/c the people telling me about them didnt actually sell them. besides the noises described to me were more like a creaking sound. the installer seemed to have checked everything and i heard 'sway bar' mentioned so i'm sure they checked it, however, can someone post a pic of the bolt on the sway bar that i should check? FYI the sound is ONLY coming from the right rear.

Scott, it sounds like your opinion is that it is NOT the coilovers themselves and is probably something else loose? i'm just trying to figure out what it since since the installer said everything is torqued down properly.

Well its really hard to guess what it is you are experiencing without actually having the car in front of me to check out. It could also be the pre-load that is set on the rear struts vs the spring height. Did the installer keep the factory rubber o-ring type thing in the rear lower spring bucket? Are all the collars on the shock bodies tight, as well as the brake lines and abs/wheel speed sensor guides on the coilover body? sway bar and end links tight and have enough play (so they are not hitting when they articulate)?

There can be a lot of other things as well, wish I could be more help.

These pictures are from M.Bonani's DIY but he had the closest pics to what i was referring to. In the first picture, make sure these two are tight and maybe you need some extra grease on your bushings. Second picture is the endlinks was talking about circled in black not green.

All good, no offense taken we're good. :tiphat:

thanks scott and 370zforme. i think when i swap to my winter tires in the next day or two i'm gonna check every bolt etc and take pictures of every fitting i can find and post them here and try and understand what the culprit is. I'm also going to call bc, if its a problem they've heard of before, and its not because of a faulty product, i'm sure they have a way of troubleshooting. Scott, if you have any info from anyone else that experienced such a noise, and what the solution was that would be great.

i appreciate you guys chiming in to help out :tup:

No problem Jeff, you have been more than helpful and informative when it came to my decision on coils and wheels, so were even!

Sorry to Jeff. It is interesting that a fight seemed imminent here on this thread, over an implication I did not hear, only to be immediately resolved civilly. This type of camaraderie is what makes the370z.com so pleasant.:xmastup:

^^^ Completely agree. :tup:

That sounds EXACTLY like when my sway bars were loose. I didn't get enough torque on the sway/end link bolt when we installed them. That's the first thing I'd check and it's pretty quick and easy. I would grease the bushings while I was down there too if they have zerks.

thanks! sorry to sound like a noob, but 'zerks':confused:? what kind of grease should i use.

you are giving me hope :tup: are these the bolts that 370zforme posted pictures of?

is this the sound too? i think thats pretty similar to what i have going on sound-wise.

Its kinda hard to tell from the first videos, but if it is that constant rattling noise you should take a look at your pillowball mounts. I have have owned several sets of coils on my other vehicles, and when the pillow ball upper mounts wear out they will make that exact same noise. You should check to see any play in them not only fore and aft but also up and down.

It may be loose.

well its only been 3 weeks, so they shouldn't be worn out, but how do i check for play?

Zerk is just a term for grease fitting. If you have the stock sway bars you won't have any. I just use regular lithium grease. That video sounds about right to me too.

370zforme's pics are pretty good. The bolts circled in black were what were loose in my case. Takes two wrenches to tighten them iirc. Check both sides just to be sure. :)

thanks, i will try this tonight, hopefully all goes well. is there any torque spec or just as hard as i can?

I think it is 110lb-ft but I could be wrong.

so basically, really damn tight. i have a torque wrench, if it fits in the area i guess i'll use it, but i guess it would be kind of easy to tell if they were lose.

The rear sway bar mounts are torqued to 33 ft/lbs and the end links are torqued to 41 ft/lbs (see my install thread).

My sway bar bushings dry up pretty quickly, I re-lube them every 6 months. That tends to make more of a creaking noise though.

Make sure the spring isn't loose in it's perch when the rear is unloaded, if it is then the rear shock needs to be adjusted.

I am not saying they are warn out. I am just saying maybe you should try retightening the top mounts.

Also 110lbs for sway bars, is rediculous. Thats tighter than wheels lugs, or just about anything else on the vehicle. Maybe the Axle bolt might be about that range, but I dont even think the axle is that tight.

Anyways jack up each corner so that there is no weight on the shock and shake the shock around to see if you can recreate the sound. That should help you better pinpoint where the sound is coming from.

how do i tighten the top mounts. is that the part under the adjuster?
i will try that tonight. the sound is definitely coming from the right rear so i will try that for both.

thanks so much to everyone chiming in to help out, i really appreciate it!

Gah. You're right. I don't know what made me think 110.

so i spoke with BC and they said it sounded like an issue with the preload on the spring. He sent me this on how to adjust it.

I had a noise somewhere toward the rear end when I installed my coilovers. I was stupid to what the noise was. I first though it was the top shock mounts in the rear, then I thought it was the shock itself. I checked and rechecked but everything was tight. What I discovered was that the foam fill in for the spare and stuff was the culprit. I know it sounds insane, but when I stuffed a rag to snug everything up back the the noise stopped. I removed my spare so the passenger side foam insert was loose and rattled while I drove. My shock are set somewhat stiff so it rattled quite a bit. It doesn't hurt to check that. I keep the rag there for now until I figure something else out. Carpet back there cover it up anyway. Hope this helps.

thanks, i will try that out tomorrow morning. i'm kind of intimidated by the adjustment of the preload since i only have a small jack and jackstands. it will probably take me 4 times as long to do one adjustment then it would at a shop with a lift. the place i bought the coilovers from is going to help me try and fix it, i'm gonna swing by there tomorrow

No prob. Hopefully it's something simple like that. Let me know if that fixes it. The molded foam back there is pretty hard so it sounds like knocking when the road us rough.

unfortunately it snowed like, a lot last night, meaning i can't go and fix it and test it b/c i my winter tires don't come until tomorrow.:mad:

hey jeff i actually had bc coilover on my altima coupe and i got the same sound your describing. everytime it rained or snowed i would get the sound. i went to a shop and they put wd-40. they turned the wheel so they could spary inside i guess the coilovers itself? not really sure where they sprayed. i know some people might tell you its a bad idea but it got rid of the sound for me. and i had no problems after that. (if anyone goes this route just make sure it doesnt get anywhere by the brakes i just remember the guy telling me that if i do it on my own.)

ok so i just went out and confirmed that it is not any of my interior styrofoam bits. i took out a bunch of the stuff, and then stood in the trunk and kind of bounced a bit and was able to get the sound to happen. its def only from the right shock. the installer says that the preload is already maxed out, so its definietly not b/c it is not enough preload. they also confirmed that that rubber isolator thing that goes under the spring is most certainly there. also they said they never touched my sways and that those wouldn't have just randomly come loose. UGH
BC said that if it was a bad shock, it would sound like a loud hammering sound, and that if i want to rule out everything else i should switch the shocks from one side to the other to see if the sound moves from the right rear, to the left rear.

You may want to check that the spring mount is flush with the frame of the z. I know some people had issues with this. You can only tell if you take the springmount off and see if the Metal tabs are not bent.

i'm not sure how to do that....

:mad:
i'm really getting annoyed with this! i literally can't stand driving my car right now. i start driving and immediately become totally aggravated.

too lazy to read the entire thread but have you determined which corner the noise is coming from?

do you have any knowledge or have worked on a car? if so, start removing bits to find the root cause. here's where i would start on rattles.

listen for which part of the car the noise is coming from. Is it the front or rear?

unlink one of the endlink (dont need to remove) front or rear and see if that eliminates the noise.

if not, link the endlink, remove the strut or shock and replace using stock bits. dont worry about the alignment for now.

if you determine it's the shock or strut, use the stock mounts on the aftermarket strut/shock and see if the noise comes back.

if it doesn't then it's your mounts.

if it does, then it's your stock/strut. get it replaced.

finished.

its most certainly the right rear.i guess i will try that trial and error approach. Unfortunately, thats going to take me such a long time to do in my garage. i have some knowledge and have worked onmy car before, and i mostly learn by doing and reading , and i've never DONE suspension so i guess it will be a learning experience.

my mental issue right now is, if it was something install related, i can see no reason why the install shop would spend an hour checking everything and NOT fix it. furthermore, if it were install related, it would have presented itself immediately, or very soon after, not after 2 weeks.

I couldn't hear any noise in the sound clip. Is it a clunk sound or a rattle?